6 4 6 SOMALILAND NYASALAND MAURITIUS 



BRITISH SOMALILAND 1 



During 1910 the British troops were withdrawn from the interior of Somaliland. 

 The arrangements made for organising the tribes in the protectorate and providing them 

 with arms for defence against the Mullah Mahommed the "Mad" Mullah led only to 

 inter-tribal fighting and anarchy. The Mullah remained in Italian territory, and in Oc- 

 tober 1912 was officially reported to be suffering from an incurable disease. 



The revenue for the years 1909-12 varied from 30,000 to 32,000; the expenditure, 

 192,000 in 1909-10 (owing to military operations), nad dropped in 1911-12 to 74,000. 

 Deficits are met by grants. The trade was valued at 490,000 in ,1909-10 and 484,000 

 in 1911-12. 



Gums (Arabic, myrrh, etc.), hides and skins, ghee, coffee and pearls are the chief exports. 

 The decrease of trade between Zaila and Harrar continued owing to the competition of the 

 railway from Jubiti. The pearl fisheries at Zaila increased in value. Berbera was placed 

 in wireless telegraphy communication with Aden in 1911. 



Mr. H. A, Byatt, C.M.G., who became commissioner of the protectorate in 1911; had 

 served in Somaliland since 1905. 



See the Colonial Office Reports, and R. E. Drake-Brockman, British Somaliland (London, 

 1912). (F. R. CANA.) 



NYASALAND 2 



The period 1910-12 was one of prosperity in Nyasaland. The population in 1911 was, 

 natives 969,183, (as against 927,355 in 1907), Europeans 766, Asiatics 481. The natives 

 proved both peaceful and contented. Witchcraft and trial by ordeal were rendered illegal 

 in 1911. Sleeping sickness slowly extended despite every effort to arrest it. The spread 

 of the tsetse fly involved the closing of many roads to animal transport. This difficulty is 

 being met by the construction of metalled roads along which motor vehicles can ply, but of 

 the 3,156 miles of road in the Protectorate in 1911, only 23 miles between Blarrtyre, the 

 chief commercial centre, and Zomba, the administrative capital were macadamised. 



The external trade of the Protectorate in 1910-11 amounted to 368,000 and in 1911-12 

 to 446,000. To the United Kingdom irt 1911-12 went produce valued at 179,000 and 

 from it came goods valued at 194,000. The cultivation of coffee, at one time Nyasaland's 

 staple product, gradually diminished since 1899-1900. In 1909-10 the export of coffee was 

 valued at 15,500; in 1910-11 it had dropped to under 7,000. In 1911-12 it rose to 

 16,000, a temporary increase due to exceptionally suitable weather conditions. Cotton 

 (59,000) was the chief export in 1910-11, having more than doubled in a year. Owing 

 to late export of part of the crop there was a drop in 1911-12 to 58,000. Tobacco exports 

 were 42,000 in 1910-11 and 53,000 in 1911-12. Rubber exports in 1911-12 were 10,000. 



A great obstacle to the expansion of trade was the inadequate communication with: the 

 outer world, due to the persistent diminution of water in the lower Shire so that steamers 

 ascending the Zambezi were frequently unable to reach Port Herald, whence a railway runs 

 to Blantyre. During 1912 the Imperial Government arranged to extend the railway south 

 from Port Herald to the Zambezi; the line to be continued eventually to Beira. In October 

 1912 the Portuguese government signed a contract with a Belgian group of financiers for 

 the building of the part of the line from Beira to the Zambezi. 



The revenue of the Protectorate was 94,980 in 1910-11 and 97,356 in 1911-12. Ex- 

 penditure was 112,369 in 1910-11 and 118,070 in 1911-12. Deficits are made good from 

 the British treasury. The institution in 1911 of a land tax of one halfpenny an acre per 

 annum on all lands held by non-natives became a valuable source of revenue. The tax 

 on native huts was raised in 1911 from 35 to 45 and from 6s to 8s for "low and high" grades 

 respectively. The tax yielded in 1911-12 50,900. 



Sir Alfred Sharpe (b. 1853), who had served in official capacities in Nyasaland since 1891, 

 and had governed the Protectorate since 1897, retired in 1910. He was succeeded by Sir 

 W. H. Manning (b. 1863), the officer who raised the Central Africa regiment and commanded 

 the Somaliland Field Force in 1902-3 (see R. B. xxv, 3823), and who from January to No- 

 vember 1910 was Commissioner of that Protectorate. (F. R. CANA.) 



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MAURITIUS 3 



The population of Mauritius at the census of 1911 was 368,791, a decrease of 2,232 

 compared with 1901. Males exceeded females by 22,000. Port Louis, the capital, 

 had a pop. of 50,060, a decrease of 2,680. As Mauritius has an area of only 716 sq. miles, 

 the density of population 514 per sq. mile is one of the greatest in the British Empire. 

 Indian immigrants and their descendants constituted about 70% of the total population, 

 while the negro type had almost disappeared. The dependencies had 6,690 inhabitants in 

 1911; Rodriguez, the largest (area 42 sq. miles), had a population of 4,829. 



Mauritius continues to yield practically nothing for export besides the products of the 



J See E. B. xxv, 381. 



2 See E. B. iv, 595 et seq. (" British Central Africa"). 



3 See E. B. xvii, 913 et seq. 



