649 



expenditure being 345,000 to 432,000. At the close of 191 1 the colony had a funded debt 

 of 1.255,000.: Great Britain's share of the import trade in 1911 was 75%; of the export 

 trade 24 %. Germany ranks first (30 %) in the export trade, as a result of the gravitation 

 of the palm kernel trade to Hamburg, where there are large factories with the most modern 

 machinery for extracting the oil from the kernels and making use of the waste products. 

 The shipping, statistics for 1911 showed a total tonnage of 1,246,000, 68 % being British, com- 

 pared with a tonnage of 993,000 in igio'when.the British percentage was 77 %. The German 

 tonnage rose from 13.55 m I 9 I to 18.67 in 1911. 



The expansion of trade depends largely on opening up new oil palm districts, and as the 

 tsetse fly renders animal transport impossible attention is directed to other means of loco- 

 motion. A branch line (90 m. long) from the main railway, begun in 1910 and completed 

 in 1912, runs northward from Boia (S.E. of Freetown), and crossing the Rokell river reaches 

 Makene, the centre of one of the richest palm belts in the country. The opening up of the 

 Hinterland by "feeder roads" also continues. A notable feature in the history of the 

 country is the spread of Islam, coupled with a general desire for education. During 1911-12 

 a Government Model School was built at Freetown. In districts where Moslem influence 

 is strong a high degree of sobriety and of amenability to good order prevails. 



The visit of the Duke of Connaught to Freetown in December 1910, was an event of more 

 than ceremonial importance. There were present from the Protectorate chiefs of many 

 tribes which had fought hard against British dominion, and the cordial manner in which 

 they were received by the uncle of King George has been told in every corner of the country. 

 In April 1911 Sir Edward Marsh Merewether (b. 1858), formerly Lieut. Governor of Malta, 

 became Governor in succession to Sir Leslie Probyn, transferred to Barbadoes. By the 

 death of Dr. E. W. Blyden, at Freetown on February 7, 1-912, at the age of 80, the British 

 Empire lost a distinguished negro scholar and official (see E. B. xxv, 56d; and xvi, 54id). 



See the annual reports on Sierra Leone issued by the Colonial Office; J. T. Aldridge, 

 "Sierra Leone and its Commercial Expansion," United Empire, Vol. 2, 1911; Major R. G. 

 Berry, "The Sierra Leone Cannibals," Proc. Ryl. Irish Assn., 1912. 



Gold Coast. 1 The census of 1911 gave the total population of the Gold Coast, 

 Ashanti and the Northern Territories as 1,503,386 equal to 18.7 per square mile. The 

 number in the Gold Coast proper was 853,766, in Ashanti 287,814, in the Northern 

 Territories, 361,806. In all there were 1,625 Europeans. The increasing prosperity of 

 the Gold Coast is shown in the returns of trade and revenue, in the absence of inter-tribal 

 disputes, in the development of agriculture, and in marked improvement in sanitation. 



The revenue for the financial year 1911, which amounted to 1,111,000, surpassed that 

 of all previous years, and exceeded the expenditure by 197,000. The revenue in 1910 had 

 been 1,006,000 and the expenditure (including 149,380 repayment of loans) 924,862. 

 The public debt on December 31, 1911, was 2,489,000. The value of the seaborne trade 

 increased from 5,049,000 in 1909, and 6,137,000 in 1910, to 7,576,000 in 1911. The 

 imports for 1910 were 3,439,000, for 1911 3,784,000; the exports for 1910 were 2,697,000, 

 for 1911 3,792,000, an increase of 40%. Cotton goods and spirits are the principal im- 

 ports; the Gold Coast in addition imports much machinery and lumber for the mines. 

 Cocoa, gold, rubber, and palm oil and kernels are the chief exports. The cocoa industry, 

 which is entirely in native hands, has had a great development. In the two years 1910-11 

 the export was almost doubled in quantity and more than doubled in value. The figures 

 for the three years 1909-11 were: 1909, quantity 45,277,000 Ibs., value 755,000. 1910, 

 quantity 50,692,000 Ibs., value 866,000; 1911, quantity 88,987,000 Ibs., value 1,513,000. 



The gold mining industry is firmly established. The value of the gold mined during 

 the first ten months of 1912 was 1,215,000 as against 1,069,000 for the whole of 1911, 

 which was itself an increase of 313,000 over the figures of 1910. The mines of the Ashanti 

 Goldfields Corporation export nearly half the total yield. About 20,000 natives are employed 

 in the mines or in dredging the river beds for alluvial gold, 15% of the gold being obtained 

 from alluvium. Besides cocoa and gold, rubber, lumber and oil palm products are the chief 

 exports. Some 80 % of the total trade is with the United Kingdom; but Germany has a large 

 share of the shipping, the tonnage of the German ships cleared in 1911 .being 438,000, 

 British ships 773,000 and French ships 113,000 the total tonnage being 1,326,000. 



Sir John Pickersgill (1851-1910), who had been Governor for seven years, retired in 

 September 1910, and shortly afterwards died in England. He was succeeded by Mr. 

 J. J. Thorburn who had previously served in Ceylon and Lagos. Mr. Thorburn re- 

 tired from the Colonial service in August 1912, and Sir Hugh Clifford (b. 1866), then 

 Colonial Secretary of Ceylon, was appointed Governor. During 1911, Sir William 

 Brandforth Griffith, Chief Justice since 1895, who had done much to codify the colony's 

 laws, retired and was succeeded by Sir P. C. Smyly, Chief Justice of Sierra Leone. 



1 See E. B. xxi, 203 et seq. 



