i6 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



For the separate government of the Settlements of 

 Lagos it was deemed expedient to provide, which was 

 done under the Royal Commission dated 13th March, 

 1863. 



Next, the erection of a Central General Government, 

 with its centre at Freetown, Sierra Leone, was pro- 

 vided for under Royal Commission dated 19th 

 February, 1866, when the Administrative independence 

 of the Settlements of Lagos merged into the general 

 government exercised from Sierra Leone by a 

 Governor-in- Chief for all Her Majesty's Possessions 

 on the West Coast of Africa. 



After the Ashantee War, 1873-4, it became ex- 

 pedient to redistribute the general administration pro- 

 vided for under Royal Commission of 1 866, when the 

 Settlements on the Gold Coast and the Settlements 

 of Lagos were erected into the Gold Coast Colony, 

 under Royal Letters Patent dated 24th July, 1874. 



Her Majesty's Possessions at Lagos were increased 

 in September, 1879, by the acquisition of the Kingdom 

 of Katanu, to the south and east of the Denham 

 Waters, on voluntary cession, by its kings, chiefs, 

 princes and elders ; of the Kingdom of Appa (lying 

 between the Kingdom of Katanu and the Western 

 District) in 1883, on voluntary cession, by its king, 

 chiefs, princes and elders ; in 1885, of the Kingdom 

 of Mahin, and of the Ogbo and Jakri Territories, by 

 voluntary cession on the part of the respective native 

 Authorities, lying between the Eastern District and 



