I I 2 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
to certain portions of the Shire province. Gradually it was enforced through¬ 
out the Shire province. At the present time it is enforced throughout 
all the Protectorate with the exception of that portion of the West Nyasa 
district which is inhabited by the northern Angoni, who at present decline 
to pay taxes to the Administration but on the other hand remain quiet 
and free from civil war, and therefore do not compel us to go to the expense of 
administering their country. Eventually, no doubt, by friendly arrangement the 
Hut tax will be enforced even here. In all other parts of the Protectorate it has 
never been put in force without a proper arrangement being come to with the 
native chiefs, except in such districts as where the chiefs—Yao or Arabs— 
have gone to war with us. Then as one of the conditions of peace or one of 
the results of conquest, the Hut tax has been eventually enforced. The 
LAKE ROAD, CHI ROMO 
revenue derived from this source in 1893 was about ,£1,639. In the financial 
year ended March 31st, 1896, it amounted to ^4,695 in value. 
In the early autumn of 1892 I commenced the land settlement, and by 
degrees every estate or land claim between the Lower Shire district and Lakes 
Tanganyika and Mweru and the Upper Luapula was visited and enquired into 
by Mr. Alfred Sharpe, Captain Sclater or myself. Admissible claims were 
divided into two kinds : claims to mineral rights, and claims to land with or 
without mineral rights. 1 In the case of treaties conferring mining rights 
the investigation was relatively simple. The chief or chiefs alleged to be 
the grantors of such concessions were examined and if they admitted making 
the grant, and it could be shown that they had received fair value for the same, 
the mining concessions were confirmed. In regard to land, long occupation 
and improvements were regarded as almost the best titles. These qualifications, 
however, applied to very few estates in British Central Africa, as in most cases 
1 Inadmissible claims were those which conferred sovereign rights or granted any monopoly of trade 
inconsistent with the various treaties with Foreign Powers to which Great Britain was a party. 
