Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/210

180 AIRDNER, JAMES (1828-1912), English historian (see 11.390*), died at Pinner, Middlesex, Nov. 4 1912. A third volume of his Lollardy and the Reformation in England appeared in 1911. GALLIENI, JOSEPH SIMON (1840-1916), French general and statesman (see 11.418), was appointed military governor of Paris, Aug. 26 1914, and at once took energetic steps for the defence of the capital. Eleventh-hour efforts were made to construct trench defence work and to create modern forts around the capital. On Sept. 3 he issued the following order: " To the Army of Paris and the Population of Paris. The Members of the Government of the Republic have left Paris in order to give a new impulse to national defence. I have been ordered to defend Paris against the invader. This order I shall fulfil to the end." General Galh'eni was enabled, owing to information received from his aeroplanes, to hurry out reinforce- ments to Gen. Maunoury's Army (VI.) during a critical period in the battle of the Ourcq. The Paris taxicabs were requisi- tioned to transport them. He was appointed Minister of War in the Briand Cabinet at the end of Oct. 1915. His period of office was made notable by endeavours to create unity of com- mand, and by changes in the position of Gen. Joffre. He re- signed for reasons of ill-health on March 16 1916, and died at Versailles, after undergoing two operations, on May 27. His body was given a State funeral, and lay for a time under the dome of the Invalides. He lies buried at St. Raphael. GALLON, TOM (1866-1914), British novelist and dramatist, was born in London Dec. 5 1866. He was first a clerk in a city office and then usher in a large private school, but, owing to ill- health, he had to give up routine work, and took to literature as a means of livelihood. He wrote a number of novels in which plot and incident predominate, amongst them The Kingdom of Hate (1899); A Rogue in Love (1900); and The Charity Ghost (1902). He then turned to the writing of plays, collaborating with Albert Chevalier in Memory's Garden (1902) and publishing some plays on his own account, The Christmas Party (1904); The Devil's World (1910) and The Great Gay Road (1911). He died in London Nov. 1 1914.

GALSWORTHY, JOHN (1867- ), English novelist and playwright, was born at Coombe, Surrey, Aug. 14 1867. He was educated at Harrow and New College, Oxford, and was called to the bar in 1890, but devoted himself mainly to literature. His earliest novel, Jocelyn, appeared in 1898; but he first attracted general attention with The Island Pharisees (1904) and The Man of Property (1906). These were followed by The Country House (1907); Fraternity (1908); The Patrician (1911); The Dark Flower (1913); The Freelands (1915); Saint's Progress (1919); In Chancery (1920); To Let (1921); in addition to essays and short stories. Meanwhile he had also made a .considerable reputation as a writer of realistic drama with a strong emotional appeal, notably The Silver Box (1906); Joy (1907); Strife (1909) and Justice (1910). His later plays include The Pigeon (1912); The Eldest Son (1912); The Fugitive (1913) and The Skin Game (1920). See Sheila Kaye-Smith, John Galsworthy (1916). GALTON, SIR FRANCIS (1822-1911), English anthropologist (see 11.427), died at Haslemere Jan. 17 1911. GAMBIA (see 11.437). The area, reckoning the colony and protectorate together, is 4,132 square miles. At the 1911 census the pop. was 146,101. St. Mary's Isle, at the mouth of the Gambia, on which is Bathurst, the capital, had 7,700 inhabitants (compared with 8,807 m 1001). European residents numbered 186 in 1911 and 112 in 1918. Estimates made in 1920 put the total pop. as high as 240,000.

The cultivation of the ground-nut, the chief occupation of the people, proves so lucrative that the efforts of the administration to widen the basis of prosperity meet with little success, though since 1913 there has been an increased production of food crops, African koos (millet) and rice, for home consumption. The land is all hand- worked, attempts to induce the farmers to adopt modern methods having failed. Up to 1915 the ground-nuts were nearly all purchased by French firms at Bathurst and sent to Marseilles. France in 1914 took 78 % of the total crop. Changed conditions created by the World War and the establishment of large oil mills in England led to a diversion of the trade, and in 1916, for the first time for 58 years, Britain received a larger proportion of the crop than was shipped to France. In 1919 Great Britain took 91-44% of the total crop. In that year France took only 2-59%.

Trade in ivory, wax and rubber, formerly considerable, had by 1915 sunk to negligible proportions; besides ground-nuts the chief exports are palm kernels and hides. The restriction of shipping during and after the war caused a contraction of trade; nevertheless the value of exports in the period 1909-19 (excluding specie) rose from 351,000 to 1,229,000. They had dropped to 430,000 in 1915. The rapid recovery was due to increased prices rather than increased production. In 1909 the export of ground-nuts was 53,600 tons, valued at 323,000; in 1918 the export was 56,400 tons and the value 800,000. The most striking contrast was shown in 1914-5. In 1914 the export of ground-nuts was 66,000 tons, fetching 650,000; in 1915 the export was 96,000 tons, but the value fell to 400,000. In 1919 the export was 70,000 tons valued at 1,154,000.

In the period 1909-19 the value of imports, also excluding specie, rose from 258,000 to 1,179,000. In 1915 they had fallen to 302,000. The chief imports are cotton goods, kola-nuts, rice and hardware. Most of the imports come from the United Kingdom but up to 1914 France had a considerable share in the trade (27 % in 1913) and Germany a smaller part (10% in 1913). In 1919 France and French possessions supplied only 8% of imports; the United Kingdom over 57%; British possessions 14%; the United States 19%. The American export is mainly rice, sugar and fuel oils. The United States imports rose from 12,000 in 1915 to 235,000 in 1919. Amer- ica had in that time captured as large a share of the Gambia trade as Germany had had before the World War. It was entirely one- sided, as there were no exports from the Gambia to the United States. The bulk of the imports from British possessions was represented by kola-nuts from Sierra Leone, valued at 157,000 in 1919.

Shipping is mainly in British hands. Total tonnage rose from 495,000 in 1909 to 625,000 in 1913. In that year British tonnage was 371,000, French 76,000, German 60,000, Greek 33,000. A great restriction followed and in 1918 the total tonnage was only 282,000. Of this total 262,000 tons were British. In 1919 the tonnage enter- ing and clearing at Bathurst was 441,000. Of this 354,000 tons were British, 40,000 American and 19,000 French.

An import duty on kola- nuts and an export duty on ground-nuts are the chief sources of revenue, which rose from 72,000 in 1909 to 180,000 in 1919. In the same period expenditure increased from 56,000 to 143,000. There is no public debt. Education remains in the hands of various Christian missions, except for a Mohammedan school at Bathurst, which is maintained by the Government. For the whole of its length in the protectorate the Gambia is navigable and forms a sufficient means of communication, few places in the protectorate being more than 10 m. from the river. There are neither railways nor inland telegraphs, but there is cable connexion with Europe and other parts of W. Africa, and in 1915 the Admiralty erected a wireless station at Cape St. Mary. By going to Dakar, 90 m. from Bathurst, the passage to Europe by the French packet can be made in eight days.

Since the pacification of the protectorate by Sir George Denton (governor 1901-11) in 1901, the country has been peaceful. The ground-nut industry is entirely in the hands of the natives, who also own large herds of cattle the symbol of wealth. In 1917 plague carried off fully 75 % of the cattle, but as the country was overstocked, many of the cattle being kept simply for show, the effect was not as serious as might have been thought. Much of the petty trade is in the hands of Syrians. In Sept. 1911 Sir H. L. Galway became governor, his tenure of office witnessing a great development of commerce. In April 1914 he was succeeded by Mr. (afterwards Sir) E. J. Cameron, under whose guidance the economic crisis caused by the war (restriction of shipping and consequently of food supplies, with violent fluctuations in the price of ground-nuts) were successfully overcome. During the war the natives gave many proofs of their loyalty to Great Britain, and the Gambia Co. of the West African frontier force served with distinction both in Cameroon and German E. Africa. At the end of 1920 Sir E. J. Cameron retired and was succeeded as governor by Capt. C. H. Armitage, the commissioner of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast.


 * These figures indicate the volume and page number of the previous article.