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rapidly ; about 200 miles are kept up for vehicular traffic and 1,983 miles are maintained as tracks and bridle paths. There are in the Colony 1,492 miles of telegraph line and 48 offices, and telephone exchanges at Accra, Cape Coast, Seccondee, Tarqnah and Dodowa ; telegrams in 1911, 273,422. The number of letters, packets, &c., handled in the postal service in 1911 was 5,506,636.

Ashanti was placed under British protection on August 27, 1896, and a British Resident was appointed to Coomassie. Under orders in Council of September 26, 1901, the country was definitely annexed by Great Britain, the Governor of the Gold Coast being appointed Governor of Ashanti, though the laws and ordinances of the Gold Coast do not apply to the annexed territory. The population (census 1911) was 287,814. Coomassie, the chief town, has 8,850 inhabitants. In Ashanti 3 religious missions are at work, with a total (1911) of 39 schools, and 1,296 pupils, and a Government school with 344 pupils. Police force, 100 ; convictions (1911), 1,961, but there is little serious crime. Revenue (1911), 50,319Z. (from post office, liquor licenses, rents, fees, &c.). Expenditure, 146,317/. Agriculture is extending, cocoa plantations are being formed. Gold output (1911), 124,878 oz. (530,853/.). In the western parts of the Gold Coast Colony and especially of Ashanti are rich forests with excellent timber trees (mahogany, cedar, &c.), trees yielding fruits, rich in oil, rubber-bearing plants, and species yielding gum copal. The country is well watered, and with proper restraints on wasteful native fanning and on over-exploitation, would contain inexhaustible supplies of valuable forest products. On the eastern side the forests arc sparser, though timber and oil trees are common and game plentiful ; the products there are chiefly maize, koko, yams, bananas, ground- nuts, and cocon, the plantations of which are rapidly extending. In 1901 the Northern Territories lying to the north of the parallel of 8° N. lat., bounded on the west and north by the French possessions and on the east by the German possessions, were placed under British protection. They are administered, under the Governor, by a Chief Commissioner with his headquarters at Tamale. By the census taken in 1911 the population of the region to the north of Kintampo (variously estimated at from 38,000 to 50,000 square miles) is put at 357,569. The Mohammedans have substantial mosques ; there are Catholic and other missions, and one Government school at Tamale. The revenue (1911) amounted to 2,426Z. ; expenditure, 65,085/. Good permanent roads are being made. A silver currency has been introduced with good results, but for small purchases cowries are still used. The Northern Territories are capable of producing various agricultural crops (cereals, indigo, tobacco), and are said to contain wide auriferous areas.

There is one bank (with 5 branches), the Bank of British West Africa, Ltd. The legal currency of the Gold Coast is British sterling ; silver coins are legal tender to any amount, and bronze up to one shilling. French, Spanish, and American gold coins arc legal at fixed values.

Governor of the Gold Ooast.~J. J. Thorburn, C.M.G. (3,000/. and 1,000/. duty allowance).

Ghief Commissioner of Ashanti. — F. C. Fuller, C.M.G.

Chief Commissioner of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast. — Captain C. H. Armitage, D.S.O., C.M.G.

Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone lies between French Guinea on the north and the Republic of Liberia on the east and south-east. 'Governor, Sir E. M. Merewether, K.G.V.O., C.M.G. (2,500/.) ; Colonial Secretary, A. C. Hollis, C.M.G. There are Executive and Legislative Councils, nominated. Sierra Leone