Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/295

 AREA AND POPULATION — JUSTICE — RELIGION, ETC 243

Governor of Nigeria.— Sir Hugh Clifford, K.C.M.G. Secretary to Central Government. — D. C. Cameron, C.M.G. Lieutenant-Governors in the Protectorate. — Vacant (Southern Provinces), and H. S. Goldsmith, C.M.G. (Northern Provinces).

Area and Population.— Area approximately 332,000 square miles ; population, about 17,500,000, including, at the end of 1919, about 2,800 Europeans (Northern Province : 256,000 square miles, 8,670,000 population. Southern Province : 76,000 square miles, 8,900,000 population). In 1900 a proclamation was issued in Northern Nigeria which, without abolishing domestic slavery, declared all children born after January 1, 1900, free; aud forbade the removal of domestic slaves for sale or transfer. In 1917 the Slavery Ordinance abolished the legal status of slavery through- out the Protectorate. Slave markets have been suppressed by native rulers, and slave dealing is now practically nen-existent. In 1917, 7,212, in 1918, 7,811, and in 1919, 7,091, slaves were liberated in the Northern Provinces.

Justice. — The Supreme Courts of Northern and Southern Nigeria are united under one Chief Justice of Nigeria. There are police magistrates at Lagos and Calabar. In each province is a Provincial Court consisting of the Piesident and his assistants, and such justices of the peace as may be appointed by the Governor. Native courts exist in Mohammedan localities where there are chiefs and councillors, and amongst pagan Judicial Councils with limited judicial powers have been established in localities where the intelligence of the natives renders such a policy po- There are cantonments at Eaduna, on the river of the same name, Kano, Zaria, Lokoja on the Niger, and Port Harcourt, and there station magis- trates have been appointed. The number of persons apprehended or summoned before the Provincial Courts in 1919 was .8,233, of whom 5,908 were convicted. Out of 14,934 brought before Magistrates' Courts in 1919, 12,267 were convicted, and 102 were convicted in the Supreme Court.

Heligion and Education. — Northern Provinces. — Mohammedanism is widely diffused, the Fnlani and Hausas and other ruling tribes being of that religion, but in some parts of the territory paganism is predominant. Protestant and Catholic missions are at work, and have industrial and other schools at several stations. The principles governing the education of natives in the Egyptian Sudan ars being closely followed. Secular subjects only are compulsory ; the acceptance of religious teaching is optional. At present the principal schools are situated at Kano, a great Mohammedan centre. In 1919 there were 18 Government schools, and 98 unassisted private schools, the total average attendance being about 998, and 2.747 respectively. It is estimated that there are also over 31,000 Moham- medan schools, with more than 205,000 pupils.

Southern Provinces. — There is a system of primary and secondary schools. There are also a residential school at Bonny, supported by Government grants, and by Chiefs' subscriptions, and a Government secondary school and mission grammar school at Lagos, and a high school at Calabar. In 1919 there were 43 Government schools with 4,957 scholars on the roll, and an average attendance of about 3,686 ; 169 assisted schools, 25, 187 on the roll, and 18.000 in average attendance j and 1,099 unassisted schools, with about 68,909 on the roll, and 40,000 in average attendance. Total expenditure from public funds, 49,iil6Z.

Four British Protestant Societies and two French Roman Catholic

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