“Undoubtedly one of the factors which has delayed the opening up of the tin fields of Nigeria has been the question of economical transport. But the Nigeria tin is of very high quality. It fetches, as a rule, anywhere from £6 to £8 more a ton than Cornish tin, and in this connection I should like to read an extract from a letter which was written to me by the managing director of the largest tin smelting works in Europe, to whom I sent a sample of the tin oxide as it was received here, and of which, in acknowledging it, he says, ‘It is about 75 per cent. metallic tin, of excellent quality, equal to anything being put on the market, so far as my observation goes.’ I am very closely connected with Cornish mining, and there we get Bolivian, Straits, and all kinds of tin, and it is the general opinion that Nigerian tin is one of the very best tins imported into Europe, and will always command a price equal to, if not better than, that of the Straits. Even under existing conditions alluvial tin mining in Nigeria is a highly profitable business, but when the present railway system is completed, and the road made from the Government line to the tin field, the freight should be reduced by many pounds per ton, and the profit largely increased. The completion of the road would enable heavy machinery to be brought to the mines, when larger quantities of the rich alluvial ground would be handled in an economical way, and the work done at a cost much below what is possible under existing conditions. The lodes, too, of which there is undoubted evidence, could be worked. Meanwhile some machinery can be transported in sections, and the output of tin should be rapidly increased and the costs greatly reduced.”
Mr. Assheton Lever, in summing up the situation generally in Northern Nigeria to a meeting of shareholders, said:
“We know that there are considerable areas there which in some cases are very rich in alluvial tin. There are also tin lodes there; but that for the present is another story, because alluvial tin is a thing which is easily and comparatively inexpensively worked, whereas to work a lode mine requires good means of transport, and to be able to get up to the mines easily expensive and heavy machinery. We have a good climate, we have a sufficiency of water, and so far as we can ascertain, we have a sufficiency of native labour. All the companies which are interested in Northern Nigeria appear anxious to co-operate, and are willing to work together generally for their mutual benefit, and for the tin industry in particular.”
Mr. H. W. Lake, the consulting engineer, speaking in a professional capacity at the same meeting, referred to the phenomenal richness of the river banks in the tin district in Northern Nigeria, while very rich alluvials are found on the flats, and when it comes to investigation of the river banks themselves very much larger quantities of black tin to the cubic yard are won. “I am speaking now,” he added, “from a certain amount of experience, because four years ago we had an expedition in the Bauchi district, and our engineer obtained some quite remarkable results from the alluvial. Of course, it is a new country. There is a great deal of pioneering work to be done, and what we have still to look forward to is steady systematic organisation for the next year or two. We do not want to make the mistakes that have been made in the opening up of many new countries—some of them not very far from Nigeria—but we do want to settle down to steady systematic development. As far as the railway is concerned, there seems no doubt that we shall have a line into the tin fields, which is going to simplify the question of transport, and reduce the costs very materially. With regard to the actual working of these alluvials, to begin with, I am of opinion that we should use the simplest methods possible—ground sluicing and so forth, but there will come a time when we shall have very seriously to consider the question of hydraulicing and treating these alluvials on a very much larger scale than would be possible by means of sluicing.”
A DISTRICT FULL OF NARAGUTAS
The extraordinary results obtained by the Naraguta Company might be regarded as exceptional, since it was a proved mine when taken over from the Niger Company, and the actual work done upon it has only confirmed what was previously known of its phenomenal value. But it may be said with great confidence, after careful examination, by not one, but many engineers, that the picture is not in any degree overdrawn. Moreover, the head of a great firm of mining engineers who was inclined to ridicule the values reported, has since admitted that he has altogether changed his opinion, and that he thinks from advices he has received, that the Malay Peninsula fields, even in their palmiest days, were never “in it” with the Northern Nigerian alluvial tin fields. In one place tin has been taken out, on the Dubbo property, belonging to the Lucky Chance Mines, extending over 640 acres, which actually goes 120 lbs. to the cubic yard. That is to say, that the calabashers must be getting out tin almost pure. This may be only a pocket; but the whole character of the reports from the fields makes it perfectly certain that the general nature of the Bauchi district, where the alluvial tin is mostly found, is of an absolutely phenomenal character.
There is no doubt whatever that in this remote district of Nigeria, which until a few years ago, was closed to the white man by the ferocity of its inhabitants, nature has been concentrating tin for thousands and tens of thousands of years, until we have it now in very large quantities in an almost pure condition. To Sir Percy Girouard is largely due the honour of opening up this country, through the discipline he and his subordinates dealt out to the original inhabitants. To his successor, Sir Hesketh Bell, fell the duty and the honour of opening up further the country by a railway system which will make it a great Imperial acquisition.
The work of Sir Percy Girouard and Sir Hesketh Bell may be specially referred to, for they represent the Imperial Government; but we must not forget the work of the directors of the pioneer companies in London, who must have worked continually to do what they have done. In the short space of only twelve months they have accomplished an amount of work which ordinary directors without enthusiasm would have taken years to do. The country has been searched for good properties, engineers have been despatched and machinery ordered, and such is the good work done in a small way with high values, that it is no exaggeration to say that many properties are now paying their way. All has been so swiftly done, and with so little fuss, that it seems like a fairy tale, and the public have no conception yet of the extraordinary value of these alluvial tin propositions in Northern Nigeria.
POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL OUTLOOK
It is satisfactory to gather from the report of the acting Governor dated 11th December last, that the year 1909 was a very peaceful one, the military operations which it was found necessary to carry out being on a small scale, and chiefly on account of highway robberies. From all the Provinces it is reported that the general feeling of the Emirs and native chiefs towards the British Administration continues to be most friendly. They are beginning to show an intelligent interest and zeal in the political work, and political officers are receiving support in any scheme proposed for the improvement of the Native Administration. The people show signs of wishing to be on friendly terms with the Government, and the agricultural classes are feeling a sense of security which enables them to spread out in all directions and take up new holdings. Their present position is described as “one of progressive tranquillity and content.” The inter-colonial traffic in slaves has already ceased; local slave-dealing is not entirely stamped out, but it is not extensive, and last year 1,392 slaves were freed, practically all by means of native courts, the majority of these ex-slaves being self-redeemed.