Financial.—A prospectus has appeared for the establishment of “The Bank of West Africa,” capital £500,000, ($2,500,000,) in fifty thousand shares of £10 each, ($50.) The chief office is to be in London, with branches at Sierra Leone and Lagos. The shares of the Standard Bank of South Africa, £25, ($125,) paid, are quoted at 57, and the dividends paid for the last two years have been sixteen per cent. Postal money order offices have been opened between Sierra Leone and the Gambia, at the rate of three shillings (75 cents) per £10, ($50.)
Commercial.—Africa contains resources upon which large portions of the enlightened world will in no very remote future be dependent, and it possesses the very highest capacity for the consumption of many of the productions of civilization. One of the marked developments is the numerous orders for utensils and simple machinery of various kinds, to be worked by hand or with light power, and for mechanical tools and agricultural implements. The business is already extensive and is likely to be of immense magnitude. Dr. Holub describes Prince Sechele, chief of the Bechuanas, as living in a grand abode, which he had erected in European style, at a cost of $15,000. Khartoum is making astonishing progress. Magnificent stores have been built within the last three years, and everything in modern civilization can now be had there. The Northwest Company is extending commerce at Cape Juby. The security afforded since the “annexation” by England of Lagos has powerfully helped it to become the “Liverpool of Africa.” The declared value of its exports in 1878 was £577,346, ($2,886,730.) The number, tonnage, &c., of steam vessels which entered Lagos in the same year is thus given:
| Nationality. | Steamers. | Tonnage. | Crews. |
|---|---|---|---|
| British | 144 | 141,590 | 5,746 |
| German | 72 | 4,251 | 1,177 |
| —— | ———— | ——— | |
| Totals | 216 | 145,841 | 6,293 |
“The Lagos Warehouse and Commission Company,” capital £50,000, ($250,000) in £5 ($25) shares, has been formed, for the purpose of founding a wholesale warehouse at Lagos, and, when desirable, at other important points on the West Coast. Thus a native merchant will be put in possession of two thirds of the net value of his consignment immediately the Company is in possession of his produce, and he will be enabled to have all his produce realized in the home market.
Steamers.—Twenty-five years ago it took a passenger from the United States one hundred and thirty days to reach Corisco; now a trip via Liverpool of about a month, in a palace compared with the pent-up quarters of a sailing ship, and tables furnish with luxuries instead of ringing the changes of salt beef and hard bread from day to day. Twenty-eight steamships afford weekly communication between Liverpool and the West Coast. The vessels of “the African Steamship Company” are named as follows: Africa, Akassa, Ambriz, Benin, Biafra, Ethiopia, Landana, Mayumba, Nubia, Opobo, Whydah and Winnebah, and those of “the British and African Steam Navigation Company” bear the following names: Benguela, Bonny, Cameroon, Congo, Corisco, Dodo, Forcades, Formoso, Gaboon, Kinsembo, Loando, Lualaba, Ramos, Roquelle, Senegal and Volta. “The West African Steam Navigation Company” also employ a number of steamships in the West African trade. Messrs. Rubattino & Co. announce their intention to put on several steamers between Genoa and Bengasi. Not a steamer from the United States to Africa!
MAP OF AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS DOWN TO AUGUST, 1877.
A company has been formed in New York for “the establishment of a line of steamships for passengers, mail and freight, between New York, Madeira, St. Thomas and Teneriffe, Cape de Verde, the Western Islands, the Canary Islands, and the ports of the West Coast of Africa.” The capital stock is $100,000; and may be increased to $4,000,000; shares $100. Such a line would open cheap and rapid communication between the Liberian Republic and our own, furnishing facilities for the thousands of people of color who desire to obtain an expansive field for their energies, and bringing to our market the valuable staples of its productive soil. In relation to this important project an experienced missionary writes: “Often, during these twenty years, I have been surprised at the apparent indifference of American capitalists and ship owners to the share that they might have obtained in the profits of the African trade, other than slaves. I have seen two English lines of steamers (the South and the West, having their termini respectively at the Cape of Good Hope and the mouth of the Niger) develop by rich opposition to five, and the termini of three of them extended from the Niger down to the Congo-Livingstone, and literally every nation of Europe engaged in their profits, while America has scarcely a showing.” A subsidy or liberal legislation by Congress is counted upon before additional steps in this enterprise are taken. And among other public action tending to success is the creation and appointment of consuls at the Gold Coast, Lagos and Bonny; and vice-consuls at smaller points between Monrovia and the Niger, to be under the supervision of the Minister Resident to Liberia.
Railroad Survey.—While the United States flagship Ticonderoga, Commodore Shufeldt, was on the West African coast, two of her officers, Lieut. Drake and Master Vreeland, assisted by eleven men from the ship and twenty-seven natives furnished by the Liberian Government, made a survey of the St. Paul’s river, and ran a line of levels along its northern bank and some distance inland, to determine the feasibility of constructing a railroad to connect Monrovia with the Soudan Valley, via Boporo. This reconnoissance proved that the engineering difficulties would be comparatively trifling. There is no doubt that Monrovia would be the most available point for the starting of such a road, as it would pass through an entirely virgin country and penetrate to a salubrious region, whose resources for trade, known to be prodigious, are as yet untouched. Such a connection with the interior, with the various appliances of civilization which must follow it, would be one of the most effective agencies for promoting a vigorous colonization of the immigrants, who would at once reach a healthy and fertile district, and it would prove a great practical power in the advancement of missionary work, and immediately become an important auxiliary in developing and controlling an immense and valuable commerce.
This reconnoissance was the first made in that quarter, and it has done much toward bringing the interior tribes into commercial and friendly relations with the Liberians. Other surveys were conducted by the same bold and public-spirited officers, including that of the Sugaree and Marfa rivers. The presence of the Ticonderoga and Commodore Shufeldt will long be pleasantly remembered, and good continue to result. This accomplished officer, in a letter dated April 6, 1881, remarks: “In view of the many failures which have been recorded in every age of the world, Liberia may be regarded as a success. * * * This, the first effort of the African race to establish a free government upon its own soil, merits and should receive the sympathy and encouragement of every man, woman and child in America.”