BRITISH ADMINISTRATION 423 by whose subsequent death the administration lost a most valuable officer, exerted all the tact and the pluck at his command to keep things quiet in Ilorin.

During these months the High Commissioner at headquarters was pressing forward the organisation of the administrative departments, creating a system for dealing with the freed slaves, especially the slave children who were liberated in the encounters with the slave-raiders, endeavouring to get into touch with other provinces who gave friendly indications along the river banks, and evolving the first framework of local legislation.

The creation of a judicial system was among the early necessities of the administration, and in these first few turbulent months the seeds of future order were sown. By legislative proclamation, British Supreme and Provincial Courts were established, and the jurisdiction of each defined. Two Cantonment or Magistrates' Courts were also established in Lokoja and Jebba, and by a Native Courts' proclamation the establishment of Native Courts by British warrant was provided for in all provinces under British jurisdiction. This measure, necessary for the province of Ilorin, was as yet hardly applicable to pagan provinces, where native institutions had not attained to the level of a judicial organisation. A slavery proclamation forbade the enslaving of any person within the Protectorate, and without directly touching the institution of domestic slavery, reaffirmed, under the new administration, the abolition of the legal status of slavery, which had been proclaimed by the Niger Company after their Bida campaign. All children born within the Protectorate after April i, 1901, were declared free. Laws were also issued against the importation of liquor and firearms.

The busy days as they passed pressed their own conclusions upon the minds of the High Commissioner and his staff, and the theory of a future policy was formed under the light of daily practice. The High Commissioner had the advantage of including in his staff one or two of the servants of the Niger Company, whose knowledge of local conditions was in-