CHAPTER L NIGERIA UNDER BRITISH RULE: TAXATION The necessity to contribute to the maintenance of the state is no more a new proposition to the African who has Hved under Mohammedan rule, than is the habit of labour. He has been accustomed to arbitrary levies for the purpose. What the British Administration hopes to effect is the introduction of order and moderation in the claims which are made upon him in regard both to labour and to taxes. It is right that, as a free man, he should work for the maintenance of the State as well as for the maintenance of his own family, and it becomes essential that, contemporaneously with the introduction of liberty, there should be established a regular and equitable system of direct taxation.

This brings us to the subject from which we started : of compensation to the emirs and fief-holders of the Protectorate for the loss of revenue which they were likely to suffer as a consequence of British intervention in the slavery question, and also of the abolition of excessive tolls on trade. On the assumption of sovereignty in the southern emirates it became immediately necessary to secure to the emirs some revenue which would enable them to meet the expenses of their position, and this was done by allowing them to collect their taxes under the protection of the British Government. But in the quick succession of events it was understood that all arrangements were temporary. It was not until after the fall of Sokoto that full attention could be given to the subject. When the submission of the northern emirates had placed the permanence of British rule beyond a doubt, the natives 466