472 A TROPICAL DEPENDENCY from the emirs and chiefs, who fully understand and appreciate the dignity and security of the position which it proposes to confer upon them, while it is in accordance with native tradition to pay taxes in the form of tribute to a superior government. The obvious difficulty of the scheme lies, first, in a just assessment of the people, and, secondly, in a regulation of the amount paid to the British Government.

The assessment has been the principal work carried out under the supervision of the British political staff of each province during the past year. To indicate the manner in which it has been done, and the effect which it is likely to have upon that amalgamation of the Native and British Administration which it is the desire of the Government to effect, I would like to quote from the report of Dr. Cargill, the Resident of Kano.

It was his duty to make the assessment of the district of Gaiya, of which the Waziri of Kano, son of the emir, had, under the old system, been the fief-holder. He accordingly went to Gaiya, accompanied by the Waziri.

On arrival at Gaiya, the Seriki, or local chief, was interviewed in the presence of the Waziri, and the business of assessment and reform of the system of collection explained. The local chief proved intelligent, and rendered all the assistance in his power. The local taxcollectors, or Mayungwas, twelve in number, who collect the taxes from the people in the town, were summoned, and each brought with him the farmers of his quarter.

Each Mayungwa was asked how much he collected from his district under each head of taxation. Each individual farmer was then separately summoned, and was asked what he had paid, and what was his trade, and the number of people in his house. ''In this way," says Dr. Cargill, " I completed the assessment and census of Gaiya town within two days. I then turned the work over to two of my own clerks and to two mallams (native scribes) brought by the Waziri, and told the chief of the town to call in all the tax-collectors from the district outside