Not the least achievement of the War period was the elimina tion of the traffic in foreign "trade spirits," on which the revenue of the southern provinces had largely depended. It was the de clared policy of the amalgamated Government to kill this trade by gradually raising the duty. Conditions of war hastened the process. Before the War the revenue from this traffic formed 34.26% of the revenue of Southern Nigeria. By the end of the War it had fallen to a proportion of 1.23. It was held that this result established two important conclusions. First, that the Gov ernment of Nigeria could dispense with revenue derived from spirits; secondly, that the produce trade could be conducted suc cessfully without them. As from Feb. 1, 'gig, the importation of trade spirits was formally prohibited in all the West African colonies and protectorates.
Constitutional Changes.—Sir F. (later Lord) Lugard retired at the end of the War, and Sir Hugh Clifford succeeded him as gover nor of Nigeria in July 1919. It was an era of prosperity, and at the end of Clifford's term of governorship great economic progress had been made. Sir Hugh's tenure of office was also notable for two modifications in the system of administration. The first was the extension and reorganization of the central secretariat, a step which in practice tended to curtail the responsibility and initiative of the lieutenant-governors and residents of provinces. The second was the abolition of an advisory Nigerian council established under the amalgamation scheme, and the restoration of the jurisdiction of the legislative council for the colony over the whole of the southern provinces. In the new and enlarged council the elective principle was introduced. The introduction of this elective prin ciple, of which experience in the West Indies has not been alto gether encouraging, was new to West Africa, though it has since been applied to Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast. The new coun cil retains an official majority, but includes three elected unofficial members representing the municipal area of Lagos, and one elected unofficial member representing the municipal area of Calabar. The unofficial element also includes members chosen by the three Chambers of Commerce (Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kano) and the Chamber of Mines, two members representing respectively the banking and shipping interests, and eight the otherwise unrepresented African population of the colony and the southern provinces. The first elections for this council were held in Sept. 1923, and the council was inaugurated by the gov ernor on Oct. 1, 1923. The governor retains the power to legis late for the northern provinces, but the council may discuss affairs of interest to any part of Nigeria. In Sept. 1925 Sir Hugh Clifford was succeeded as governor by Sir Graeme Thomson.
Improvement of Communications.—During his first year of office Sir Graeme made extensive tours, in one of which he trav ersed the protectorate from Lagos to Lake Chad, the whole dis tance being covered for the first time by motor; and in Feb. and March, 1926, Mr. W. G. A. Ormsby-Gore, the under-secretary of state, visited Nigeria. Later in the year proposals for the improvement of communications were submitted by the governor and approved in general by the secretary of state. In his address to the legislative council on Feb. I, 1927, Sir Graeme outlined a large programme of accelerated road and railway construction. In the next five years the Nigerian Government proposed to in crease the 2,97om. of then existing roads by 200M. per annum, and to add to the 1,597m. of railways then open, new branch lines (to feed the main trunk lines) at the rate of 15om. a year The necessity for a big improvement in the transport facili ties was emphasized by the condition of the cotton industry. In the years 1906-1926 the value of the external trade of Nigeria rose from 5 to 34 millions sterling. More than half of the ex ports (of the total value of L16,888,361 in 1926) are palm oil and kernels, but among other industries cotton growing, intro duced by the British Cotton Growing Association in 1902, is notable, as affording a prospect of mutual benefit to the Africans of the protectorate and to Britain. It is only in recent years, however, that the production of lint for export has been replaced largely by the growing of the long staple American cotton. In the season 1924-25 the amount of American cotton exported was 28,10o bales, and in 1925-26 it rose to 38,350 bales. When in this hopeful stage of development the industry was threatened with disaster by the fall of the world-price of raw cotton in 1926.
To meet the danger the Government carried cotton on the railways at nominal rates, and, in response to Sir Graeme's appeal, the British Cotton Growing Association reduced the ginning charges and Messrs. Elder Dempster their sea-freights. Six months later he was able to announce the success of these measures to a Manchester audience. "A practicably established but growing industry," he said on Sept. 3, had been saved "from a very serious set-back." At the same time, in view of the rela tive failure of the American cotton when grown in mixture with other crops (as is customary among the African farmers), the Agricultural Department of Nigeria is trying to produce a strain of native cotton with the long fibre required by the Lancashire cotton spinners. If such strains can be produced in sufficient quantities, it is believed that the area under cotton will be largely extended in the near future.