CENTERS OF TRADE.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 699, 27 October 1909, Page 6

CENTERS OF TRADE.

Busy Cities in Hew English Territory in Africa. Annually Vlalteil by Million* of *»- tlvea of the Dark Continent— Uexnbl* Addition to Colonial Empire. The ether day Colonial Secretary Chamberlain officially announced in parliament that King Edward's dominions in western Africa had been augmented by the annexation of a tract of over 100,000 square miles of territory; that U to say, oi a district as large as the states of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey combined. This addition to the British empire, reports the New York Tribune, has been accomplished by means of conquest, and with comparatively little loss of life to the English forces, which consisted entirely of native troops commanded by white officers, both commissioned and non-com-misioned. The mere increase in the size of England's possession in the dark continent it of small importance, however, compared to the immense value'of the capture of Kano and of Sokoto from a commercial point of view. For Kano is. inde%d. the principal market and center of trade in the interior of Africa, and not only that, but likewise the center of all sorts of African industries. Kano. indeed, having been frequently described u the Manchester and Birmingham combined of the dark continent. Colonial Secretary Chamberlain declares that the annual attendance of the market at Kano exceeds a million persons from all parts of Africa, while Col. Monteil. the French explorer, and Edmund D. Morrell. in his "Affairs ofTv>st Africa." estimates that the number of natives who visit Kano each year for purposes of trade is at least twice as large. The market is held daily throughout the year, and the most bewildering diversity of articles are always on sale; nw.ive cloths, which are produces of the Hatisas' looms and dye pits; silk-em-broidered robes, leather and brass ware, weapons, rough agricultural implements, silver and brass ornaments, ivory, antimony, ostrich festher?. live stock of every conceivable description, slaves, salt cakes, natron. Euros-ran merchandise and ammunition —al! these and a thousand things mere are on sr-. T e in this immense city, which, inciosed in a lofty encompassing wall, is reputed to be no less than 16 miles in circumference.

"•my caravan rotites converge at r*-T"*. and the procession of heavily l»rien camels and asses, of men, mounted and on foot, of salves, women and children, seema to be endless. The marl.et fcaa been held thus daily on the same site for over 1,000 >ears, and at the time when William the "'onqueror fought ihe battle of Hastings ind established himself on the throne of England it is probable that the daily market was in progress at Kano amid surroundings almost identical in form and appearance with those of the prtsent day. Each particular class of goods has its own special market, and thus, wberess In one quarter of Kano one finds nothing but leather on sale, in another district of the city the trade is restricted to cloth. Every imagirs! !e type of African may be seen thrre. merehsnls from Egypt. Tunis Trirf-H ard *F'-ro«*-co, from the eastern Scudrr ctrd frcm the shores of the Red sea. zr ■-: \'. -s from the western ccast. whicr s v.->'-:tfel by the Atlantic. Even Zu*.is. oriental Jews, East Indians and Malays are seen there, and, strange to say. Lot only has peace from time immemorial b?cs {.reserved ameng this ;trang2 nrerller of purchasers and venders, but msrecver. they likewise understand one another carrying on their bargainings by means of signs. The traders have indeed, a sort of language which beneath their »ng sleeves is earned on by means of diverse grasps of one another's h3r.ds wrists and armß, the deliberations being In this way concealed from the onlaoker3 and from the curious.

Gen. Sir Frederick Lugard. to whom King Edward is indebted for this notaM* addition to his colonial empire, and who Is the governor general and high commission-r of all Great Britain's possessions in western Africa and Nigeria extending to the Anglo-Egyptian Soudan, proposes to rule the sultanates oJ Sokoto and of Kano in the same way £j the other K'.usa states, that is tfcrovgt native emirs, according to native ideas so as not to interfere in any way with the trade of Kano. v. blch he hopes to»>ve'op still more by rendering more facile its intercourse with the outer world I* e will make no effort to nor will be encourage missionary activity, but trill endeavor to inspire the natives with confidence in his assurrnces that no attempt will be made tr n •lott their various religions and pracI!' <■ i.

’-«? only thing that he will ecdcavo eradually to suppress is the slave trade r % ich is indeed the sole objectionable feature of the Kano market. This will he accomplished by degrees, as in Zanzibar. in eastern Africa and in otheparts of the world where the Britis! f-'R liirs. Slave raiding Sir Frederic! 1 ard wiii under no circiimatanres tol face. Indeed. its suppression has beet the supreme object of his career in Nyas ealand, in I'ganda and also in northern Nigeria. \V: thour the- slave raiding, and with a cessarim o' the payment of tribute in the form of slaves by the numerous vassal chiefs to the Fulani- rulers of Kano and Sokoto. the slave trade will * quickly dwindle and disappear, and in course of time slavery will in its turn vanish. A> Automobile* Go. Miles —Why didn't you get a larger k ntornobile? Dent —I wanted one I could push tip t-l.l.—Towr. T ,