NIGERIAN AFFAIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13287, 20 September 1906, Page 5

NIGERIAN AFFAIRS.

RESIGNATION OF SIR F. , ( LUGARD. By Telegraph.—Pre«3 Association.—Copyright. London, September 18. The High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria (Sir F. J. D. Lugard) has resigned his post. Northern Nigeria has been in'a very disturbed state for the past, two or three years, and several punitive expeditions have been sent out by the High Commissioner. In April of last, year Sir F. Lugard had ordered an expedition against the Mtinshi tribes, who were in rebellion, and whose country wa* closed to trade. The expedition on (.reaching the Iwiders of the Munshi -country was stopped by order of Lord Elgin. ; In the House of Commons, Mr. Churchill explained that the expedition had been stopped because unnecessary; but in Nigeria Hie excuse given was that the troops were needed to deal with the rebels in Sokoto. A month later Sir F. Lugard was summoned home to consult with Lord Elgin regarding the recent punitive expeditions lie had ordered. Sir F. Lugard has been High Commissioner since 1900, and his retirement, of course, may have no relation to the dispute with Lord Elgin. PUNISHMENT OF "THE SILENT - ONES." ' London, September 18. Ten members of a secret society in Southern Nigeria implicated in the Ogbor rising have been sentenced to death, and forty, including the King of the Quas, have been deported to Western India. The members of the secret society are known as "the Silent Ones," and belong to the Asaba hinterland of Southern Nigeria. They murdered Assistant-Commander Crewe They murdered Assistant-Commissioner Crew© Read in May or June, and an expedition was sent against them. They were defeated only after very severe fighting, in j which the British forces suffered heavily.