§ MR. ARMITAGEI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies what was the reason for the reduction made in the railway rates on spirits in 1907 in the Gold Coast Colony.
§ COLONEL SEELYIt was represented by the Governor that the effect of the then existing rate, which was equivalent to more than 7s. 6d. per ton mile on the actual weight of spirit, was to divert all the spirits sent up to Coomassie from the railway to the carriers on the roads. The duties on spirits imported into the Gold Coast were already heavier than in any other Colony in West Africa; and it was considered that the change would not result in increased importation, but solely in the transfer to the railway of the bulk of the Ashanti spirit traffic. The Secretary of State is inquiring whether this anticipation was correct.