§ Captain CLIVEasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, if he would explain the increase from £246,000 to £365,000 of the grant-in-aid for Northern Nigeria?
Mr. HARCOURTA considerable part of the increase in the grant-in-aid is due to the necessity of making provision for working the Baro-Kano Railway as an open line, it being anticipated that the whole line will be completed about June next. There is also an increase in the amount payable as interest on the railway loan. The sudden development of the tinfields of the Protectorate has entailed an increase of expenditure, as it is necessary to create a small department to deal with the great mass of technical work involved. Increases have also been necessary in the expenditure on police, posts and telegraphs, sanitation, and certain other services. The task of making accurate estimates for Northern Nigeria is rendered peculiarly difficult by the fact that it is necessary to prepare them some five or six months before the end of the financial year.