chapter 68.

Honorable W. P. Reeves, lately Agent-General of New Zealand in England, but who was Minister of Education and Labor in New Zealand from 1891 to 1896, and who is looked upon as the principal author of the industrial arbitration laws in that colony, wrote, during the summer of 1900, on the working of those laws, in an article contributed to the "London Express," as follows:

"The arbitration law has been in constant use in New Zealand for about four years and a half. During those years there has never been a time when there has not been a dispute pending before one or other of the Conciliation Boards or the Central Arbitration Court. Writing, as I do, at some distance from London, I cannot say from memory what the exact number of disputes finally adjusted has been; but, so far, they cannot be less than sixty or seventy. Most of these have been carried, on appeal from some Conciliation Board, to the Arbitration Court and settled there. In about two cases out of seven the Conciliation Boards have been able successfully to arrange the disputes. Even where they have not done so, it by no means follows that their labors have been useless. Very often the appeal to the Arbitration Court is merely on one or two points out of many involved, and the advice of the Conciliation Board is accepted on the others. Often, too, most of the parties to a dispute have been ready to accept a board's suggestions, but it has needed the firm hand of the Arbitration Court to bring one or two stubborn men to acquiescence.

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"The process may be tedious, but it is not costly. Lawyers are not employed as counsel before either the boards or the court unless all parties to the action agree thereto, and they very seldom do agree. A firm of employers may appear by a manager or accredited representative, a trade union is usually represented by its Secretary or other official. During the hearing, of course, the factories concerned remain open, and work goes on as usual. Employers are secured not only against a dead stop of business, but against the meaner kinds of competition of undercutting rivals. In the organized trades all the shops of a district have to keep the same hours and pay the same wages. No man may filch trade from a neighbor by sweating his own people. The fair-minded employer now knows where he is, and is freed from many anxieties.

"For six years there has virtually been neither strike nor lockout in New Zealand. All these, except the first, have been years of remarkable and increasing prosperity. During the time of depression which came before them, wages had fallen. With improving times employers would have been faced by resolute demands from trade unions for a return to former high rates of pay, and had there been no arbitration system in working order a series of very bitter conflicts must have ensued. This has been avoided. Workmen and workwomen have gained notable advances of pay, and also improved conditions as to hours of labor and otherwise. But this has come about gradually, and only after careful and painstaking inquiry. Many of the demands of labor have been refused; many more have been modified. In no case has an industry been throttled or crippled. Not only can we claim that no factory has been closed for a single day in New Zealand by labor war, but we can claim that the peace thus obtained has not been bought at the dear price of hampered industry and discouraged enterprise.

"When the Arbitration act came into operation the number of hands returned as employed in the registered factories was about 26,000. It is now not far short of 50,000. A percentage of this striking increase may be due to more thorough registration. Far the larger part of it represents an actual increase of industry. During these years the imports and exports of the colony have grown apace. The revenue received from the customs, from the income tax, from the stamps, and the railways has risen in each case rapidly. Employment from being scarce has grown plentiful. Building has been brisk in all centres of population. The marriage rate has gone up. In a word, New Zealand shows all the signs which we connect with a highly prosperous country. It would be too much to claim that this is chiefly due to the working of the Arbitration act. It is perfectly fair, however, to claim that the Arbitration act and the improved condition of labor, and of confidence which it has brought about, have had some share in leading up to this happy state of things.

"It is frequently asked, How could you possibly enforce an award of the Arbitration Court upon an employer or a union stubbornly determined to go to all lengths rather than obey it? In the first place, for nearly five years the law has been in constant use without a single exhibition of this desperate resistance. That alone should be evidence of some weight that such a duel is not likely in a British community. It is quite true that an employer could go out of business rather than obey an award, and that the court could not prevent him from doing so. But employers are not given to ruining themselves merely because they may not like the decision of an impartial tribunal. It is suggested that the decision itself might be ruinous. There need be no fear of that. Experience has shown that if arbitrators err at all it is almost invariably in the direction of overcaution. They may show too great a desire to 'split the difference'; they are not in the least likely to impose intolerable conditions either upon masters or men. An employer who has the choice between accepting a legal decision arrived at after painstaking inquiry, and being taken into court and fined, will almost always accept the decision. In a very few cases he may run the risk of being fined once, but he will not lay himself open to a second penalty. That is the New Zealand experience.

"On the other hand, it has been flatly declared that the court cannot coerce trade unions. Vivid pictures have been painted of the tragic absurdity of endeavoring to collect fines from trade unionists by distraining on the goods of poor workmen whose union is without funds, and who are themselves penniless. The answer to that is that poverty-stricken unions, composed of penniless workers, are only too thankful to accept the decision of a State tribunal. They cannot strike against a powerful employer; much less can they hope to starve out a court of arbitration. Its decision may not altogether please them, but it is all they are likely to get. The Arbitration Court, therefore, is as potent to deal with trade unions as with employers. Wealthy unions it can fine. Penniless unions are helpless to fight it. Finally, at its back is the mighty force of public opinion, which is sick of labor wars and determined that the experiment of judicial adjustment shall have a full and fair trial."

The full text of the New Zealand "Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act" is published in pamphlet form by the United States Department of Labor, and appeared also in one of the Bulletins of the Department, in 1900.

NEW ZEALAND: Land system.

"The Crown lands of New Zealand are administered under 'the land act, 1892,' and the regulations made thereunder. The distinguishing features of the present land system are the outcome of ideas which have been gradually coming to maturity for some years past in this colony. These features involve the principle of State ownership of the soil, with a perpetual tenancy in the occupier. This, whatever may be the difference in detail, is the prevailing characteristic of the several systems under which land may now be selected. In New Zealand, this tendency to State ownership has taken a more pronounced form than in any other of the Australasian colonies, and the duration of the leases has become so extended as to warrant the name, frequently given to them, of 'everlasting leases.' In point of fact, most of the Crown lands are now disposed of for terms of 999 years. The rentals are based on the assessed value of the land at the time of disposal, without increase or recurring valuations. {330} Under this system there is a fixity of tenure practically equal to freehold, and which, like freehold, necessarily carries with it the power of sale, sub-lease, mortgage, or disposition by will. Since all lands held under the Crown 'by lease in perpetuity' are subject to the land tax, the necessity for the periodical revaluations under the perpetual-lease system is done away with, the State reaping the advantage of the unearned increment through the before-mentioned tax. At the same time, the improvements made in the soil by cultivation, etc., are secured to the tenant.

"The advantages of this system to the selector are manifest. When it is taken into consideration that, with few exceptions, the Crown lands are, in their prairie condition, incapable of producing anything until brought into cultivation, the advantage to the settler of setting free his capital to develop the capabilities of the soil, rather than having to expend it in the purchase of a freehold, is very apparent. One of the most striking benefits of this system is the advantage it gives to the poor man, who, with little more capital than his strong right arm, is enabled to make a home for himself, which, under the freehold system, he is frequently unable to accomplish. The values placed on the Crown lands are, as a rule, low, for the State does not so much seek to raise a revenue directly therefrom as to encourage the occupation of the lands by the people; this secures indirectly an increased revenue, besides other advantages, resulting from a numerous rural population.

"Again, underlying the whole of the New Zealand land system is a further application of the principle of 'the land for the people,' viz, the restriction in area which any man may hold. This subject has been forced upon the attention of the legislature by defects in former systems, under which one individual with means at his command could appropriate large areas, to the exclusion of his poorer fellow-settler. Under conditions where the price at which the land is offered is fixed and where choice of selection is by ballot, the poor settler has the same chance as the rich one and may, should he wish it, hold as much land. The limit that a selector may hold is so fixed as to encourage the class of small farmers, and up to that limit the amount he may select is left entirely to himself. The act defines the amount of land anyone may select at 640 acres of first-class or 2,000 acres of second-class land, inclusive of any land he may already hold. These limits apply to lands which are thrown open for 'free selection,' as it is termed, but in some cases, where found desirable, the limit is by regulation made much smaller.

"In addition to the many advantages offered by the 'lease-in-perpetuity' system, the land act provides others to meet the wants of different classes. The rule is almost invariable that land thrown open for so-called 'free selection' is offered to the public under three different tenures, and the choice left entirely to the would-be settler. The three tenures are:

(1) For cash, in which one-fourth of the purchase-money is paid down at once, and the remainder within thirty days. The title does not issue until certain improvements have been made on the land.

(2) Lease with a purchasing clause, at a 5-per-cent rental on the value of the land; the lease being for twenty-five years, with the right to purchase at the original upset price at any time after the first ten years.

(3) Lease in perpetuity, at a rental of 4 per cent on the capital value, as already described above.

"The present [1895] land laws have been in force since the 1st of November, 1892, and, therefore, the returns of the Department of Lands and Survey for the year ending the 31st of March, 1895, will give a fair idea of the proportions in which lands are selected under the three tenures above described during the past two and a half years. The figures given below include the 'special settlements,' all of which must by law be held on lease in perpetuity:

(1) Selected for cash, 1,542; area, 110,570 acres.

(2) Occupation with right of purchase, 1,060; area, 236,270 acres.

(3) Lease in perpetuity, 3,224; area, 634,086 acres.

"'The land act, 1892,' provides for a special class of settlement, which has found favor with the public to a very considerable extent during the last two years. This is known as the 'small-farm association' system. It provides that, where not less than twelve individuals have associated themselves together for mutual help, such an association can, with the approval of the Minister of Lands, select a block of land of not more than 11,000 acres, but there must be a selector to each 200 acres in the block. The extreme limit that one person may hold is fixed at 320 acres. Settlements of this class are held on 'lease in perpetuity' for 999 years, in the same way as lands under the same tenure when thrown open for free selection. The conditions of residence and improvements are the same."

_S. Percy Smith, in New Zealand Official Year-Book, 1895 (reprinted in United States Consular Reports, January, 1897, page 4)._

NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1899. Old-Age Pension Act.

In the winter of 1899 an old-age pension act was added to the radical legislation of New Zealand. The Agent-General for New Zealand in England has described the measure in a review article, as follows: "As finally licked into shape, the act is one for giving a small pension to the poorest section of aged colonists without any contribution on their part whatever. Briefly summarized, its effect will be that any New Zealander—man or woman—who has come to the age of sixty-five, after living not less than twenty-five years in New Zealand, shall be entitled to 6s. 11d. a week, or £18 a year. The full pension is to be paid to those whose income from any source is less than £34. When the private income is above £34 a year £1 is deducted from the pension for every £1 of such excess income. When, therefore, the private income is large enough to be £18 a year in excess of £34 no state pension is paid. In other words, no one who has an income of £52 a year is entitled to even a fraction of the pension. A rather more elaborate portion of the act deals with deductions to be made from the pension where the applicant for it is possessed of accumulated property. Under this the applicant's real and personal property are assessed, and his debts, if any, are subtracted from the total value thereof. Then he is allowed to own £325 without suffering any deduction therefor. After that he loses £1 of pension for every £15 worth of accumulated property. The result is that any one possessed of £600 worth of accumulated property ceases to be entitled to any allowance whatever. Men and women are equally entitled to the pension, and where a husband and wife are living together their property or income is divided by two for the purpose of the calculations above mentioned. That is to say, their united income must amount to £104 or their united property to £1,200 before they are altogether disentitled to any part of the pension. They may have, between them, an income of £68, or as much as £650 of property, and yet be entitled to draw their respective pensions in full."

{331}

The government is only authorized to pay the required amounts during three years from the passage of the Act, after which Parliament will have to decide on its continuance or amendment. Mr. Reeves expects that "the opposition will, more or less in unison, submit a rival old-age pension scheme to the constituencies. One of their prominent members, Mr. George Hutchison, indicated in the debate on the third reading of the measure scheme which some think will be generally adopted by his party. This is to draw a distinction between the older poor of the colony now living and the younger generation of colonists. All now over fifty years of age are to be permitted as they attain sixty-five to take advantage of Mr. Seddon's act without let or hindrance. But for the younger people a contributory scheme is to be drawn up, under which they would have to pay some such sum as sixpence a week, to go in aid of a substantial pension in their old age. Whatever may be thought of the economic merits of such a scheme, it might conceivably be expected at election-time to disarm the hostility of the aged poor to any such interference with their prospects under the present system as would be entailed by a complete repeal of the Seddon act."

_National Review, February, 1899._

NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1900 (March). Looking towards federation with Australia.

New Zealand did not take part in the movements which led to the federation of the Australian colonies in the Commonwealth of Australia, but watched them with evident interest and a final wakening of inclination to be joined in union with them. When the Act of the Imperial Parliament "to constitute the Commonwealth of Australia" was under discussion in England (see, in this volume, AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1900), the Agent-General for New Zealand in London addressed to the Colonial Office (March 30, 1900) the following Memorandum, which explains the attitude of that colony towards the federation movement in Australia: "The Government of New Zealand desires to secure the insertion of certain amendments in the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Bill shortly to be laid before the Imperial Parliament. These amendments are three in number. The first of them is, in effect, that New Zealand should preserve the right of joining the proposed Commonwealth of Australia on the same terms as the original States now about to be united in such Commonwealth. The second is, that while New Zealand remains outside the Commonwealth, litigants in her higher Courts, though reserving the right they now possess to appeal to the Queen in Council, should, as an alternative, have the right to appeal to the High Court of Australia on paying the fees and complying with the rules of that tribunal. The third amendment is, that the Australian Commonwealth and the Colony of New Zealand should be empowered to make the necessary arrangements to employ their naval and military forces for mutual aid and defence, including operations outside their own boundaries, and for that purpose to co-operate in forming a homogeneous Australasian force.

"The importance of the first amendment to New Zealand is great. The Colony is divided from Australia by 1,200 miles of unbroken sea. It still takes from four to five days for persons quitting New Zealand to reach any port in Australia. Though a large and valuable trade is carried on between the two countries, and though New Zealand is linked to Australia, not merely by financial ties, but by bonds of intercourse, cordial friendship, and sympathy, she has also vital and separate interests. Many, also, of the leading matters on which the discussions on Federation in Australia during the last 12 years have turned are topics with which the New Zealand people is almost unacquainted. It is therefore only to be expected that the Colony should watch the Federal movement with caution and reserve. It is also true that, until June of last year, New Zealand was unable to judge as to the intentions of the great Colony of New South Wales with regard to the Commonwealth Bill. It was not until the month of September that Queensland decided to enter the Commonwealth; Western Australia has not even yet done so. And it was directly after the decision of Queensland had become known that, in response to a request from Sir John Forrest, the leading statesmen of Australia intimated that, in their opinion, it was impossible to consider any further amendments of the Commonwealth Bill. From that moment the only course left open to New Zealand has been that now taken. About that time there appeared in New Zealand evidences of the growth of a feeling in the Colony in favour of a closer union with Australia. This was on the eve of the general elections, and Mr. Seddon, the Prime Minister, then defined his position, stating that the future relations of New Zealand with Australia were a matter for education and careful examination: that for himself he kept an open mind, but that prudent deliberation was advisable. At the general elections which took place in December last, Mr. Seddon was returned to power with an unusually large majority. It may therefore very safely be assumed that this cautious but not hostile attitude fairly represents the present view of the people of the Colony. Some stress may be laid on the foregoing facts in view of the possible objection that New Zealand's action now comes too late. The Colony virtually asks that, in view of its position of distance and difficulty, it should have more time given it to make up its mind than has been found necessary by colonies which are contiguous or almost so. If it should be proposed to fix a limit of time to this, that would clearly be a matter for reasonable consideration.

"In so far as the second amendment would give certain New Zealand litigants a right of resort to the High Court of Australia, it is scarcely likely to meet with objection in Australia unless on the general ground that no amendment whatever of the Commonwealth Bill is now desirable. In the event of the amendment being admitted, it is obvious that certain precautions might have to be taken to conserve the existing rights of New Zealand litigants, and also to prevent clashing of appeals, but doubtless these could be provided for. The third amendment, that providing for a species of partial federation for purposes of defence and mutual assistance, seems not only desirable but unobjectionable in every way. {332} It does not propose that any kind of compulsion should be applied to either the Commonwealth or New Zealand: it merely empowers them to make such arrangements as may be deemed mutually advantageous. At present it seems more than doubtful whether either the Commonwealth or the Colony has the power to make simple, binding and effective arrangements which would involve operations and expenditure outside their own boundaries, and under which each would have to act so as to affect colonists not subject to their respective jurisdictions. Recent events have clearly shown that the time has passed by for regarding the military forces of a colony as something never to be employed outside of its own boundaries. I need not point out that such a co-operation would be of value not only to Australia and New Zealand, but to the Empire which both are so anxious to serve."

The reply of the Colonial Office to this Memorandum set forth that its suggestions had been submitted to the delegates of the federating colonies and did not meet their approval. "They pointed out that during the period of grace proposed to be allowed circumstances might arise which would cause grave embarrassment to the Commonwealth if it were open to New Zealand to claim admission on the same terms as the original States, and that Article 121 of the draft Bill provided sufficiently for the admission of New Zealand at any time upon such conditions as might be found mutually acceptable to the Colony and the Commonwealth." It was added that "the suggested amendments as to the appeal from New Zealand Courts to the High Court of Australia, and the arrangements for mutual defence, would, if undertaken now, lead to great delay, and involve a fresh referendum to the people of the Federating Colonies, while there does not appear to be any probability that the Federation would not favourably entertain any proposals of the kind, if put forward after Federation."

In the Constitution Act as passed, however, New Zealand is mentioned specifically among the "States" to which its provisions may apply, though not included in what relates to the "Original States."

See (in this volume) CONSTITUTION OF AUSTRALIA.

_Great Britain, Parliamentary Publications (Papers by Command: Cd. 158, 1900, pages 30-31, and 51)._

NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1900 (October). Annexation of the Cook Islands.

A correspondent of the "London Times," writing from Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook (or Hervey) Islands, on the 10th of October, 1900, reported the arrival there of the Earl of Ranfurly, Governor of New Zealand, for the purpose of effecting the annexation of the islands to that colony, in accordance with the expressed wish of the natives. "Lord Ranfurly," he writes, "landed this morning, and, as the representative of her Majesty, addressed the Arikis, or high chiefs, on the question of annexation, for which they had asked. This is his second visit to the island, and he congratulated the people on now finding such a satisfactory condition of affairs in Rarotonga. He expressed pleasure at their liberality in subscribing so large a sum of money for the relief of those families who, in the fortunes of the war in South Africa, might lose their main support, and in sending one of their representative residents to represent them on the field of battle. All this and much more about the interest they took in the British Empire the Queen was aware of, and their petition for annexation had been laid at the foot of the Throne and duly considered. He urged them, however, to consider carefully their decision in this matter, and, further, that it should be arrived at of their own free and untrammelled will. He had heard from the British Resident that the high chiefs and all the people wanted annexation, but he wished to hear it from their own lips. It would then remain but for them to perform the act of cession to her Majesty, and for him formally to annex the group, hoisting the British flag, and proclaiming that from henceforth they were part of the British Empire whose prestige and honour they would from that moment share. The high chiefs unanimously agreed to annexation. … There are 2,300 Maoris on this island and 70 Europeans. All are intensely loyal to Queen Victoria. The island was discovered in 1823 by Messrs. Williams and Bourne, two officers of the London Mission Society, which for many years has had its headquarters for the Eastern Pacific located here. The volcanic soil of the island is marvellously fertile, coffee, cocoa, cotton, oranges, limes, cocoanuts and many other tropic fruits and trees growing without almost any cultivation. A British protectorate was declared over the group by Captain Bourke, of H. M. S. Hyacinth, in 1888. Since 1892 the interests of the protectorate have been guarded and directed by a British Resident, paid by the New Zealand Government, so that the islands will now probably be included within the boundaries of that colony. Nearly the whole of the trade is with New Zealand. There are six islands in the group annexed [700 miles southeast of Samoa] the total population of which is about 4,500." The "Times," commenting on the annexation, remarked: "The New Zealand Legislature has passed resolutions expressing its desire that the Suwaroff Island, to the north of the Cook group and about half-way to the Penrhyn group, should also be annexed to the colony. This island, although thinly inhabited, is said to possess one of the best ports in that part of the Pacific. The only quarter from which any protest against the acquisition of the Cook Islands has come so far seems to be New South Wales, which fears the influence of the introduction of the New Zealand tariff on its trade with that place."

----------NEW ZEALAND: End--------

NIAGARA, Electric power at.

See (in this volume) SCIENCE, RECENT: ELECTRICAL.

NICARAGUA. Nicaragua Canal.

See (in this volume) CENTRAL AMERICA; also, CANAL, INTEROCEANIC; and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1899-1901.

NICHOLAS II. OF RUSSIA: Coronation.

See (in this volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1896 (MAY-JUNE).

NICHOLSON'S NEK, Battle of.

See (in this volume) SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR): A. D. 1899 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).

NIFFER, NUFFAR, Explorations at.

See (in this volume) ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: BABYLONIA: AMERICAN EXPLORATION.

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NIGERIA: A. D. 1882-1899. History of the formation of the Niger Coast Protectorate. Conventions of Great Britain with Germany and France. Settlement of the boundary of the French Sudan and Sahara Sphere.

The following "Notes on the Niger Districts and Niger Coast Protectorates, 1882-1893," tracing the several steps by which the existing Protectorate was formed, appear in a paper "presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, 1899 (C.—9372)":

"In 1882 a Company, entitled the 'National African Company, Limited,' was formed to take over the business of the 'United Africa Company, Limited,' in Central Africa and in the Niger Regions. In October, 1884, the Company purchased the business and objects of the 'Compagnie Française de l'Afrique Equatoriale.' In the same year various treaties were concluded between Consul Hewett and native chiefs of the Niger Districts, by which these territories were placed under British protection. On the 26th February, 1885, the General Act of the Berlin Conference was signed, Chapter V. of which contained an 'Act of Navigation for the Niger,' which applied, generally, to the Niger and its affluents the free navigation articles of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna of 1815. In April-June, 1885, the British and German Governments entered into an Agreement, by an exchange of Notes, defining their respective spheres of action in the Gulf of Guinea. By this Agreement Germany engaged not to make acquisition, accept Protectorates, or interfere with the extension of British influence in that part of the Gulf of Guinea lying between the right river bank of the mouth of the Rio del Rey entering the sea between 8° 42' and 8° 46' longitude east of Greenwich and the British colony of Lagos, nor in the interior, to west of a line following the right river bank of the Rio del Rey from the said mouth to its source, thence striking direct to the left river bank of the Old Calabar or Cross River, and terminating, after crossing that river, at the point about 9° 8' of longitude east of Greenwich, marked 'Rapids' on the English Admiralty chart.

"On the 5th June, 1885, a Notification was inserted in the 'London Gazette' to the effect that a British Protectorate had been established over the Niger Districts; the territories comprised within the Protectorate were defined to be—the line of coast between the British Protectorate of Lagos, and the right or western bank of the mouth of the Rio del Rey; and also the territories on both banks of the Niger, from its confluence with the River Benué at Lukoja to the sea, as well as the territories on both banks of the River Benué, from the confluence up to and including Ibi. On the 10th July, 1886, a Royal Charter was granted to the 'National African Company, Limited.' In July-August, 1886, a Supplementary Agreement was entered into between the British and German Governments defining their respective spheres of action in the Gulf of Guinea from the Rio del Rey to a point to the east and near to Yola. On the 18th October, 1887, another Notification was inserted in the 'London Gazette,' in which it was stated that the British Protectorate of the Niger Districts then comprised the following territories:—On the line of coast between the British Protectorate of Lagos and the right or western river bank of the mouth of the Rio del Rey, and all territories in the basin of the Niger and its affluents, which were or might be for the time being subject to the government of the 'National African Company, Limited' (then called the 'Royal Niger Company'), in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the said Company, dated 10th July, 1886.

"On the 5th August, 1890, a Declaration was signed by the British and French Governments, which contained the following clause:—'The Government of Her Britannic Majesty recognises the sphere of influence of France to the south of her Mediterranean Possessions up to a line from Say on the Niger to Barrawa on Lake Tchad, drawn in such manner as to comprise in the sphere of action of the Niger Company all that fairly belongs to the kingdom of Sokoto; the line to be determined by Commissioners to be appointed.' On the 1st July, 1890, another Agreement was entered into between the British and German Governments defining their spheres of influence in the Gulf of Guinea and in other parts of Africa. On the 18th June, 1892, that portion of the Niger Protectorate which lies on, or to the north of, the 7 degree of north latitude was, by notification to the Signatory Powers of the Brussels Act, placed under the terms of Article 91 of that Act, within the zone of prohibition of alcoholic liquors. On the 14th April, 1893, an agreement was signed between the British and German Governments, in which it was declared that the right bank of the Rio del Rey waterway should be the boundary between the Oil Rivers Protectorate and the Colony of the Cameroons.

"On the 13th May, 1893, a Notification was inserted in the 'London Gazette,' announcing that the portion of the British Protectorate of the Niger Districts which was under the administration of Her Majesty's Commissioner and Consul would, from the date of that Notification, be administered under the name of the 'Niger Coast Protectorate,' and would cease to be known as the 'Oil Rivers Protectorate.' And on the 15th November, 1893, a further Agreement was signed between the British and German Governments defining the boundary between their respective spheres of influence in the region extending from the Rio del Rey to 'a point to the east of, and close to Yola,' and on Lake Chad.

"Between 1884 and 1893 numerous Treaties were concluded by the National Africa Company and by the Royal Niger Company with native Chiefs and others possessing territories in the basin of the Niger districts, by which they engaged to make no cession of territory or to enter into any Treaty negotiations with Foreign States without the previous consent of the British Government, and in return for which they were placed under British protection."

_Great Britain, Parliamentary Publications (Papers by Command, C.—9372)._

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In October, 1897, after a number of threatening collisions between English and French claims and undertakings had occurred in the Niger region, representatives of the two nations met in Paris to negotiate an agreement concerning boundaries. The result of their work was embodied in a convention signed June 14, 1898, but not ratified by both governments until June 13, 1899. By this agreement, the frontiers separating the British colony of the Gold Coast from the French colonies of the Ivory Coast and Sudan, and the British colony of Lagos from the French colony of Dahomey, were defined with precision, and the British and French possessions east of the Niger were then in the IVth article of the Convention, delimited as follows: Starting from a point on the left bank of the Niger which is fixed by the median line of the Dallul Mauri at its mouth, "the frontier shall follow this median line until it meets the circumference of a circle drawn from the centre of the town of Sokoto with a radius of 100 miles (160,932 metres). From this point it shall follow the northern are of this circle as far as its second intersection with the 14th parallel of north latitude. From this second point of intersection it shall follow this parallel eastward for a distance of 70 miles (112,652 metres); then proceed due south until it reaches the parallel of 13° 20' north latitude, then eastward along this parallel for a distance of 250 miles (402,230 metres); then due north until it regains the 14th parallel of north latitude; then eastwards along this parallel as far as its intersection with the meridian passing 35° east of the centre of the town of Kuka, and thence this meridian southward until its intersection with the southern shore of Lake Chad. The Government of the French Republic recognizes, as falling within the British sphere, the territory to the east of the Niger, comprised within the above-mentioned line, the Anglo-German frontier, and the sea. The Government of Her Britannic Majesty recognizes, as falling within the French sphere, the northern, eastern, and southern shores of Lake Chad, which are comprised between the point of intersection of the 14th degree of north latitude, with the western shore of the lake and the point of incidence on the shore of the lake of the frontier determined by the Franco-German Convention of the 15th March, 1894."

On the 21st of March, 1899, the following Declaration was added to the Convention, and ratified with it in the following June: "The IVth Article of the Convention of the 14th June, 1898, shall be completed by the following provisions, which shall be considered as forming an integral part of it:

"1. Her Britannic Majesty's Government engages not to acquire either territory or political influence to the west of the line of frontier defined in the following paragraph, and the Government of the French Republic engages not to acquire either territory or political influence to the east of the same line.

"2. The line of frontier shall start from the point where the boundary between the Congo Free State and French territory meets the water-parting between the watershed of the Nile and that of the Congo and its affluents. It shall follow in principle that water-parting up to its intersection with the 11th parallel of north latitude. From this point it shall be drawn as far as the 15th parallel in such manner as to separate, in principle, the Kingdom of Wadai from what constituted in 1882 the Province of Darfur; but it shall in no case be so drawn as to pass to the west beyond the 21st degree of longitude east of Greenwich (18° 40' east of Paris), or to the east beyond the 23rd degree of longitude east of Greenwich (20° 40' east of Paris).

"3. It is understood, in principle, that to the north of the 15th parallel the French zone shall be limited to the northeast and east by a line which shall start from the point of intersection of the Tropic of Cancer with the 16th degree of longitude east of Greenwich (13° 40' east of Paris), shall run thence to the southeast until it meets the 24th degree of longitude east of Greenwich (21° 40' east of Paris), and shall then follow the 24th degree until it meets, to the north of the 15th parallel of latitude, the frontier of Darfur as it shall eventually be fixed.

"4. The two Governments engage to appoint Commissioners who shall be charged to delimit on the spot a frontier-line in accordance with the indications given in paragraph 2 of this Declaration. The result of their work shall be submitted for the approbation of their respective Governments.

"It is agreed that the provisions of Article IX of the Convention of the 14th June, 1898, shall apply equally to the territories situated to the south of the 14° 20' parallel of north latitude, and to the north of the 5th parallel of north latitude, between the 14° 20' meridian of longitude east of Greenwich (12th degree east of Paris) and the course of the Upper Nile."

_Great Britain, Papers by Command: Treaty Series, Number 15, 1899._

Of the territorial partition in West Africa which this important treaty as first signed in 1898 determined, and of the magnitude of the empire which it conceded to France, a striking English view was given at the time in the following article:

"Though we are perfectly satisfied with the agreement, and though we believe that the country as a whole will be perfectly satisfied, we do not disguise from ourselves the fact that under the Convention France receives the full title-deeds for the most magnificent piece of empire obtained this century by any European Power,—a dominion which, though 'in partibus infidelium,' is yet within easy reach of both the western and the southern shores of France. We do not grudge France the great possession that was finally rounded off and consolidated on Tuesday; nay, rather we are glad to see it in her hands, for we want monopoly neither in trade nor in empire. We see, however, no good in pretending that she has not obtained the most magnificent opportunity for over-sea development which has fallen to any Power within recent times. The best way of understanding the Convention is to realise what it is that France now possesses in West Africa. Let our readers look at a map of Africa, and first fix their eyes on Algiers and Tunis, with their rich soil and splendid harbours and their remains of an ancient and splendid civilisation,—Phœnician, Greek, Roman, Christian, and Arab. Then let them allow their eyes to travel downwards to the right bank of the greatest river of Africa, the Congo. From Constantine, with its great memories and its scenery almost European in charm and splendour, to Brazzaville and Stanley Pool, with their tropical vegetation and savage life, there is a continuous and uninterrupted stretch of French territory. As they say in our country districts, the French President might now ride on his own land from Tunis to Loango. The French dominion of West Africa (as says an official 'communique' to the Paris Press with very natural exultation) now extends over a space as great as that from Paris to Moscow. From Algeria to the Congo, from Senegal to Lake Chad—i. e., almost to the centre of Africa—stretches this vast tract of French territory. 'At the present moment,' to quote the words of the 'communique,' 'all our West African colonies—Algeria, Tunis, Senegal, Futa-Jallon, the Ivory Coast, the Soudan, and the Congo—are in communication by their respective Hinterlands.'

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"But probably this will not convey much to the ordinary English reader. Perhaps we can best make him realise the immensity of the French West African Empire by pointing out that, with the exception of certain great German and English and other 'enclaves' the whole of the huge piece of Africa which bulges out on the map towards the west now belongs to France. She has all the connecting links, all that does not specifically belong to some one else, and she cuts off short the Hinterlands of all the Powers with possessions on the West African coast. Let us begin at the most western point of the coast-line of Tripoli in the Mediterranean, and travel round the coast, marking off all that is not French.

"First, we come to Tunis,—that is in the possession of France just as Egypt is in our possession. Algiers comes next,—that is French. Then Morocco. Morocco is at present independent, but at the back of Morocco all the land, be it desert or cultivable, is French. Next comes a strip of Spanish coast, but it goes only a very little way inland, and all the back country is French. Next come the great French colonies of Senegambia and Futa-Jallon, with two little colonies embedded in them, one belonging to us—the Gambia—and the other belonging to Portugal. Next come our Sierra Leone and independent Liberia, but here again the Hinterlands are all French. Next comes the French Ivory Coast colony, then the British Gold Coast, then German Togoland, and then French Dahomey. Here again all the Hinterlands beyond, say, four hundred miles inland, belong, since the signing of the Convention, to France. After that comes our Colony of Lagos, then the German Cameroons, and finally the French Congo—the last French possession in West Africa. Here, too, the Hinterlands have been cut off by the French, and our Colonies have been made into 'enclaves' in the mighty French dominion. It is true that the Niger or Lagos 'enclave' is a very vast one, and stretches now up to Lake Chad, which becomes henceforth as international a sheet of water as the Lake of Constance. Still, it is an 'enclave,' for, as we read the Convention, he who embarks upon Lake Chad from the British shore and steers eastward will land on French territory. In other words, Nigeria cannot now cross Lake Chad and expand beyond it. We should be glad to hear that this is not the true reading of the Convention, but we fear it is. We have travelled, then, round the map of Africa, from Tunis to the Congo, and found that France is everywhere the chief owner, —that hers is the great estate, and that the other Powers only have odd bits of land here and there. We do not say this in any grumbling spirit, for our odd bit—Nigeria—is very possibly worth as much as the great estate if Algiers and Tunis are not counted. We merely wish to make the public understand clearly that West Africa as a political and geographical expression has finally passed to France, though we no doubt have carved one very valuable piece out of it."

_The Spectator (London) June 18, 1898._

Nine months later, when the agreement embodied in the Declaration of March 21, 1899, had been added to the Original convention, the "Spectator" explained its effect as follows:

"It will be remembered that last year we and the French agreed upon a delimitation of 'spheres' in West Africa which extended as far as Lake Chad. As to the country east of Lake Chad nothing was said. It was left as a kind of No-man's Land. What has now been done is to extend the area of the French 'sphere' eastward beyond Lake Chad till it reaches Darfur and the Bahr-el-Ghazel. Darfur and the region of the Bahr-el-Ghazel are declared to be in the English 'sphere.' All the rest of Northern Central Africa is to become French. France, that is, is to have the great Mahommedan State of Wadai as well as Baghirmi and Kanem. In the territory between Lake Chad and the Nile each Power, however, is to allow the other equality of treatment in matters of commerce. This will no doubt allow France to have commercial establishments on the Nile and its affluents, but it will also allow us to have similar privileges for trade on the eastern shore of Lake Chad. But as our system of giving equal trading rights to all foreigners would in any case have secured commercial rights to France, we are not in the least hampered by this provision, while the concession to us of equal rights on the eastern shore of Lake Chad will improve our position in the face of French Colonial Protection. …

"The first thing that strikes one in considering the French possessions in Africa, after this latest addition, is their vastness. Practically, France will now have all North-Western, and all Northern, and all North Central Africa, except Morocco, our West African Colonies, Tripoli, Darfur, and the Valley of the Nile,—giving that phrase its widest interpretation, and regarding it as the whole of the country whence water flows into the Nile. … That, if she plays her cards properly, she ought to make a success of her African Empire we cannot doubt, for she starts with immense advantages. To begin with, she is nearer her African possessions than any other Power. You can go in a couple of days from Marseilles to Algiers and Tunis. Next, in Algiers and Tunis she has rich colonies with a temperate climate which may be made the basis for great developments in the way of railway extension. Lastly, her African possessions are conterminous, or, at any rate, connected with each other by land. She owns, that is, Northern Africa, and the rest of the Powers have only, as it were, enclaves—very large enclaves, no doubt, in many cases—in her territory. At present this advantage may not seem very great owing to the vast distances and the desert character of many of the French Hinterlands, but if and when France completes her Soudan railways, the strength of this continuity of territory will become apparent. But though France has many advantages, it would be foolish to deny that she has also many serious problems to solve. We shall perhaps be stating the most dangerous of them when we say that France now becomes the undisputed master of the great sect of El Senoussi. There are reported to be over twenty million followers of El Senoussi in North Africa, and, except in Tripoli, an these may now be said to be within the French 'sphere of influence.' The Sultanate of Wadai—which, be it remembered, is a very formidable State, and one which has never yet come into contact with any European Power—is a Senoussi State. But the followers of the Senoussi, besides being numerous, are extremely fanatical. Though practising a much purer form of Mahommedanism than the Dervishes, they hate Europeans quite as ardently, and if once their religious zeal were to be thoroughly roused they would prove most formidable foes. We do not envy the French their task if they attempt to conquer Wadai."

_The Spectator, March 25, 1899._

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NIGERIA: A. D. 1897: Massacre of British officials near Benin. Capture of Benin.

An unarmed expedition from the Niger Coast Protectorate, going, in January, on a peaceful mission to the King of Benin, led by Acting Consul-General Phillips, was attacked on the way and the whole party massacred excepting two, who were wounded, but who hid themselves in the bush and contrived to make their way back. The Consul-General had been warned that the king would not allow the mission to enter Benin, but persisted in going on. A "punitive expedition" was sent against Benin the following month, and the town was reached and taken on the 18th, but the king had escaped.

"The city presented the most appalling sight, particularly around the King's quarters, from which four large main roads lead to the compounds of the bigger Chiefs, the city being very scattered. Sacrificial trees in the open spaces still held the corpses of the latest victims[of 'Ju Ju' sacrifice]—seven in all were counted—and on every path a freshly-sacrificed corpse was found lying, apparently placed there to prevent pursuit. One large open space, 200 to 300 yards in length, was strewn with human bones and bodies in all stages of decomposition. Within the walls, the sight was, if possible, more terrible. Seven large sacrifice compounds were found inclosed by walls 14 to 16 feet high, each 2 to 3 acres in extent; against the end wall in each, under a roof, was raised a daïs with an earthen (clay) sacrificial altar about 50 feet long close against the wall on which were placed the gods to whom sacrifice is made—mostly being carved ivory tusks, standing upright, mounted at base, in hideously constructed brass heads. In front of each ivory god was a small earthen mound on which the victim's forehead would apparently be placed. The altars were covered with streams of dried human blood and the stench was too frightful. It would seem that the populace sat around in these huge compounds while the Ju Ju priests performed the sacrifices for their edification. In the various sacrifice compounds were found open pits filled with human bodies giving forth most trying odours. The first night several cases of fainting and sickness occurred owing to the stench, which was equally bad everywhere. In one of the pits, partially under other bodies, was found a victim, still living, who, being rescued, turned out to be a servant of Mr. Gordon's, one of the members of Mr. Phillips' ill-fated expedition. At the doors and gates of houses and compounds were stinking goats and fowls, sacrificed apparently to prevent the white man entering therein. The foregoing is but a feeble attempt to describe the horrors of this most terrible city, which after five days' continuous fatigue, working with about 1,000 natives, still presents most appalling and frightful sights. In the outlying parts of the city the same sights are met and the annual expenditure of human life in sacrifice must have been enormous. Most of the wells were also found filled with human bodies."

_Great Britain, Papers by Command: Africa, Number 6, 1897, page 28. _

NIGERIA: A. D. 1897: Subjugation of Fulah slave-raiders.

See (in this volume) AFRICA: A. D. 1897 (NIGERIA).

NIGERIA: A. D. 1899: Transfer to the British Crown.

The Royal Niger Company transferred its territories to the crown in July, 1899, receiving the sum of £865,000. It was announced to Parliament that three governments would be formed, named North Nigeria, South Nigeria, and Lagos.

NILE, Barrage and reservoir works on the.

See (in this volume) EGYPT: A. D. 1898-1901.

NILE VALLEY: The question of possession.

See (in this volume) EGYPT: A. D. 1898 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER).

NINETEEN HUNDRED, The Universal Jubilee of.

See (in this volume) PAPACY: A. D. 1900.

----------THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: Start--------

NINETEENTH CENTURY: The date of the ending of the Century.

Controversy as to whether the Nineteenth Century came to its end at the ending of the year 1899 or the year 1900 seems nearly incomprehensible to one who takes the trouble to begin a counting of years from the beginning of the Christian Era, and so reaches in his reckoning the fact that the first century did not end until the 100th year was ended. That seems to clear all confusion from the question, since the 200th, 300th, 400th, and so on up to the 1900th, must be the closing years of the successive centuries, just as certainly as the 100th is the last year of the first century. Arithmetically, there is no question left; but some minds refuse to recognize the century as a merely arithmetical fact. They see in it an entity of time with which the counting of years has little to do. Their somewhat mystical view is set forth in the following, which we quote from a communication that appeared in the "New York Times":

"The centurial figures are the symbol, and the only symbol, of the centuries. Once every hundred years there is a change in the symbol, and this great secular event is of startling prominence. What more natural than to bring the century into harmony with its only visible mark? What more consonant with order than to make each group of a hundred years correspond with a single centennial emblem? Be it noticed that, apart from the centennial emblems, there is absolutely nothing to give the centuries any form. The initial figures 18 are time's standard which the earth carries while it makes 100 trips around the sun. Then a new standard, 19, is put up. Shall we wait now a whole year for 1901, at the behest of the abacists? No, we will not pass over the significant year 1900, which is stamped with the great secular change, but with cheers we will welcome it and the new century. The 1900 men, who compose the vast majority of the people, say to their opponents: 'We freely admit that the century you have in your mind, the artificial century, begins in 1901, but the natural century (which we prefer) begins in 1900.'"

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A consistent application of this view to the defining and naming of the centuries would seem to require that the years which carry the initial figures 18 should make up the Eighteenth, not the Nineteenth Century, and that we should turn back our centurial nomenclature a whole round.

NINETEENTH CENTURY: The epoch of a transformation of the world.

In the last years of the Eighteenth Century a new epoch in history was entered,—an epoch marked by many distinctions, but most strikingly by what may be called the transformation of the world. The earlier great ages had been ages of simple expansion,—of a widening theatre for the leading races,—of a widening knowledge of the earth and the heavens,—of a widening range for human thought; but those expansive movements in civilization led up, at last, to more wonderful processes of transformation, which were just in their beginning when the Nineteenth Century dawned. For all the generations of mankind that had lived before this century, the earth, as a dwelling place, remained nearly unchanged. They had cleared some forests from its face, and smoothed some paths; but, in every substantial feature, the France, for example, of Napoleon was the unaltered Gaul that Julius Cæsar knew. Everywhere the material conditions of life were essentially the same for the man of the Eighteenth Century that they had been for the man of the First. Then began the amazing work of the brain and hand of man, by which he has been refashioning and refitting the planet he inhabits, and making a new world for his dwelling. As a habitable earth, to-day, it bears no likeness to the earth on which the first day of this century dawned. Its distances mean nothing that they formerly did; its dividing seas and mountains have nothing of their old effect; its pestilences have lost half their terror; its very storms are sentinelled and rarely surprise us in our travels or our work. Netted with steam and electric railways, seamed with canals, wire-strung with telegraphic and telephonic lines, its ocean-voyages made holiday excursions, its every-day labors, of the forge, the plough, the sickle, the spindle, the loom, the needle, and even of the pen, done with magical deftness by machines, which its coal mines and its waterfalls lend forces to move, it is nothing less than a new world that men are making for themselves, out of that in which they lived at the beginning of the era of mechanism and electricity and steam.

"Yet these are but outward features of the transformation that is being wrought in the world. Socially, politically, and morally, it has been undergoing a deeper change. A growth of fellow-feeling which began in the last century has been an increasing growth. It has not ended war, nor the passions that cause war, but it is rousing an opposition which gathers strength every year. It has made democratic institutions of government so common that the few arbitrary governments now remaining in civilized countries seem disgraceful to the people who endure them so long. It has broken old yokes of conquest, and revived the independence of long subjugated states. It has swept away unnatural boundary lines, which separated peoples of kindred language and race. It is pressing long-neglected questions of right and justice on the attention of an classes of men, everywhere, and requiring that answers shall be found.

"And, still, even these are but minor effects of the prodigious change which the Nineteenth Century has brought into the experience of mankind." Beyond them all in importance are the new conceptions of the universe, and of the method of God's working in it, which can, with no exaggeration, be said to have imparted a wholly new spirit and quality to the human mind. By what it learned from Copernicus, it was given a new standpoint in thinking. By what it learned from Newton, it was given a new and larger grasp. By what it has learned from Darwin and Spencer it has been equipped with a new insight, and looks at even the mystery of life as a problem to be solved. "If we live in a world that is different from that which our ancestors knew, it is still more the fact that we think of a different universe, and feel differently in all our relations to it."

_J. N. Larned, History of England for the Use of Schools, page 561._

NINETEENTH CENTURY: Comparison of the Century with all preceding ages, as regards man's power over Nature.

"No one, so far as I am aware, has yet pointed out the altogether exceptional character of our advance in science and the arts, during the century which is now so near its close. In order to estimate its full importance and grandeur—more especially as regards man's increased power over nature, and the application of that power to the needs of his life to-day, with unlimited possibilities in the future—we must compare it, not with any preceding century, or even with the last millennium, but with the whole historical period,—perhaps even with the whole period that has elapsed since the stone age."

Such a comparison is made in the following lists of "the great inventions and discoveries of the two eras":

"Of the Nineteenth Century." 1. Rail ways. 2. Steam-ships. 3. Electric Telegraphs. 4. The Telephone. 5. Lucifer Matches. 6. Gas illumination. 7. Electric lighting. 8. Photography. 9. The Phonograph. 10. Röntgen Rays. 11. Spectrum-analysis. 12. Anæsthetics. 13. Antiseptic Surgery. 14. Conservation of energy. 15. Molecular theory of Gases. 16. Velocity of Light directly measured and Earth's Rotation experimentally shown. 17. The uses of Dust. 18. Chemistry, definite proportions. 19. Meteors and the Meteoritic Theory. 20. The Glacial Epoch. 21. The Antiquity of Man. 22. Organic Evolution established. 23. Cell theory and Embryology. 24. Germ theory of disease and the function of the Leucocytes.

"Of all Preceding Ages." 1. The Mariner's Compass. 2. The Steam Engine. 3. The Telescope. 4. The Barometer and Thermometer. 5. Printing. 6. Arabic numerals. 7. Alphabetical writing. 8. Modern Chemistry founded. 9. Electric science founded. 10. Gravitation established. 11. Kepler's Laws. 12. The Differential Calculus. 13. The circulation of the blood. 14. Light proved to have finite velocity. 15. The development of Geometry.

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"Of course these numbers are not absolute. Either series may be increased or diminished by taking account of other discoveries as of equal importance, or by striking out some which may be considered as below the grade of an important or epoch-making step in science or civilization. But the difference between the two lists is so large, that probably no competent judge would bring them to an equality. Again, it is noteworthy that nothing like a regular gradation is perceptible during the last three or four centuries. The eighteenth century, instead of showing some approximation to the wealth of discovery in our own age, is less remarkable than the seventeenth, having only about half the number of really great advances."

_A. R. Wallace, The Wonderful Century,