Mr. J. Tomson says of the natives that they make very good labourers: “They insist on being paid with English money, ‘threepenny bits’ being very popular. They have no liking for gold, and do not consider it so valuable as silver. The pagans, who are the farming class, appear to be a most industrious people. They still live in fear of invading Fulani, and always take their bows and arrows with them to the field. Neither men nor women wear dress of any kind. They have a juju or secret oath which forbids them to put on any garment. With these people the missionaries make no headway at all. Neither do they with the Mohammedans.” The manager of the Lucky Chance Mines, reporting under date 29th August, said he was still paying 6d. per day for ordinary labour, and so far he had had little trouble with the men on day wages, although they had several times tried to get him to raise the rate of pay. Reporting on a property at Juga in the tin district, Mr. Huddart says: “The properties are very favourably situated to obtain labour. The men from Bauchi and the east come along the main caravan route looking for work to enable them to earn money to pay the taxes, &c. As this particular property is near the market, and the men usually halt at the market, they can easily be recruited. The cost of ordinary labour is 1d. per hour, and is easily trained. The Bornu and Eastern Kanuri are, in my opinion, the best workers available. A further advantage lies in the position of the property in settled country under the control of the Filani Emir of Bauchi, and the men prefer this to the pagan country.” Referring to another property about twenty miles further south, Mr. Huddart says: “When all is in proper working order, I am convinced that ample labour will be forthcoming, as the property is favourably situated in that it can tap the Angass country and the western part of Bornu, as well as the eastern Bauchi territory. When the proper camps are made, markets organised, and the natives learn that a certain income awaits them, I feel sure that labour will come in without any difficulty, and I speak as one knowing their language and having an intimate knowledge of the conditions.” Mr. H. W. Laws, General Mining Manager of the Niger Company, in his report to the Bisichi Company, whose property is near Naraguta, says: “There is a good supply of labour in the country; owing to a sudden increase in the demand for labour a temporary shortage was reported this wet season, but the labour market is now rapidly recovering, and in view of the very large amount of labour available in the Hausa States, and the Province of Bornu, no difficulties need be anticipated as to the supply in future.”