Although the addition of the Nigerian Protectorates to the Empire is primarily due to the prescience and enterprise of the Niger Company, that corporation has no monopoly of trade within their boundaries nor any special advantage over other traders. It takes its chances against rival firms in the many spots in which it comes into competition with them. At Gana Gana, for instance, the company’s first station beyond Burutu, the German firm of Bey & Zimmer has a depôt. John Holt & Co., E. H. Stern & Co., J. T. Palmer & Co., Pagenstecher, and the British Cotton Growing Association are all represented in Nigeria, and the firm of G. W. Christian & Co. has established important trading stations at most of the principal towns on the river. As recently as 1904 Messrs. Christian started operations in Nigeria at a small place named Proropro on the left bank of the Niger; to-day they have branches at Forcados, Burutu, Onitsha, Illah, Illushi, Idah, and Lokoja, and at all these centres they not only conduct a large cash and barter trade, but undertake equipments and accept commissions, and cater in every way for the requirements of both Europeans and natives. The extraordinarily rapid rise and progress of this firm is almost entirely due to the exceptional qualifications for the trade possessed by the principal, Mr. George William Christian, who was born in Liverpool in 1872, and who, from the early age of fifteen has been associated with West Africa, and in twenty-five years has acquired a thorough experience and first-hand knowledge of the British and native needs of the Protectorates. PARTICULARS OF COMPANIES WORKING TIN PROPERTIES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA CHAMPION GOLD REEFS OF WEST AFRICA, LTD. _Capital._—£50,000, in 200,000 shares of 5s. each; all are issued and fully paid. _Directors._—S. R. Bastard (Chairman), F. N. Best, Sir Horace C. Regnart, John Waddington. _Secretary._—Newman Ogle. _Offices._—Friars House, New Broad Street, E.C. To this company belongs the credit of being one of the first to appreciate the almost unlimited opportunities the tin fields of Northern Nigeria offer for the employment of British capital. It is not surprising, therefore, that it has to-day, not merely one finger, but the whole of its digits in the Nigerian “pie,” from which it has already pulled out a “plum” in the shape of a dividend of 100 per cent. paid in March last. It is not always the pioneer in a new mining field who strikes the richest areas, but under the guidance of its highly capable engineers, Champion Gold Reefs of West Africa obtained exclusive rights over some properties and interests in options over others which promise a magnificent harvest in years to come.