the whole proceedings under which recruitment is carried on and labour performed, the Political Officer shall be responsible. In other words, it shows the right procedure to be that of recruiting through and with the co-operation of, and by the orders of, the natural authorities of the people under the supreme control of the Resident, combined with a form of payment which shall ensure the wage being placed in the wage-earner’s own hand, not in somebody else’s hand. By this system alone can the labour of the country employed in agricultural and industrial pursuits be capable of bearing an additional burden for public purposes, without injustice, without ferment, without dislocating the whole labour system of the region. Persuaded of this truth, the Political Officers of Northern Nigeria, aided by the ready willingness of the Railway Staff, have achieved a veritable triumph of organization which should ever remain a model to follow. And in that triumph can be read a deep political lesson. That such organization has been possible in Northern Nigeria is due, primarily, to the existence of a native political organization to which we could appeal and upon which we could rely. The principle adopted on the works themselves has been to give to each foreman his own set of Headmen, with their own gangs to look after, and to so regulate the labour that no individual should work more than eight hours _per diem_. Built under conditions such as these, the Northern Nigeria railway, constructed under great difficulties with wonderful rapidity and at a cost of well under £4000 per mile, rolling-stock and stores included, is not only in itself a striking performance—with, I believe, if free conditions of development are assured to it, a bright economic future—but a political and educational work of permanent value. It has helped to bring the Political Officers into closer personal touch with the population. It has increased the confidence of the people in the honesty of their alien overlords, and has imbued them with a personal interest and friendly curiosity in the railway. It has taught them many things which they did not know before, things which will be useful to themselves in their own social life. It has brought previously hostile tribes together into the same trench, effacing tribal barriers and burying old feuds. It has largely increased the use of silver coinage, and stimulated commercial activity. The same system is being followed in the construction, now proceeding, of the branch line towards the tin-fields; but many more railways will be required to develop the commercial potentialities of Northern Nigeria, and the fact constitutes one more argument to those already given in favour of an amalgamation of the two Protectorates, and the evolution of one set of governing ideas. [Illustration: VILLAGE HEAD-MEN.] [Illustration: VILLAGE HEAD-MEN.]