COLONY TO BE CEDED.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1013, 31 December 1910, Page 5

COLONY TO BE CEDED.

BRITISH GAMBIA By .Telegraph-Press Association—Copyrlcht; London, December 29. "Tho'Times" states that Braisn Gatii'bia is likely to bo ceded to a foreign Power. ' . Gambia, at the mouth of thqriver Gam■bia, formerly, formed part , of tho - West African Sottiement, but in December, ISiJS, was erected into a separate colony. The colony is administered under a Governor with an Executive and a L'egisla-: tivo. Council nominated. Area of'colony proper, i square miles; population, 8807. In the Protectorate (area, 3015 squaro. miles)-'the'.,population is estimated at. 137,516. ,'With exception of the island of St. Mary, on which Bathurst, the capital, stands, the whole colony is administered uii the Protectorate system. In June, 1901, an agreement was -made with tho local'chief; for tho administration of. the Fuladugu district by the: British, both banks of 'the Gambia'being now under direct British control:up to'the Anglo-French boundary.' There are eight elementaryGovernmentaided schools, with 1281 pupils onrollod; and an average attendance of about 083 ; Government grant, proportionate ■to results (1907), i 573. There is an armed police force of 80 men, am! a: company of tho West African Frontier Force of 126 men. Chief products and exports: Ground nuts, beeswax, hides, rice, millet, sweet potatoes, ootton, indiorubber. The;trado. is mostly with or through the adjoining French colony. Bathurst is connected: with St. Vincent (Cape doVcrdc) andwitli. Sierra Leone.by cable, but tliore are no local telegraphs or railways. The Gambia Savings Bank has 369 depositors, and deposits amounting to 4M577 .