¹ Crowder, Michael, West Africa under Colonial Rule (London, 1968), 208.Google Scholar For a valuable general assessment of the difficulties of labour recruitment in Africa in the first thirty years of the colonial period, and methods used, see Berg, Elliot J., ‘The Development of a Labour Force in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, XIII, (1964–1965), 394–412.Google Scholar

² No evidence of government assistance in recruitment of labour for the mines of the Ashanti area has come to the writer's attention.

³ Attempts were made to assess the numbers of migrant labourers crossing the main ferries each year, but it was difficult to separate Northern Territories from foreign migrants in these assessments. The 1922–3 Northern Territories Annual Report records 16,816 men crossing at one ferry. That of 1924–5 states that 33,111 men Went south in the year: 28,677 from the French colonies.

⁴ See, for example, file entitled ‘GCR Recruiting in NTs 1927’ N[ational] A[rchives] [of] G[hana] A[ccra] ADM 56/1/219.

⁵ Between 1916 and 1920, for example, this non-Colony and non-Ashanti component averaged 63 per cent of the total labour force (which averaged daily 15,250 men), but 73 per cent of the underground labour force (which averaged daily 7,900 men). Northern Territories labour alone averaged 19 per cent of the total labour force, but 27 per cent of the underground labour force. Figures calculated from Mines Department Annual Reports, 1916–1920. P[ublic] R[ecord] O[ffice] CO 98/26, 28, 30, 32, 34.

⁶ They requested powers to set up their own recruiting organization for collecting labour in other West African colonies, and in 1902 a request was made for permission to import Chinese labour. West Coast of Africa Labour Bureau, via the Wassau (GC) Mining Company Ltd. to C[olonial[ O[ffice], 29 May 5905, PRO CO 96/389. New Gold Coast Agency Ltd. to C.O., 9 Jan. 5902, PRO CO 96/403. Both schemes were opposed by the Colonial Office and the Governor, since other West African Governors claimed to have no labour surpluses, and experiments with Chinese labour in the past had not proved successful. C.O. to London Chamber of Commerce, 19 Aug. 1902, PRO CO 96/403. Governor Nathan to Lord Lyttelton, 6 Feb. 1904, PRO CO 96/416.

⁷ Secretary for Mines to C[hief] C[omrnissioner], N[orthern] T[erritories], 15 Aug. 1905, quoted in CCNT to Secretary for Mines, 11 Sept. 1905, NAG-A ADM 56/5/3.

⁸ CCNT to Secretary for Mines, 8 Nov. 1905, NAG-A ADM 56/1/13.

⁹ Ibid. 30 Dec. 1905.

¹⁰ CCNT to Acting Colonial Secretary, 18 May 1906, NAG-A ADM 56/1/3.

¹¹ Transcript of CCNT's speech at Wa, is April 1906—suggested as a model for recruiting speeches by District Commissioners. Enc[losure] in Circular Memo, to D.C.s of 13 June 1906, NAG-A ADM 56/1/4.

¹² Acting CCNT to D.C., Black Volta District, 29 Sept. 1906. NAG-A ADM 56/1/4.

¹³ ‘When asked if they would go underground they all agreed to go and although somewhat anxious underground they went and saw everything there was to be seen.’ Report by Secretary for Mines, 3 Feb. 1907, Enc. in Governor Rodger to Lord Elgin, 3 Feb. 1907 PRO CO 96/455.

¹⁴ Tabulated statement by Secretary for Mines, Enc. in Governor Rodger to Crewe, 3 Feb. 1910, PRO CO 96/493, and Governor Rodger to Lord Elgin, 31 May 1907 PRO CO 96/457.

¹⁵ Governor Rodger to Lord Elgin, 20 June 1907, PRO CO 96/458.

¹⁶ CCNT to Colonial Secretary, 3 Sept. 1907, NAG-A ADM 56/1/5.

¹⁷ Tabulated Statement … PRO CO 96/493.

¹⁸ Quoted from Tumu District Record Book, 1907 by ‘Polaris’ in ‘Local History in Tumu, Part 1’, West Africa, No. 1992, 30 Apr. 1955, 389. This particular District Record Book does not appear to have reached the National Archives of Ghana.

¹⁹ Tabulated Statement… PRO CO 96/493.

²⁰ Acting CCNT to Consulting Engineer, F. Shelford, London, is Aug. 1908, NAG-A ADM 56/1/15.

²¹ The Prestea Mine demanded that there should be an embargo on railway recruiting within forty miles of the mine and a maximum wage of 9d. a day for railway work, which would safeguard the mine labour force, as the mine paid a minimum of is. a day to a ‘full sized native’, Prestea Block ‘A’ Ltd. to C.O., 21 Oct. 1908, PRO CO 96/478.

²² Colonial Office opinion was that there was no cause to complain as ‘The railway is only being made to oblige this company; it is no particular use to the general community’. Minute on ibid. by Fiddian, 23 Oct. 1908.

²³ CCNT to Commissioner North West Province, 7 Apr. 1909, NAG-A ADM 56/1/5.

²⁴ Acting Governor Bryan to Lord Crewe, 21 June 1909, PRO CO 96/484.

²⁵ CCNT to Acting Colonial Secretary, 2 Dec. 1909, Enc. 3 in Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, Jan. 1910, PRO CO 96/493.

²⁶ One, for example, stated that ‘The white man who gives us chop and sissy money put some men for ground and flogged them. He flog one man six strokes with shambok a man called Bugheeg. People held him down. The next two men came from Yarba, near Gambaga. I don't know their names I can point them out. They were held down on the ground and had six with the shambok each. The next man had twelve lashes with the shambok but was not held down. He ran away that night. It was the same man flogged them all.’ Statement of Basomah No. 6909, in Acting DC Tarkwa to Provincial Commissioner, Western Province, 18 June 1909, Enc. 10 in ibid.

²⁷ Secretary for Mines to Colonial Secretary, as Nov. 1909, and CCNT to Acting Colonial Secretary, 2 Dec. 1909. Encs. 2 and 3 in Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, 5 Jan. 1910, PRO CO 96/493.

²⁸ Azuma had, according to Watherston, ruined ‘four years hard work spent in persuading these tribes to go and earn some money, and enabling us to gradually bring in a hut or poll tax in the Protectorate’. CCNT to Acting Colonial Secretary, 3 Sept. 1909, NAG-A ADM 56/1/9.

²⁹ Acting Commissioner Southern Province to Acting CCNT, 30 Apr. 1910, NAG-A ADM 56/1/84.

³⁰ Commissioner North East Province to Acting CCNT, 24 Mar. 1910, NAG-A ADM 56/1/84.

³¹ CCNT to Acting Colonial Secretary, 2 Dec. 1909, Enc. 3 in Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, 5 Jan. 1910, PRO CO 96/493.

³² Commissioner North West Province to Acting CCNT, 1 Apr. 1910, NAG-A ADM 56/1/84.

³³ CCNT to Acting Colonial Secretary, 2 Dec. 1909, Enc. 3 in Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, 5 Jan. 1910, PRO CO 96/493.

³⁴ Secretary for Mines to Colonial Secretary, 22 Nov. 1909, Enc. 2 in ibid.

³⁵ Commissioner North West Province to Acting CCNT, 1 Apr. 1920, NAG-A ADM 56/3/.84.

³⁶ CCNT to Acting Commissioner North West Province, 30 Sept. 1909, NAG-A ADM 56/1/9.

³⁷ 6,000 labourers were employed on government public works, including 4,500 on railway construction, and the mines were employing an average daily force of 15,000. Mines Department Annual Report 1909. PRO CO 98/17.

³⁸ Acting Governor Bryan to Lord Crewe, 22 June 1909, PRO CO 96/484.

³⁹ He ascribed these to increased agricultural activity, the low cost of living other than at Tarkwa, ‘the possibility of living off the fruits of the soil without the necessity of continuous work’, and the unwillingness of the Liberian government to supply labour.

⁴⁰ The existing Master and Servant legislation, the Ordinance of 1893 made breach of contract virtually a matter for discretionary civil action by District Commissioners, only secondarily backed up by penal sanctions. See Ordinance No. 8 of 1893, PRO CO 97/3.

⁴¹ Giles Hunt to Colonial Secretary, 30 May 1909, Enc. in Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, 30 Oct 1909, PRO CO 96/486.

⁴² Rule 1, Draft Rules (Mine Labour), Sub. Enc. to Enc. 1, Memo, 25 Oct. 1909, Minutes of Meeting of 59 July 1909, in Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, 30 Oct. 1909, PRO CO 96/486.

⁴³ Rule 4 in ibid.

⁴⁴ Rules 10, 11 in ibid.

⁴⁵ Rule 12 in ibid.

⁴⁶ Rules 6, 7 in ibid.

⁴⁷ Two-fifths of the balance to be paid on the expiration of the contract, and three-fifths on the return of the worker to his home area. The final payment at home also satisfied the desire of the Northern Territories administration that as many as possible of the workers would actually return to the Protectorate. Rule 17 in ibid.

⁴⁸ Having seen the compound system at work in Johannesburg, Rodger considered it ‘excepting from a mine-owner's point of view…indefensible’.

⁴⁹ Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, 30 Oct. 1909, PRO CO 96/486.

⁵⁰ Colonial Secretary to CCNT and Secretary for Mines, 6 Nov. 1909, Enc. 1 in Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, 5 Jan. 1910, PRO CO 96/493.

⁵¹ This, he claimed, made them more interested, and also ‘compensated them for the loss of their share of the crops of the absentee, as naturally less local ground is placed under cultivation’.

⁵² Secretary for Mines to Colonial Secretary, 22 Nov. 1909, and CCNT to Acting Colonial Secretary, 2 Dec. 1909, Encs. 2 and 3 in ibid.

⁵³ Nevertheless, ‘in the best interests of the Northern Territories’, he felt ‘considerable doubt’ as to whether any further recruiting for the mines should be allowed, even with the safeguards proposed, ‘since… the results up to the present have been that among the returned labourers there are men who have contracted drinking habits and other vices, who have been infected with venereal and other diseases, and who have become insubordinate to their tribal chiefs’. Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, 3 Feb. 1910, and Enc. 4, Joint Report of Acting CCNT, Secretary for Mines, and Transport Officer, 17 Jan. 1910, PRO CO 96/493.

⁵⁴ Giles Hunt to Colonial Secretary, 29 Nov. 1909, Enc. 2 in ibid.

⁵⁵ Acting Colonial Secretary to Giles Hunt, Enc. 7 in ibid.

⁵⁶ G. V. Fiddes, for the Colonial Office, made it clear that ‘As regards the labour supply generally, the controlling authorities would do well to recollect that although the mines had doubtless come to stay they were exercising a disturbing, not to say a hostile, influence on our native policy…’ Report of Meeting of jo Mar. 1910 at Colonial Office by G. V. Fiddes, included with Minutes on Governor Rodger to Lord Crewe, 14 Feb. 1910, PRO CO 96/494.

⁵⁷ Gold Coast Amalgamated Mines Ltd (Lord Harris) to C.O., 1 Nov. 1910, and Enclosure, ‘Report on the Possibilities of Obtaining in the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast a supply of Native Labourers for work on the Mining Companies operating in the Tarquah and Prestea Districts’, by George Wolfe Murray, Tarquah, 24 Aug. 1910, PRO CO 96/503.

⁵⁸ Ellis in the Colonial Office, fearing Parliamentary Questions, described the compound system itself as one which ‘might readily be described for political purposes as imprisonment with hard labour’, and noted that the pass law meant in practice that any African could be arrested, and be made to prove that he was not an indentured labourer. Gold Coast Amalgamated Mines Ltd (Lord Harris) to C.O., 2 Jan. 1911, and Minute of 9 Jan. by Ellis, PRO CO 96/513.

⁵⁹ ‘First the DC must be sought out, often at a distance, to obtain leave to sue labour, and then he can only be sent to prison if he fails to find sureties.’ Wolfe Murray, 1 May 1911, in Notes of interview between Secretary of State and representatives of the West African Chamber of Mines. PRO CO 96/513.

⁶⁰ West African Chamber of Mines to C.O. 14 July 1911, and Minute by Ellis of 24 July. Colonial Office Draft to West African Chamber of Mines, 16 Sept. 1911, PRO CO 96/513.

⁶¹ Ordinance No. 1 of 1912, PRO CO 97/5. The Mines, however, still felt that they were insufficiently protected. They claimed, for example, that while under the amended Ordinance the Governor was granted powers to make rules ‘for the return of servants deserting from the service of their employers’, no such rules had been framed. This made the Ordinance useless from their point of view, and the absence of magisterial powers for their own Superintendents of Labourers meant that they still had to go through the ‘laborious process’ of making their complaints to the local political officer. West African Chamber of Mines to C.O. 14 Aug. 1912, PRO CO 96/525.

⁶² Memo, to CO. from Tarquah Mining & Exploration Company, Dec. 1920, PRO CO 96/619.

⁶³ The Protectorate provided 18 per cent of an average daily mine labour force of 15,000 in 1913, and 25 per cent of a force of 25,200 men in 2924. Mines Department Annual Reports 1913 and 1914.

⁶⁴ The CCNT had been informed that people in the north were praying daily for an Allied victory, and told his officers to remind the chiefs ‘of the truism “Laborare est orare”, and tell them that they and their people should look upon it as a privilege to help in this matter and so feel that they have contributed in some measure towards the aim we have in view–the crushing of Prussian Militarism and the preservation of the Freedom of the peoples of the world’. CCNT to Commissioner, NE Province, Commissioner, NW Province and District Political Officer, Yendi, 29 July 1916, NAG-A ADM 56/1/84.

⁶⁵ The Dagomba state had been split between the Gold Coast and German Togo, and the Dagomba chiefs had already (with the British capture of Togo in 1914) been promised reunion unofficially by the CCNT in the event of an Allied victory. Governor Clifford to L. Harcourt, 24 Sept. 1914, Enclosing Treaty of 22 Aug. 1914. PRO CO 96/548.

⁶⁶ CCNT to Ford, Abbontiakoon Mine, 2 Sept. 1916, and CCNT to Colonial Secretary, 7 Sept. 1916, NAG-A ADM 56/1/184.

⁶⁷ Ford to CCNT, 2 Dec. 1916, NAG-A ADM 56/2/84.

⁶⁸ Miller, C. R., Dagwin Mine to Acting CCNT, 15 Mar. 1917, NAG-A ADM 56/1/184.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ West African Chamber of Mines to C.O., 1 Aug. 1916, PRO CO 96/576.

⁷⁰ Superintending Engineer, Fanti Consolidated Mines Ltd to CCNT, 30 Sept. 1916, NAG-A ADM 56/1/84.

⁷¹ Acting CCNT to District Political Officer, Yendi, Commissioner, NE Province, Commissioner, NW Province and Commissioner, Southern Province, 3 Jan. 1917, NAG-A ADM 56/1/84.

⁷² Acting CCNT to C. R. Miller, Dagwin Mine, 28 Apr. 1917, NAG-A ADM 56/1/184.

⁷³ £1,00,000 in 2928, £2,600,000 in 1919, and £3,700,000 in 1920.

⁷⁴ This was conservatively estimated to have caused at least 28,000 deaths in the Northern Territories alone, and the havoc was increased by the fact that the period of infection was concentrated in the months between Sept. 1918 and Jan. 1919. See Annual Report Northern Territories, 1918 and Scott, David, Epidemic Disease in Ghana 1901–1960 (London, 1965), chapter 7. Scott estimates that the epidemic killed 60,000 people out of an estimated Gold Coast population of 1½12 million.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Abosso Gold Mining Company Ltd. to C.O., 28 Oct. 1918, PRO CO 96/596.

⁷⁶ West African Chamber of Mines to C.O., 20 Feb. 1919, PRO CO 96/1607.

⁷⁷ Draft to Governor from C.O. of 4 Mar. 1919 on West African Chamber of Mines to C.O., 28 Feb. 1919, PRO CO 96/607.

⁷⁸ D. B. Donovan, Fanti Consolidated Mines Ltd to CCNT, 25 Nov. 1919, NAG-A ADM 56/1/84. The CCNT pointed out, however, that the impact of the influenza epidemic made it impossible to recruit in the north, although he would be pleased to assist when the disease had run its course. CCNT to Manager, Fanti Consolidated Mines Ltd, 27 Dec. 1918, NAG-A ADM 56/1/84.

⁷⁹ However, they pointed Out that a large proportion of the men recruited would probably ‘desert’ to the cocoa farms, and since contracts could not be relied upon to control labour, they therefore suggested that compensation should be paid to the prospective recruiting agency, ‘to be contributed to by the cocoa producers who will get the benefit of the labour’.

⁸⁰ Colonial Secretary to Acting CCNT, 24 Oct. 1919, Enclosing Secretary for Mines to Secretary Acting Colonial Secretary, 9 Sept. 1919, and President of Local Council of West African Chamber of Mines (Tarkwa) to Secretary for Mines, 23 Sept. 1919, NAG-A ADM 56/1/184.

⁸¹ Notably the completion of the motor road from Kumasi to Tamale.

⁸² Acting CCNT to Colonial Secretary, 11 Nov. 1919, NAG-A ADM 56/1/84.

⁸³ Summary of Proceedings of a Conference of Labour held on 24/25 Nov. 1919, Appendix ‘A’ in Local Council of West African Chamber of Mines (Tarkwa) to Secretary, London Chamber of Commerce, Enc. in London Chamber of Commerce to C.O., 3 Jan. 1921 PRO CO 96/628.

⁸⁴ Governor Guggisberg to Lord Milner, 21 May 1920, PRO CO 96/612.

⁸⁵ He was, however, given permission to recruit alien migrant labourers on the road at Daboya and Bole while the new scheme was being organized, but was then told to stop recruiting altogether because of an outbreak of cerebro-spinal meningitis. Governor's Deputy Harper to Lord Milner, 22 Apr. 1920, PRO CO 96/682.

⁸⁶ Governor Guggisberg to Lord Milner, 21 May 1920, PRO CO 96/612.

⁸⁷ They claimed that ‘The Governor has a large programme of development for the Colony, and to carry this out, he is reserving the whole available labour resources of the Colony, but a costly development programme is not of much use if there is not enough labour to keep existing industries going’. London Chamber of Commerce to C.O.,9 Mar. 1920, enclosing Abbontiakoon Mines Ltd to London Chamber of Commerce, 3 Mar. 1920. PRO CO 96/619. Ellis, in the Colonial Office, commented that he had ‘reason to know that the Governor dislikes the mines and wishes they were not there, but this is not an attitude which we can adopt—especially during the existing gold famine’. Minute of Mar. on ibid. Cf Ellis's attitude in 1911, p. 89 above.

⁸⁸ Draft of 23 Mar. 1920 to London Chamber of Commerce on Governor's Deputy Harper to Secretary of State (teleg.) 19 Mar. 1920, PRO CO 96/611.

⁸⁹ London Chamber of Commerce to C.O., 22 Apr. 1920, Enclosing Tarquah Mining and Exploration Company Ltd to London Chamber of Commerce, 9 Apr. 8920 (a letter signed by representatives of all the Tarkwa-Prestea mines) PRO CO 96/619.

⁹⁰ Aside from the mines' own particular problems, the general labour shortage was due to an unprecedented increase in the cocoa industry, involving, so Guggisberg claimed, the paying of wages as high as IOS. a day for carrying cocoa to market centres. Governor Guggisberg to Lord Milner, 21 May 1920, PRO CO 96/612. Emphasis in original. Cocoa prices reached a high of 60s. a load at Koforidua at the beginning of 1920, so this figure is not impossible. See Kimble, D., Political History of Ghana (Oxford, 1963),Google Scholar plate 1. At this time the mines were offering a basic underground wage of is. 6d. to is. 9d. a day, which rose to as. 9d. to 3s. 3d. for trained labour such as ‘rock drill boys’. Minutes of interview between Governor and Secretary for Mines, Enc. A in Governor Guggisberg to Lord Milner, 21 May 1920, PRO CO 96/612.

⁹¹ This seems to exaggerate the government achievement. Cf. the figures from the 1920 Northern Territories Annual Report, p. 96 below.

⁹² Tarquah Mining and Exploration Company Ltd to C.O., Dec. 1920, PRO CO 96/619.

⁹³ Yendi Official Diary, 12 Aug. 1920, NAG-A ADM 56/1/259.

⁹⁴ London Chamber of Commerce to C.O., 3 Jan. 1921, Enclosing Local Council of West African Chamber of Mines (Tarkwa) to London Chamber of Commerce, 4 Sept. 1920, PRO CO 96/628.

⁹⁵ 5s. was to be paid on receipt of the recruit, another 5s. if he worked for six months, and an additional 2s. 6d. if he stayed for nine months.

⁹⁶ Ordinance No. 11 of 1921, PRO CO 97/8.

⁹⁷ CCNT to Commissioner, Southern Province, 14 June 1921, NAG-A ADM 56/1/ 256.

⁹⁸ Summary of Proceedings of a Conference of Labour held on 24/25 Nov. 1919, Appendix ‘A’ in Local Council of West African Chamber of Mines (Tarkwa) to London Chamber of Commerce, 4 Sept. 1920, Enc. in London Chamber of Commerce to C.O., 3 Jan. 1921, PRO CO 96/628. Minute by the Governor to Acting Colonial Secretary, 24 Dec. 1919, forwarded to Acting Chief Commissioner, Ashanti, NAG-Kumasi 1134.

⁹⁹ Sir Guggisberg, Gordon, The Gold Coast. A Review of the Events of 1920–6 and the Prospects of 1927–8 (Accra, 1927), 85.Google Scholar Conversely, Ormsby Gore, when Secretary of State for the Colonies, told the House of Commons that there was no railway in West Africa which had been built without forced labour. Quoted by Robinson, Kenneth, The Dilemmas of Trusteeship (London, 1965), 80.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ For example, the D.C., Lawra, wrote of a man who came to see him armed with a bow and arrow. ‘When I asked why he did no work on the road, he replied I did not come and work on his farm.’ Extract, Lawra-Tumu Diary, 15 Nov. 1925, NAG-A ADM 56/1/467.

¹⁰¹ Speech at Salaga, 11 Mar. 1921, in File on Governor's Tour 7 Feb.–5. 1921, NAG-A ADM 56/1/237.

¹⁰² Quarterly Report, Lawra-Tumu District Sept. 1922, NAG-A ADM 56/1/495.

¹⁰³ Memo, of 25 May 1921, Commissioner Southern Province to D.C.s, Tamale, Yeji, Bole, NAG-A ADM 56/2/256.

¹⁰⁴ Minute by Flood of 24 Dec. 1920, on Tarquah Mining and Exploration Company Ltd to C.O., Dec. 1920, PRO CO 96/619.

¹⁰⁵ Annual Report Lawra-Tumu District 1919, NAG-A ADM 56/2/453.

¹⁰⁶ Northern Territories Annual Report 1920.

¹⁰⁷ Annual Report Northern Province 1921, NAG-A ADM 56/1/496 and John Pitcher to CCNT, 6 Oct. 1922, NAG-A ADM 56/1/256.

¹⁰⁸ Mines Department Annual Report 1923, PRO CO 98/36.

¹⁰⁹ Monthly Arrival of Indentured Labour from the Northern Territories, Graph in Mines Department Annual Report 1922–1923, PRO CO 98/38.

¹¹⁰ Northern Territories Annual Report 1921.

¹¹¹ A report that 2,225 labourers had arrived at the railway workings between May and Dec. 1921 roughly tallies with this figure. Secretary for Mines to CCNT, 25 Jan. 1922, NAG-A ADM 56/1/315. 1,070 of these 1921 railway workers came from the Northern Province of the Protectorate. Northern Province Annual Report 1921, NAG-A ADM 56/1/1496.

¹¹² Northern Territories Annual Report 1922–1923.

¹¹³ Mines Department Annual Report 1922–1923. PRO CO 98/38.

¹¹⁴ Totals from Reports from Secretary for Mines to CCNT Apr. 1922–Mar. 1923, NAG-A ADM 56/315.

¹¹⁵ Northern Territories Annual Report 1922–1923.

¹¹⁶ In Nov. 1921, two ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs of mine labourers were distributed to political officers. ‘The idea is to show the Chiefs and people that conditions cannot be as bad as they are painted.’ Commissioner, Southern Province to District Commissioner, Yendi, 22 Nov. 1921, NAG-A ADM 56/1/256.

¹¹⁷ Deputy CCNT to D.C., Yendi, 2 Nov. 1922, NAG-A ADM 56/256.

¹¹⁸ Monthly Arrivals of Indentured Labourers from the Northern Territories. Graph in Mines Department Annual Report 1922–1923, PRO CO 98/38.

¹¹⁹ Governor's Message to Legislative Council, 2 July 1923, Sessional Paper No. V 1923–1924, PRO CO 98/39.

¹²⁰ Report of Ordinary General Meeting of Abbontiakoon Mines Ltd, 17 July 1924, Enc. in Fanti Consolidated Mines Ltd to C.O., 28 July 1924, PRO CO 96/651 and Mines Department Annual Report 1923–1924, PRO CO 98/40.

¹²¹ See below, p. 100.

¹²² See, for example, Deputy CCNT to D.C., Tamale, 31 Oct. 1922, Deputy CCNT to D.C., Yendi, 2 Nov. 1922, Commissioner Southern Province to D.C., Bole, 19 Oct. 1922. NAG-A ADM 56/1/256.

¹²³ Acting D.C., E. Dagomba to Commissioner Southern Province 11 May 1922, NAG-A ADM 56/1/256.

¹²⁴ Commissioner Northern Province Official Diary, Mar. 1921, NAG-A ADM 56/1/270.

¹²⁵ D.C., N. Mamprusi Official Diary, 26 July 1922, NAG-A ADM 56/1/319.

¹²⁶ Commissioner Southern Province Official Diary, 4 Mar. 1921, NAG-A ADM 56/1/276.

¹²⁷ Annual Report Northern Province 1923–1924, NAG-A ADM 56/1/505.

¹²⁸ ‘These chiefs complain that they have to work the farms with old persons and children, and it really looks as if they were stating the truth.’ CCNT to Secretary for Mines, 6 June 1922, NAG-A ADM 56/1/315.

¹²⁹ Precis of N. Mamprusi Diary of 21 Aug. 1922, made by Commissioner Northern Province, NAG-A ADM 56/1/281.

¹³⁰ CCNT Official Diary, 26 Oct. 1923, NAG-A ADM 56/1/358.

¹³¹ Acting Commissioner Northern Province Official Diary, 22 Oct. 1923, NAG-A ADM 56/1/281.

¹³² Governor Guggisberg to Duke of Devonshire, 19 Jan. 1924, Enclosing Acting Commissioner Northern Province to CCNT, 9 Nov. 1923. PRO CO 96/644.

¹³³ Ellis's colleague, Reed, while noting that ‘In dealing with the primitive races of Africa it is difficult to say where persuasion ends and compulsion begins—especially when it is remembered that most (if not all) of them are living under a patriarchal system which places great power in the hands of the Chief’, proposed that at the very least, no further government assistance should be given in mine recruiting. Minutes by Ellis (6 Feb. 1924) and Reed (9 Feb. 1924) on ibid. and draft telegram to Governor.

¹³⁴ Governor Clifford to W. Long, 18 Sept. 1918, PRO CO 96/592.

¹³⁵ The tone of their arguments, however, could have done little for their case. As the Medical Officer at the Abosso Mine put it, ‘we must simply let it [T.B.] kill the most susceptible and immunize the others in the course of generations, but it is inconceivable that here we could prevent the sufferers from going underground … Medical Officer, Abosso Mine to Principal Medical Officer, 18 June 1917, enc. in ibid.

¹³⁶ Governor Guggisberg to Duke of Devonshire, 28 Nov. 1923, PRO CO 96/641.

¹³⁷ Minute by Ellis of 28 Dec. 1923 on ibid., and Draft to Governor of 22 Jan. 1924.

¹³⁸ Tarquah and Abosso Consolidated Ltd to C.O., 1 Feb. and 14 Apr. 1924, PRO CO 96/651.

¹³⁹ These gave death rates for the full year 1923–1924 for Northern Territories labourers of 6·5, 3·1 and 10.·03 per cent respectively for the Abbontiakoon, Prestea, and Tarquah and Abosso Mines. Officer Acting for Governor to Secretary of State, teleg, 19 June 1924, and Minute by Ellis of 20 June 1924, PRO CO 96/647.

¹⁴⁰ Draft to Officer Acting for the Governor from Secretary of State of July 1924, and to Sir William Simpson of 7 July 1924 on ibid.

¹⁴¹ Report to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the Sanitary Conditions of the Mines and Mining Villages in the Gold Coast Colony and Ashanti. Sir William Simpson to C.O., 24 Nov. 1924, PRO CO 96/652.

¹⁴² Officer Acting for the Governor to J. H. Thomas, 18 July 1924, PRO CO 96/648.

¹⁴³ Governor Guggisberg to L. S. Amery, 15 Apr. 1925, PRO CO 96/654.

¹⁴⁴ Minute by Ellis of 13 Dec. 1923 on Guggisberg to Duke of Devonshire, 9 Nov. 1923, PRO CO 96/641.

¹⁴⁵ See above, p. 98.

¹⁴⁶ Acting D.C., W. Gonja to Commissioner Southern Province, 19 Aug. 1924, NAG-A ADM 56/1/256.

¹⁴⁷ For example, of twenty-five Dagarti, one was an elderly man, one suffered from an ulcer on the left ankle, one had both arms deformed from fractures, and one suffered from a hernia. Other gangs included young lads, small boys, old men with conjunctivitis, and several men blind in one eye, together with a high incidence of hernias and ulcers. Report… by Sir William Simpson. Sir William Simpson to C.O.,24 Nov. 1924, PRO CO 96/652.

¹⁴⁸ Ibid.

¹⁴⁹ Governor Guggisberg to L. S. Amery, 19 June 1925, and author's calculations from Enclosures, PRO CO 96/655.

¹⁵⁰ Memo. on Mines by Secretary for Mines, 19 Nov. 1925, in Memoranda prepared for the Visit of Ormsby Gore, PRO CO 96/662.

¹⁵¹ Colonial Secretary to CCNT, 8 Dec. 1927, NAG-A ADM 56/1/383.

¹⁵² Official Diary, E. Gonja, 20 May 1936, NAG-Tamale ADM 1/275.