and all dust and filth of every sort thereon to be collected and removed; and shall cause all dust, ashes, and rubbish to be removed away from the houses and tenements of the inhabitants of the Concession at convenient hours and times, and shall cause the privies and cesspools within the said limits to be from time to time emptied and cleansed in a sufficient and proper manner; and every owner or occupier of any building or land within the said limits, or any other person whatever, who refuses to permit the scavengers employed by the Council to remove such dust, ashes or rubbish as by this Bye-law they are authorized to do, or who wilfully obstructs said scavengers in the performance of their duty, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding 20 dollars.

6. Every person who wilfully displaces, takes up, or makes any alteration in the pavement, flags, or other materials of any street, bunding, or jetties under the management of the Council, without their consent in writing, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 25 dollars.

7. When any building materials or other things are laid, or any hole made in any of the streets, whether the same be done by order of the Council or not, the person or persons laying such materials or causing such hole to be made, shall, at his own expense, cause a sufficient light to be fixed in a proper place on or near the same, and continue such light every night from sun-setting to sun-rising while such materials or hole remain; and such perso shall, at his own expense, cause such materials or other things and such hole to be sufficiently fenced and inclosed until such materials or other things are removed, or the hole filled up, or otherwise made secure. And every such person who fails so to light, fence, or inclose the same, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding 25 dollars. 8. No person shall obstruct the public roads or footpaths with any kind of goods or building materials under a penalty not exceeding 50 dollars, and of a further penalty not exceeding 25 dollars for every day of continued obstruction; and in case on the expiry of the first twenty-four hours after notice to remove same shall have been given to the owner of them, or the person using, employing, or having control over same, the said goods or materials shall have meanwhile not been removed, or in the absence of any such person, or in case of inability on the part of the Council to find him, the Council shall have authority to remove and retain the same until the expense of such removal shall have been repaid; or may recover the expense of such removal as damages, or may seil the same to recover such expenses, holding the balance, if any, after payment of penalties, expenses, and costs, to the use of the person entitled to the same.

9. In the case of any stagnant pool, ditch, or pond of water,

M ?

pig-stye, cow-house, stable, privy, or any other building, construction, or thing, being reported as a nuisance by the Medical Officer of Health, or his duly appointed substitute, the Secretary of the Council shall forthwith give notice to the owner or occupier, or reputed owner or occupier, or agent, that such nuisance must be removed; and if the same be not removed within a time considered reasonable by the Council, the Council may abate such nuisance at the expense of the owner or occupier of such property, the same being recoverable as damages.

Gambling of every description is strictly prohibited within the Concession, and the occupier of any building in which it is carried on shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 500 dollars for each. offence.

10. No foreigner or Chinese shall vend opium, spirits, or liquors of any description by retail, or open a house of public entertainment, theatre, music-hall, billiard saloon, &c., or set up a pawnbroking establishment, without a licence first obtained from the Council and countersigned by Her Britannic Majesty's Consul, and upon good and sufficient security given for the maintenance of order in such establishment. And in respect of such licence or licences the Council may charge on such scale as may be authorized at any public meeting of the electors duly convened, not exceeding the following, that is to say :

For every public tea or coffee-house, or opium shop

6 to 200

6

Every person opening, or keeping, or holding any such shop, store, house of public entertainment, theatre, saloon, or establishment, without having first obtained a licence as above, shall, over and above the cost of the licence and summons, be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 dollars for every such offence, and every land-renter who shall permit his premises to be used as such shop, store, house of public entertainment, saloon or establishment, after one month's notice by the Council that a licence has been refused to the occupier, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 dollars,

with an additional fine not exceeding 10 dollars for every twentyfour hours of continued disobedience of this Bye-law.

11. All persons creating a disturbance, and all persons guilty of furious and improper riding or driving, or the leading of horses up and down the "bund" or other streets of the Concession for exercise, or firing crackers, or who shall commit any act which may legitimately come within the meaning of the term "nuisance," shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 50 dollars.

12. Nothing in these Bye-laws contained shall be construed to render lawful any act or omission on the part of any person which is, or would be, deemed to be a nuisance at common law from prosecution or action in respect thereof, according to the forms or proceeding at common law, nor from the consequences of being convicted thereof.

REGULATIONS for the Navigation of the Niger.-April 19,

[No. XL, 1894.]

1894.

THE ROYAL NIGER COMPANY (CHARTERED AND LIMITED).

WHEREAS Chapter V of the General Act of Berlin, 1885,* otherwise known as the Niger Navigation Act, declares the navigation of the waterways of the basin of the Niger to be free for the merchantships of all nations equally, whether with cargo or ballast, for the transportation of goods and passengers, and that any rules which may be established by the Riverain Powers for the safety and control of navigation shall be drawn up in a way to facilitate, as far as possible, the circulation of merchant-ships, and further provides that the Riverain Powers may make any rules of navigation whatever which shall not be contrary to the spirit of their respective engagements under the Niger Navigation Act;

And whereas the General Act of Brussels, 1890,† imposes conditions and restrictions on the importation and transit of fire-arms and ammunition into African territories comprised between the 20th parallel of north latitude and the 22nd parallel of south latitude, and provides that "the Government shall take all measures they may deem necessary to insure as complete a fulfilment as possible of the provisions respecting the importation, the sale, and transport of fire-arms and ammunition, as well as to prevent either the entry or exit thereof by their inland frontiers, or the conveyance thereof to regions where the Slave Trade exists;"

And whereas in that portion of the basin of the Niger known as + Vol. LXXXII, page 55.

* Vol. LXXVI, page 4,

the Niger Territories, which are under the Protectorate of Great Britain, the Royal, Niger Company (Chartered and Limited), is the Riverain Government, acting under powers conferred on it by Charter from Her Majesty, dated the 10th July, 1886 ;*

And whereas by the Declaratory Regulation of the Company, made on the 16th December, 1887, it was declared, for greater security, that the provisions of the said Niger Navigation Act were formally incorporated in the Regulations of the Niger Territories;

And whereas it is now desirable to lay down rules under which navigation shall be conducted on the waterways of the Niger Territories;

And whereas the Council of the Company is authorized by the provisions of the Charter and the constitution of the Company to perform all legislative and executive acts on behalf of the Company;

The following Regulation has been duly made by the Council, this 19th day of April, 1894 :—

(A.) This Regulation may be cited as "The Niger Navigation Regulation (1894)," or, numerically, as "Regulation No. XL (1894)."

(B.) Merchant-vessels passing in transit from the sea to inland ports beyond the Niger Territories shall enter and clear in transit at one of the custom-houses established from time to time for that purpose, at or near the seaboard of the Niger Territories.

(C.) Vessels returning to the sea in transit from inland places beyond the Niger Territories shall enter and clear in transit at the nearest custom-house, established from time to time for that purpose, near the inland frontier of the Niger Territories.

(D.) Merchant-vessels in transit may, as heretofore, call for fuel, provisions, and other necessaries at the numerous ports of entry, and other wooding stations not being ports of entry, on the banks of the waterways of the Niger Territories, and the purchase of such necessaries shall, as heretofore, be held not to be a loading or discharging of cargo under clause (E) of this Regulation.

(E.) The transit certificates given to such merchant-vessels shall be shown to the authorities of the Company at all ports of entry or wooding stations within the Niger Territories at which such vessels may call while in transit, and shall, as heretofore, free them from all further customs formalities, so long as they do not load or discharge cargo within the Niger Territories or otherwise infringe the territorial regulations of the Niger Territories.

(F.) Persons in charge of merchant-vessels passing in transit shall, if they desire it, be furnished at the custom-house, where they enter and clear, with a collection of such of the territorial regula

* Vol. LXXVII, page 1022.

tions of the Niger Territories as are applicable to them, at a reasonable charge, which shall be the same for persons of all nationalities.

(G.) Lists of the custom-houses, ports of entry, and other wooding stations shall be published from time to time in the "Niger Gazette," and in newspapers of the neighbouring Colonies or Protectorates of every nation, or by notice to the Executive authorities of these Colonies or Protectorates. Until the publication of such lists, the custom-houses for merchant-vessels in transit shall be, as heretofore, Akassa, near the mouth of the Nun branch of the Niger; Gana-Gana, near the mouth of the Forcados branch; and Yola, on that affluent of the Niger known as the River Benué, and the ports of entry shall be, as heretofore:

And the wooding stations, not being ports of entry, shall be as

(H.) Any portion of the merchandize on any merchant-vessel which is entered and cleared for the Niger Territories may be declared in transit to places beyond the Niger Territories, provided such merchandize is so stowed as to enable it to be duly sealed in transit by the Customs officers of the Company, and provided an undertaking is given by the person in charge of such merchantvessel that it will call at the proper custom-house before leaving the Niger Territories to have the seals removed, but the Customs officials at the place where such merchant-vessel shall be entered and cleared.