Gold Coast
Expenditure, Loans, Export Trade, Railway
| Expenditure 1897-1900 (Inclusive.)293 | Liabilities incurred 1897-1902. (Incomplete.) | Export trade 1897-1900. (Inclusive.)294 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1897 | £406,370 | 1897 | £ nil. | ||
| 1898 | 377,976 | 1898 | 265,000 | 1897 | £857,793 |
| 1899 | 309,656 | 1899 | 100,000 | 1898 | 992,998 |
| 1900 | 272,303 | 1900 | 928,300 | 1899 | 1,111,738 |
| 1902 | 1,035,000 | 1900 | 885,446 | ||
| Total | £1,366,305 | Total | £2,328,300 | Total | £3,847,975 |
Expenditure, £1,366,305; Liabilities incurred (incomplete), £2,328,300 Export trade, £3,847,975.
The Gold Coast Report for 1901 has not yet been published. According to the statement made this year before the Legislative Council of the Colony by Sir Matthew Nathan, the Imperial Government advanced £400,000 on account of the last Ashanti expedition, but whether this sum includes the £202,300 advanced for the same purpose in 1900 is not clear. Assuming that it does, the liabilities incurred by the Colony from 1897 to 1902 inclusive will amount: (1) Loans by Imperial Government, £1,491,000; (2) Gold Coast Government Loan, £1,035,000; Total, £2,328,300.
The Ashanti Blue Book (1901) estimated the total cost of administrating Ashanti at about £60,000 per annum. According to Sir Matthew Nathan’s statement referred to above, the expenditure in 1902 may be set down at £107,148. Assuming these figures to be correct, the total expenditure in Ashanti from 1897 to 1902 (reckoning an expenditure of £60,000 in 1901) works out at the very large figure of £319,385, entirely exclusive of grants-in-aid (assuming the £202,300 in 1900 to be incorporated in the £400,000 advance), amounting to £695,000. Up to and including 1900, the revenue of Ashanti was £3406. In the Ashanti Blue Book already mentioned, the annual revenue for Ashanti is estimated at £14,600, less 10 per cent. to the Chiefs (i.e. less £1460). Assuming this amount to have been collected in 1901 and 1902, the total revenue for Ashanti from 1897 to 1902 inclusive amounted to £29,686, against an expenditure of £319,385, and grants-in-aid to the amount of £695,000.
These figures should be borne in mind when examining the following tables, which do not go farther than 1900, that is to say, as far as the last issued Colonial Office Report.
Expenditure, Grants-in-Aid, and Revenue of the Northern Territories and Ashanti 1897-1900 Inclusive
Totals
| Expenditure. | Grants-in-Aid. | Revenue. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Territories | £213,338 | £195,000 | £7,736 |
| Ashanti | 175,450295 | 202,300 | 3,406 |
Detailed
Northern Territories
| Expenditure. | Grants-in-Aid. | Revenue. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1897-98 | £121,022 | 1898 | £45,000 | 1897 | Nil. |
| 1899 | 54,875 | 1899 | 100,000 | 1898 | ″ |
| 1900 | 37,441296 | 1900 | 50,000 | 1899 | ″ |
| 1900297 | £7,736 | ||||
Ashanti
| Expenditure. Ordinary. | Expenditure. Extraordinary. | Revenue. | Grants-in-Aid. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1897 | £13,723 | 1897 | £151,614298 | 1897 | Nil. | ||
| 1898 | 4,304 | 1898 | 603 | 1898 | ″ | ||
| 1899 | 2,608 | 1899 | 20 | 1899 | ″ | ||
| 1900 | 2,578 | 1900 | Not given. | 1900 | £3,406 | 1900 | £202,300 |
Railway
Position December 31st, 1901: Completed, say, 45 miles;299 sum expended, £389,869.300
Loans from the Imperial Treasury: 1898, £220,000 (Railway Ordinance);301 1900, £676,000 (“certain public works, railway construction,” etc.)302
Future: Officially expected to reach Obuassi end 1902.
Gold Coast Loan: 1902, £1,035,000, “to defray cost of constructing a railway 169¼ miles from Sekondi to Kumasi.”