The High Commissioner, in issuing such Proclamations, shall respect any native laws by which the civil relations of any native Chiefs, tribes, or populations under Her Majesty's protection are now regulated, except so far as the same may be incompatible with the due exercise of Her Majesty's power and jurisdiction, or clearly injurious to the welfare of the said natives.

7. Every Proclamation of the Iligh Commissioner shall be published in the Gazette," and shall, from and after a date to be mentioned in such Proclamation, and thereafter until disallowed by Her Majesty or repealed or modified by any subsequent Proclamation, have effect as if contained in this Order; and the High Commissioner shall take such measures as he thinks proper for giving due publicity thereto within Northern Nigeria.

8. Her Majesty may disallow any such Proclamation wholly or in part, and may siguify such disallowance by Order in Council or through a Secretary of State, and upon such disallowance being publicly notified in the "Gazette," the provisions so disallowed shall, from and after a date to be mentioned in such notification, cease to have effect, but without prejudice to anything theretofore lawfully done thereunder. Due notification shall be publicly made by the High Commissioner within Northern Nigeria of the disallowance of any such Proclamation.

9. There shall be a public seal of and for Northern Nigeria which the High Commissioner shall keep and use for sealing all things whatsoever that shall pass the said seal: provided that until a public seal shall be provided, the private seal of the High Commissioner may be used as the public seal of Northern Nigeria.

10. The High Commissioner may, upon sufficient cause to him appearing, suspend from the exercise of his office any person holding or exercising any office within Northern Nigeria, whether appointed by the High Commissioner or under or by virtue of any commission or warrant granted, or which may be granted, by Her Majesty in Her Majesty's name or under Her Majesty's authority, which suspension shall continue and have effect only until Her Majesty's pleasure therein shall be signified to the High Commissioner by a Secretary of State. The High Commissioner, in proceeding to any such suspension, shall observe the directions in that behalf given to him by any instructions from Her Majesty or signified through a Secretary of State.

11. The High Commissioner may, as he shall see occasion, when any crime has been committed within Northern Nigeria, or for which the offender may be tried therein, grant a pardon in Her Majesty's name to any accomplice, not being the actual perpetrator of such crime, who shall give such information and evidence as shall lead to the apprehension and conviction of the principal offender;

and further, may grant to any offender convicted of any crime in any Court, or before any Judge, Justice, Magistrate, or other officer within Northern Nigeria, a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions, or any respite of the execution of the sentence of any such offender, for such period as to the High Commissioner may seem fit, and may remit any fines, penalties, or forfeitures, which may become due and payable.

12. Subject to the provisions of this Order or of any Proclamation made under this Order, all Statutes, Orders in Council, Rules, Regulations, or Treaties, together with any jurisdiction exercisable thereunder, whether exercisable by Her Majesty or by any person on her behalf, or by any Court within Northern Nigeria, or under any Commission, or under any Charter granted by Her Majesty, which at the commencement of this Order are in force within the limits of this Order or any part of such limits, shall remain in full force; and every suit, action, complaint, matter, or thing, civil or criminal, which shall be depending in any Court within Northern Nigeria at the commencement of this Order, shall, and may be proceeded with, in such Court in like mauner as if this Order had not been passed.

13. In the event of the death, incapacity, absence, or removal of the High Commissioner from Northern Nigeria, all and every the powers and authorities herein granted to him shall, until Her Majesty's further pleasure is signified therein, be vested in such person or persons as may be appointed by Her Majesty; and in case there shall be no person or persons so appointed by Her Majesty, then in the senior officer for the time being in command of the West African Frontier Force within Northern Nigeria.

14. From and after the coming into operation of this Order, the provisions of the Africa Order in Council, 1889, shall cease to apply to Northern Nigeria, without prejudice to anything lawfully done thereunder.

15. This Order shall be published in the "Gazette," and shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1900, and the High Commissioner shall give directions for the publication of this Order at such places, and in such manner, and for such time or times as he thinks proper for giving due publicity thereto within Northern Nigeria.

16. Her Majesty may from time to time revoke, alter, add to, or amend this Order.

The Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions herein accordingly.

A. W. FITZROY.

BRITISH ORDER IN COUNCIL, fixing the Boundaries and regulating the Administration of Southern Nigeria.— Windsor, December 27, 1899.*

At the Court at Windsor, the 27th day of December, 1899.

PRESENT THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.
Mr. Balfour.

Mr. Ritchie

WHEREAS the territories of West Africa situate within the limits of this Order, as hereinafter described, are under the protection of Her Majesty the Queen;

And whereas by Treaty, grant, usage, sufferance, and other lawful means, Her Majesty has power and jurisdiction in the said territories;

And whereas certain of the said territories were formerly known as the Oil Rivers Protectorate;

And whereas on the 13th day of May, 1893, the name of the said "Oil Rivers Protectorate" was changed to that of the "Niger Coast Protectorate;" +

And whereas by Her Majesty's Royal Charter, dated the 10th day of July, 1886, the National African Company, Limited (in the said Charter and hereinafter referred to as 66 the Company "), were authorized and empowered to hold and retain the full benefit of the several cessions of territories in the basin of the River Niger in Africa therein recited to have been made to the Company by the various Acts of Cession or Treaties specified in the Schedule to the said Charter, or any of them, and all rights, interests, authorities, and powers, for the purpose of government, preservation of public order, protection of the said territories, or otherwise, of what nature or kind soever, under or by virtue thereof or resulting therefrom and ceded to or vested in the Company, in, over, or affecting the territories, lands, and property comprised in those several cessions, or in, over, or affecting any territories, lands, or property in the neighbourhood of the same, and to hold, use, enjoy, and exercise the same territories, lands, property, rights, interests, authorities, and

"London Gazette," January 5, 1900.

+ See Notification, May 13, 1893, Vol. LXXXV, page 1203.
+ Vol. LXXVII, page 1022.

powers respectively, for the purposes of the Company and on the terms of the said Charter;

And whereas the Company were further authorized and empowered, subject to the approval of a Secretary of State, to acquire and take by purchase, cession, or other lawful means, other rights, interests, authorities, or powers of any kind or nature whatever, in, over, or affecting the territories, lands, or property comprised in the several Treaties aforesaid, or any rights, interests, authorities, or powers of any nature or kind whatever, in, over, or affecting other territories, lands, or property in the region aforesaid, and to hold, use, enjoy, and exercise the same for the purposes of the Company, and on the terms of the said Charter;

And whereas by the said Charter it was declared that in case at any time it should be made to appear to Her Majesty in Council expedient that the said Charter should be revoked, it should be lawful for Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and Her Majesty did thereby expressly reserve the right and power by writing under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to revoke the said Charter;

And whereas pursuant to the authority in that behalf given to the Company by the said Charter, the Company, with the approval of a Secretary of State, acquired by Treaties, cessions, or other lawful means, divers further rights, interests, authorities, or powers in, over, or affecting the territories, lands, and property comprised in the several Treaties mentioned or referred to in the said Charter, and divers rights, interests, authorities, and powers, in, over, or affecting other territories, lands, and property in the region aforesaid;

And whereas the name of the Company was, with the previous approval of a Secretary of State, changed from the National African Company, Limited, to the Royal Niger Company, Chartered and Limited ;

And whereas it appeared to Her Majesty in Council expedient that the said Charter should be revoked, and Her Majesty, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, in exercise of the power for that purpose given or reserved to her by the said Charter, and of every other power thereunto enabling her, has revoked the said Charter and all the powers, rights, liberties, and authorities thereby given to the Company, and every clause, matter, and thing in the said Charter contained, without prejudice to anything duly or lawfully done, or any rights, interests, authorities, or powers duly or lawfully acquired by the Company under or by virtue of the said Charter, or any of the powers, rights, liberties, and authorities. thereby given to the Company previously to the revocation thereof;

And whereas it is intended that certain of the territories formerly administered by the Company should be added to the said Niger

Coast Protectorate, and that such territories, together with the said Niger Coast Protectorate, should henceforth be known as the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria;

And whereas it is necessary to provide for the peace, order, and good government of the said Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, and to appoint a High Commissioner for the same:

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by virtue and in exercise of the powers by "The Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890,"* or otherwise, in Her Majesty vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as "The Southern Nigeria Order in Council, 1899.

2. The limits of this Order are the territories of Africa bounded by the following line, namely, a line commencing on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, at the mouth of the Rio del Rey Creek, the right bank of which it follows to the head of the creek, that is, to the northwest end of the island lying to the west of Oron, where the two waterways, named Urüfiae and Ikankan on the German Admiralty Chart of 1889-90, meet. From this point the line strikes direct to the left river-bank of the Old Calabar or Cross River, and terminates, after crossing that river, at the point marked "Rapids" on the English Admiralty Chart. From this point it follows a straight line directed towards the centre of the town of Yola, as it existed in 1893, and, on reaching a point on that line near Ashaku, runs west to Idda on the Niger, leaving Takum to the north. From Idda, which is included in Southern Nigeria, the line runs west to Owo, leaving to the south the Benin territories, then south-west to Akure, which is in the Lagos Protectorate, and then southward past Ikaha, which, with its dependencies, belongs to Southern Nigeria, leaving on the west the Idanre territories and farms, and on the east the Ado or Benin territories and farms. From Ikaha the line runs south along an unnamed creek past Ikotobo and Ajatito until it joins the Lagos Creek at Arogbo. It then follows the Lagos Creek as far as its junction with the Addabrassa Creek, from which point it proceeds in a south-westerly direction to Ogbo on the coast, leaving to the west any territory subject to the King of Mahin.

The territories so bounded shall be known as Southern Nigeria. 3. In this Order, unless the subject or context otherwise requires

"Her Majesty" includes Her Majesty's heirs and successors. "Secretary of State" means one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State.

"Treaty" includes any existing or future Treaty, Convention, Agreement, or Arrangement, made by or on behalf of Her Majesty * Vol. LXXXII, page 656.