Report / Gambia.

Date:
[1909]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report / Gambia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/24 (page 6)
    Tlie surplus funds are invested in Government securities, and on 31st December, 1909, amounted to £29,110 5s. 3d., tlie actual cost having been £28,375 65. 9d. The Colony has no public debt. The legal tender and usual currency is British, but a great number of five-franc pieces are in circulation the estimated value of which is £150,000; and these are received at an exchange value of 3s. 10\d. Bank of England notes are not legal tender but are accepted at the Bank of British West Africa, the only bank in Bathurst. The circulation is small. There is also a little Erench gold in the Colony. The average rate of exchange for bills drawn on London during the year was one per cent. There are two Municipal Boards in the Colony, namely, the Board of Health (which consists of the Senior Medical Officer as Chairman, and the Colonial Engineer (both ex-officio), and six members appointed by the Governor) and the McCarthy Square Board. The revenue of the Board of Health is derived from rates levied on the annual value of house property in the town at 3 per cent., and from fees collected from the slaughter-house, and a grant-in-aid from Government. The following was the revenue received in 1909 :—Local rates, £556; slaughter-house fees, £89; grant-in-aid, £400; miscella¬ neous, £2; total, £1,047. The expenditure under all heads, including scavengering and lighting, amounted to £1,181. The market is under the supervision of an inspector and is visited daily by a medical officer. It is in every way suitable to the requirements and the climate. The slaughter-house is an iron structure built out into the river and approached by a pier. McCarthy Square is situated in the centre of the town and is used as a parade ground by the West African Frontier Force and as a recreation ground for the public. Its upkeep is provided for by a grant from Government. TRADE. The total value of the trade of the Colony, inwards and out¬ wards, for the year 1909 amounted to £882,524, against £764,878 in 1908, an increase of £117,646. The total value of all imports was £404,560, against £390,740 in 1908, being an increase of £13,820. The following table shows the imports classified so as to distin¬ guish commercial from Government imports and specie for the five vears 1905-1909 : —- 1/