Report / Gambia.

Date:
[1906]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report / Gambia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/26 (page 13)
    III.—LEGISLATION. 46. Fifteen Ordinances were passed during the year, the more important of which were: —The Customs Tariff Ordin¬ ance (No. 1), of 1906, under which the duty on kola nuts was increased from twopence to threepence per pound and on un¬ manufactured tobacco from threepence to fourpence per pound. 47. The Slave Trade (Abolition) Ordinance (No. 5), 1906, which repeals the Slave Trade (Abolition) Ordinance of 1894 and differs from that enactment in that under section 4 it is presumed that all slaves brought into the Protectorate are so brought for the purpose of being treated as slaves unless the contrary is shewn. Under section 5 a report has to be made to the Commissioners when any slaves are brought into the Protectorate. By section 6 all slaves coming in or being brought into the Protectorate are, ipso facto, free. In the same w~ay by section 9 all children born of slaves shall, after the commencement of the Ordinance be free from their birth, and by section 11 all slaves become free on the death of their master. 48. Under the Judgments Extension Ordinance (No. 13), 1906, judgments obtained in certain of the courts in Sierra Leone are made effective in the Colony of the Gambia, and Ordinance No. 14, “The Registration of Medical Practitioners and Dentists Ordinance, 1906,” requires all persons practising either medicine or dentistry to be registered, and provides that only persons whose qualifications are thus registered shall be entitled to sue for and recover fees in a court of law. IV.—EDUCATION. 49. The number of schools in the Colony and Protectorate was the same in 1906 as it was in 1905. - 50. The total number of children on the rolls of the primary schools in Bathurst was 1,062, or 61 more than in 1905. 401 children were presented for examination in the standards, and 112 in the sub-standards; of these, 268 passed in the former, and 70 in the latter. The school which gained the highest percentage at the annual examination was the Saint Mary’s Anglican School; four years ago it took the lowest place, so the improvement is very marked. Owung to various causes it was not possible to examine the McCarthy Island School in 1906. 51. The secondary school, under the management of the Wesleyan Society, was continued during the year. There were 17 boys on the rolls, and the average attendance was 14. This school is not under the Board of Education, but I have, by invitation, inspected it, and I cannot say the results were more