A few statistics relating to this subject recently came into my hands, and although the results obtained from them cannot be considered to be of great weight, a short communication may be of interest. In the hope that useful information might be forthcoming, I made enquiry as to whether any record is kept of the dates of departure, death, or retirement of persons who go out in the employment of African merchants to the West Coast; and ascertained that it was unlikely that data could be supplied from that source. But I thought it worth while to make similar enquiry at the Colonial Office; and although the West African department could not officially furnish me with information, as they had none here of which they could vouch for the accuracy, I obtained, through the courtesy of one of the officials, the particulars given below. These were contained in a list of all the Europeans employed by the Governments of the four West African Colonies—the Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Lagos—during the ten years, 1 January 1881 to 31 December 1890, showing when their service began, and, if ended before 31 December 1890, when and why it ended.