"Mohr to Basel"

Discussing the problem of finding a labour force for building the Begoro mission buildings he points out that there is an advantage in teaching Akem people to do the jobs, since if you bring in strangers you have to pay their debts before bringing them so far into the interior. He is nevertheless hoping to bring some masons and sawyers come to Begoro from Akwapim in the next year. He is having struggles getting agreement at prices which he feels are appropriate for the various jobs for which he was to pay. The situation has been exacerbated by the fact that 2 weeks before his arrival (in the first week of December) the Begoro men and their king had to go Kibi on account of the war, and seem to have used their time getting information of the prices which the mission payed for things in Kibi, which they now have an inflate idea. Eventually rent was agreed 2 dollars for Mohr’s house, and 1 ½ for the Catechists. People were wanting 1 shilling and sometimes even as much as ½ dollar for a days’ work (the mission wants to pay 6d). Mohr mentions that in Kukurantumi the carriers had refused to go to the coast for less than 2 dollars per load. One important development is that within a week of arriving there are 15 male baptismal candidates, some of them with wives and children. Their seriousness was tested by their being asked to work on the mission buildings for 6d a day, and they agreed. The catechist’s name is Oben. The final passage concerns the situation in Akim. Part is based on information circulating. He had been based on Kibi before setting out for Begoro, though also had travelled to Aburi. The sending of Bonnat and Prince Ansah to Salaga should have ended the conflict, but they were prevented from doing this by the Juabens. In the period when neither the Asantes nor the Juabens were gaining a decisive advantage in the fighting the Juabens sent the jawbones of executed prisoners of war to Kibi, Akropong and Accra meaning to ask whether they should fight against the Asantes. Dr Gouldberry’s visit was surrounded by rumours - at one stage he seemed to have disappeared. Mohr says he knows little about the course of the war except that the Juabens have come to Akem as refugees, and are now scattered in many of the Akim villages. Dome, near Fankyeneko which since the slave emancipation had been deserted, is now peopled by Asantees. The king of Juaben arrived in Kibi on the evening of 9th December with only 15 of his 200 wives. A letter arrived from the governor on December 13th asking whether he proposed to remain in the Protectorate, and if so forbidding him, to engage in military operations against Asante. On the same day he sent a reply that he had decided to remain in the protectorate – he has already pointed out a site for settlement between Ahabante and Kukurantumi. This means the English have gone some way to fulfilling their policy of getting Akem settled. From Kwahu there is news that there are two parties, one wanting to maintain the Asante connection, the other not. Kumasi ambassadors sent to Kwahu have been imprisoned and brought to Kibi, and exactly how things will shape in the future is not clear.

26.12.1875

26.12.1875

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