The commerce of Sierra Leone is bound up with the products of the oil palm, which constitute some 75 % of the exports. Next in importance is the kola nut, in universal demand among the natives of West Africa; scarcely any of the nuts reach Europe. Minor exports are ginger, piassava fibre, gum copal, rice and hides. Rub- ber and ivory have virtually ceased to be exported; cotton-growing experiments were abandoned. Native cocoa plantations have been made since 1910 in the Northern Shebro district, but up to I92ococoa did not figure in the exports. From 1909 to 1913 (inclusive) there was a steady expansion of trade, the total value rising from 1,960,- ooo to 3,481,000, imports and exports being almost equally balanced. Revenue showed a corresponding expansion, from 361,000 in 1909 to 618,000 in 1913. Expenditure in the years named was 336,000 and 622,010 respectively. During this period, in 1912, an extension of the railway going north from Boia junction on the Freetown- Liberian border was begun. In 1916 this northern line reached Kamabai, 118 m. from Boia and 182 from Freetown. A loan of 1,000,000 raised in 1913-4 was expended as to 308,000 on railway extension and as to i 10,000 on improvements to Freetown harbour. As to shipping, British tonnage io 1913 was 2,050,000 out of a total of 2,931,000 tons, and during and after the World War the propor- tion of British tonnage increased.
At the beginning of 1914 a fall in the prices paid in Europe for palm kernels, rubber and other products of the country led to a decline of trade, and the outbreak of war in August aggravated con- ditions, as the German market was closed. Some 87% of the palm kernels had been exported to Hamburg, and the British kernel-crush- ing machines could not cope with the great quantity of kernels diverted to the Liverpool market. The erection of new oil mills in England the oil enters largely into the composition of margarine met this difficulty, but in 1915 a decrease in the market value of the kernels led to a smaller return from a larger output than in 1914. By 1917 however the quantity of kernels shipped exceeded that ever previously exported and also realized a higher price. Of 58,000 tons exported France took 1,380; the rest went to the United Kingdom. Thus the readjustment of trade was safely accomplished. As to palm oil, next to kernels the most important export, the greater part was always taken by Britain. (Of 828,750 gal. exported in 1919 the largest quantity exported for io years Great Britain took 819,375 gallons.)
By 1918 the total value of trade was 3,197,000, the United King- dom taking over 50 % of the exports and furnishing over 80 % of the imports, the United States providing the bulk of the other imports. Trade in 1918 surpassed in value that of any year since 1913, and there was a further marked rise in 1919, when exports were valued at 2.101,000 and imports at 2,034,000. Excluding Government imports, exports showed an excess over imports of 12,000, as com- pared with an excess of imports in 1918 to the value of 163,000. The high figures both for 1918 and 1919 were, however, due largely to inflated prices, though there was also an increase in the quantity of exports. Revenue in 1919 was the highest recorded 748,000, expenditure being 740,000. The estimate for 1921 put both revenue and expenditure at over 1,000,000.
The colony and protectorate made progress in spite of the World War. There was an increased demand for education among the natives, chiefly met by the missionary societies, but the Government maintained schools for Moslems, and an agricul- tural training college for vernacular teachers was established at Njala, in the protectorate. In 1919 there were 163 elementary and intermediate schools in the colony and protectorate, with an average attendance of 6,285. Including secondary and tech- nical schools there were in all 192 centres of education with over 12,000 pupils on the rolls. Sir L. Probyn, appointed Governor in 1910, was succeeded (1914) by Sir E. M. Merewether, and (1916) by Mr. R. J. Wilkinson. The natives showed much loyal- ty to Great Britain during the World War, and the Sierra Leone forces played a prominent part in the Cameroon campaign.
Notwithstanding the increase in trade, 1919 witnessed much distress in the colony and protectorate. Owing to adverse wea- ther conditions in 1918 and an epidemic of influenza at harvest time, there was a great shortage of rice and other food crops, and famine resulted. This led in July 1919 to serious rioting, the Syrian traders, who were accused of hoarding food-stuffs, being attacked and driven from their houses and stores. As the bulk of the kola nut trade was in the hands of the Syrians that industry suffered severely. The high price of imported goods also caused much distress. The year was further notable for the prohibition of the import of " trade spirits," but it was not until 1920 that total prohibition was enforced.
See H. O. Newland, Sierra Lenne (1916); N. W. Thomas, Anthro- pological Report on Sierra Le.one (1916) ; H. Michell, An Introduction to the Gtopraphy of Sierra Leone (1919), and the annual reports issued by the Colonial Office, London. ' (F. R. C.)
SIFTON, SIR CLIFFORD (1861- ), Canadian politician, of Irish descent, was born in Middlesex, Ont., May io 1861. His father, John W. Sifton, was Speaker of the Manitoba Assembly, and the son, after graduating at Victoria University, Cobourg, was called to the Manitoba bar in 1882, and six years later entered the Manitoba Legislature as member for North Brandon. He was Attorney-General and Minister of Education in 1891, became K.C. in 1905, and joined Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Dominion Cabinet in 1896 as Minister of the Interior. He represented Canada at the International Conference on Conservation of Re- sources at Washington (1909) and was chairman of the Com- mission for Conserving the National Resources of Canada (1909- 18). From 1910-7 he was Premier of Alberta and president of its Executive Council. In 1917 he became Minister of Customs and Inland Revenue in the Dominion Cabinet, exchanging that portfolio for the Ministry of Public Works in 1919 and becoming Secretary of State for Canada. In that capacity he represented Canada at the Peace Conference in Paris and signed the Treaty of Versailles. He was created K.C.M.G. in 1914 and was sworn of the Privy Council.
SIGHTS (see 25.60). Although in the years before and during the World War, the instruments employed in artillery work were considerably improved and developed, research was in the main directed rather to auxiliary instruments such as range- finders than to gun and rifle and machine-gun sights as such. It may be said, therefore, that the modern artillery sight, as designed before 1914, stood the test of war; and the task of the present article is only to review developments. In one respect, however, those developments were wholly new. The anti- aircraft sight which was virtually non-existent in 1910, has already become an elaborate instrument and its evolution is still in progress. Considerable importance practical rather than technical attaches also to the new machine-gun panorama sight and to the application of aperture sights to the military rifle and light machine-gun.
Gun Sights. The purpose of a sight is to ensure the accurate lay- ing of the gun both in direction and elevation. The sight must provide for movement in a vertical plane to register the " angle of sight," the " tangent angle," and hence the " quadrant angle," and thus the range for which the gun is laid ; also for movement in a horizontal plane, to allow the direction of the gun to be corrected for deviation due to " drift," wind, want of level and any move- ment of the target. In order that the operation of laying shall be unaffected by firing, the sights are in modern equipments fixed to a non-recoiling part of the carriage ; this may be the cradle, the trun- nions, or the intermediate carriage, and, in the last-named case, it must be so connected to the trunnion that the same angular move- ment is given to it as is given to the gun.
Laying for elevation may be accomplished in the following ways : (a) By setting the required tangent angle in the sight and directing the sight-line upon the target, (b) With fixed mountings on level platforms, the quadrant angle may be registered on an elevation or range indicator incorporated in the elevating system ; or, with both field carriage and fixed mountings, the gun may be laid at the required quadrant angle by means of a clinometer, (c) With fixed mountings at a definite height above sea-level, by connecting the sight through a cam with the intermediate carriage in such a man- ner that for a given quadrant angle the sight is automatically depressed to the correct angle of sight.
Laying for direction may be either direct or indirect ; direct when the sight-line is aligned on the target, indirect when a convenient object or auxiliary aiming-mark is used. It may be accomplished as follows: (a) By aligning the sight-line upon the target, the inevitable deviation of the shell from the vertical plane containing the gun being allowed for automatically, or set on the sight as deflection, (b) By using a panoramic sight and any convenient aiming-point; the horizontal angle between aiming-point and target is determined and set on the sight and the latter aligned on the aiming-point, (c) With fixed mountings, by obtaining the direction from an independent source and setting it on the oriented training-arc on the pedestal.
For laying both in elevation and direction it is essential that the sight should be truly vertical. This is attainable easily with a fixed mounting; but with field carriages the wheels or the platform may be out of level; in such a case, the elevation registered on the sight will not be correct, and the gun will shoot towards the lower side. If, however, the verticality of the pivot be maintained, it is immaterial whether the carriage basic structure be level or not. Adjustment for verticality is permitted by the reciprocating principle, in which the sight can always be made to move in a vertical plane parallel to that containing the axis of the gun. Thus the sight-line
