BUDGET 7

Nicholas Ngee and Margaret Labam

Nicholas Ngee of Ka Compound is in his forties. Both he and his wife, Margaret
Labam, are Roman Catholics, and have a large family of 7 children, the two youngest being twins and aged about 2 years. Margaret is in her thirties and, with the assistance of her daughter (Natasha, aged 14 years), works 2.1 acres. One son (aged 16 years) is at the R.C. school at Shishong, but returns for week-ends and holidays. Nicholas is a tailor and works each day in a small stall in the Hausa market, but occasionally goes to the Mbiami market (5 hours' walk distant) in the hope of augmenting his earnings. He has a bad goitre, is sickly, and is unable to give his wife much assistance on the farm. She even looks after the tiny coffee-plantation started in March 1947. She and Natasha earn a few shillings a year from petty trade in cooked foodstuffs, but the profits are devoted to the purchase of greens, groundnuts, baskets, and odd trinkets. Nicholas belongs to two djanggis, one at Mbonyaar and one in his own compound. He also
contributes to the Mbonyaar 'bank'. During the period, 6th October 1947 to 5th
March 1948, there were three occasions when he did not attend the market; but quite apart from this his earnings were small, compared with the earlier part of the year, because custom falls off during the dry season. I recorded the budgets of Margaret and Nicholas during the period mentioned above; and have given an estimate of expenditure and income for the preceding 7 months.

NOTES

(a) The yield of maize in September 1947 was very poor, and by the end of January only a little was left for seed (see main text). From the 7th November Nicholas bought, on an average, one bag of hulled maize a week,
(b) The expenditure on salt and oil was relatively high but Nicholas sent some of these commodities to his wife's kin,
(c) Nicholas smoked while sewing in the market. His expenditure on tobacco earlier in the year, however, was less.
(d) The mudbrick house was large and draughty and small bundles of firewood were purchased for heating.
(e) Margaret usually processed food for trade but the selling was done by Natasha, the daughter, who was sometimes allowed to keep part of the money. She bought a necklace and knitting needles. Her father gave her an old sock and, by unravelling the wool, she knitted a skimpy sweater!
At Christmas in 1947 Nicholas gave his wife a dress worth 21s. and a headtie (5s. 6d.). Natasha received a dress worth 6s., and each of the sons received a pair of shorts, worth 2s. Total value 38s. 6d., but the cloth had been bought early in 1947 and involved no cash outlay at the time.
(f) On the 15th November Nicholas bought 2 fowls ( 1s. 6d. each) and 2 calabashes of palmwine at 6d. each and presented them to the new sub-lineage head. His expenses to his own kin were thus heavier than normally. The amount expended on gifts to wife's kin was difficult to estimate. Nicholas said that in one year he gave salt and oil to the value of
14s., but about 8s. worth of this was drawn from household supplies, previously purchased at Mbonyaar. I have estimated a cash outlay of 3s. for the 5 months. In addition he spent 1s. on palmwine every two months for his affines.
(g) Nicholas belonged to Mbonyaar 'bank' and on the 7th October, and again on the 27th January, he drew out 30s. He paid 2s. 6d. interest when he returned the first amount after 2 months.
(h) Margaret bought small quantities of cassava at a total cost of 4:s. She made gruel and sold it for 6s. 6d.
(i) Margaret bought dwarf beans for 1s. 6d., made bean balls, and sold them for 1s. 9d.
(j) Margaret bought maize (3d.), brewed beer and sold it for 4d.
(k) During this five month period when I recorded his budget, Nicholas bought cloth to the value of 61s. 9d. During this same period he also 'cooked' the Ka djanggi for 29s., and

drew out sums from the bank to meet this heavy expenditure. From his own budget and his statements about earnings, I estimated that he made on an average 3s. a week profit on the cloth made into garments. In addition he earned about 1s. 9d. a week from sewing for people who provided their own cloth.
(m) I have allowed 20s. for cost of staples, and 25s. for oil, salt, meat and groundnuts.
(n) See (e) above. In addition to the clothes mentioned, Nicholas also provided his schoolboy son with shorts and a shirt (6s. 6d.). I have allowed an expenditure of 15s. for clothes for himself.
(o) On the 22nd April, and also on the 17th June 1947, Nicholas drew out 30s. from the bank, and paid a total of 5s. interest.
(p) At the beginning of May 1947 Nicholas 'cooked' the Mbonyaar djanggi for £4, and provided wine and beer to the value of 5s. The remaining 2s. 6d. should have been included in the budget for the last 5 months when he 'cooked' the Ka djanggi.
(q) See (b) and (f) above.
(r) When She-o-Ka was installed as sub-lineage head, Margaret cooked extra food to the value of 9d. for the guests. On another occasion she gave cocoyam (3d.) to the wives of her husband's kinsman, who was having a house built. I have allowed an outlay in kind to the amount of 2s. for the whole year; and a similar amount for income in kind. She was given a hoe-handle by Alphonse who lived in the coupound.
(s) In addition to about 8s. worth of salt and oil from household supplies, Margaret and Nicholas estimated that they gave food to the value of about 2s. a year to Margaret's kin when they visited Kimbaw. But, on the other hand, Margaret also received gifts from her relatives.
(t) Margaret was given a farmbag (9d.) at Christmas, and I have allowed another 3d. for odd gifts.
(u) Margaret and her husband worked for short periods at the Mission in order to make the payment for their contribution cards.
(v) At the end of 1946, Nicholas had built a sun-dried mudbrick house for his family, so he had no outlay for repairs during 1947. In his spare time he made a few bricks and said he might sell them later.
(w) In September, 1947, Margaret harvested only 4 1/2 vegati of maize; and in January, 1948, only 3/4 kegati of finger millet.
(x) Margaret's yam harvest at the end of 1946 was diseased, so she did not plant any yams in February, 1947.
(y) Margaret and Natasha weeded a small grove of plantains, but there was no surplus of fruit for sale. In addition, Margaret tended a few coffee plants which had been set about March, 1947