Ashanti ion Nearly Loses its Soul Serious troubles were recently threatened in Ashanti, says Reuter, as a result of the discovery by labourers during the construction of a road of 'a box containing insignia belonging to the Golden Stool of Ashanti which had been stolen. The local chief, realizing the importance of the find, stopped all labour, and informed the authorities.
Wild rumours spread throughout the country, arid it was declared that the Government had seized the stool. Without delay Mr, Harper, the Chief Commissioner, set all fears at rest by issuing a declaration that the Government would not demand the Stool, or any of the insignia attached to it. He placed the inquiry into the theft in the hands of the Ashanti chiefs themselves. The culprits were brought to book. No disturbance occurred, and the excitement abated.
The incident, if badly handled, might have been very serious, for the Stool, of no intrinsic value, is held to contain the Spirit of the Ashanti native, and had it been lost the nation would have been deprived of its soul.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.