The legislation relating to minerals covered by this Survey in most cases has its origin in a period when the countries in question were still under colonial administration. Amendments have of course been made from time to time both before and since the coming of independence, but generally speaking the basic framework of the principal act has remained unchanged. The colonial governments plainly treated prospecting for, and mining of, minerals as a subject of considerable importance which required careful, and in some respects meticulous, regulation by statute.