Answer:
Extra 50 bags were collected by the messengers.
Explanation:
a) Number of bags of cowries levied as fine by the District Commissioner = 200 bags
Number of bags of cowries collected by the messengers = 250 bags
The difference or extra bags collected above the authorized fine = 50 (250 - 200)
b) The extra 50 bags could be bribes collected by the messengers to settle their own selfish interests. They could also represent extras freely donated by the villagers for the messengers' trouble. In the colonial days, when literacy levels were very low among the indigenous peoples of Africa and white men were in charge of governance, it was established that the black "middlemen," called interpreters or messengers, greatly exploited their own people through inflated and wrongful interpretations of fines, contrary to what was levied by the District Commissioners (DCs).