The Colonial Office's bold strategy brought it into conflict with the Royal Niger Company, chaired by Sir George Goldie, which possessed title rights to large stretches of the River Niger. Interested in the area as an economic asset, Goldie had yet to assume governing responsibilities, leaving the territory open to incursion by the French, who sent small garrisons to the area with the intention of controlling it. Though Salisbury wished to subordinate the needs of West Africa to the requirement of establishing British supremacy on the River Nile, Chamberlain believed that every territory was worth competing for. Chamberlain was dismayed to learn in 1897 that the French had expanded from Dahomey to Bussa, a town claimed by Goldie. Further French growth in the region would have isolated Lagos from territory in the hinterland, thereby limiting its economic growth. Chamberlain therefore argued that Britain should "even at the cost of war – to keep an adequate Hinterland for the Gold Coast, Lagos & the Niger Territories."