294 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 14, 1912. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. Wolstenholine and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date August 26, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



A fair bu-siness has been done in AVest Indian Sea Island 

 cotton during the past fortnight, at the reduced prices men- 

 tioned in our last report. 



The bulk of the business was from lid. to 16f?., with 

 Stains 8hd. to 9^-d. and odd lots of extra quality St. Vincent 

 at higher prices. 



The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending August 3, is, generally, as follows: — 



The market has continued dull with no enquiry, the only 

 sales being 72 bales Fully Fine to Extra Fine slightly off in 

 preparation, for English account. 



The Development of Cotton-growing in 

 India. — On July 1, the Earl of Crewe, Secretary of State 

 for India, received at the India Office a deputation of 

 English and Indian members of the International Cotton 

 Committee, the purpose of which was to urge the necessity 

 for the development of cotton-growing in India. In intro- 

 ducing the deputation. Sir Charles Macara referred to the 

 steady, increasing consumption of Indian cotton, outside of 

 that country, and to the fact that circumstances make it 

 easier to enlarge greatly the production of cotton in India 

 than in any other country. Among the speakers was 

 Mr. J. W. McConnel, who referred to what he had seen 

 in the matters of cotton-growing and experimentation with 

 the plant while on a visit to the West Indies (as a 

 delegate to the Agricultural Conference of this year), 

 speaking in favourable terms of the work of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture, and of the local agricul- 

 tural departments, and contrasting the comparatively large 

 number of skilled investigators that are available for 

 cotton experimentation, in these i-slands, with the number of 

 Europeans in the Agricultural Department of the United 

 Provinces of India that may be employed for the purpose. 



After the Marquis of Crewe had replied sympathetically, 

 stating that it was the desire of the Government of India to 

 set aside an increasing amount of money, not only for 

 cotton —the importance of which the Government recognized 

 — but for the encouragement of agriculture generally. Sir 

 Charles Macara thanked his Lordship on behalf of the depu- 

 tation, which then withdrew. 



COTTON-GROWING IN THn; ANGLO- 

 EGYPTIAN SUDAN. 



In reviewing the Annual Iteport of the British Cotton 

 Growing Association for 1911, in the Agrindlural Nors ol 

 July 6, it was stated that the want of space forbade the treat- 

 ment of certain matters that appeared in the report. These 

 matters were concerned chiefly with cotton-growing in the 

 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan; as however, the information in the 

 report has been supplanted by the details in Pamphlet 

 No. 49, issued by the British Cotton Growing Association 

 in May 1912, the contents of this will receive attention 

 instead. 



This pamphlet deals with the recent visit of Mr. J. A. 

 Hutton, the Chairman of the Association, to the Sudan, for 

 the purpose of viewing the prospects of the extension of 

 cotton-growing in that country. Mr Hutton gave a des- 

 cription of the journey made by him, together with other 

 expert members of the Association, at its annual dinner on 

 May 20. The account of the proceedings at the dinner is 

 reprinted in the pamphlet from the Manchester Guardian 

 for May 21. It is preceded by a copy of the following 

 resolution that was passed at the annual meeting of the 

 Association, held on the same day: — 



'That the attention of His Majesty's Government be 

 drawn to the dangerous position of the supply of the raw 

 material of the Cotton Trade of this country, and to the 

 exceptional opportunity offered in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 

 for the extension of Cotton Growing on a large scale in the 

 immediate future, and to the vital importance to Lancashire 

 of the work being pushed on with all possible speed. 



'That the Government be respectfully requested to make 

 a grant in-aid to the Government of the Sudan of the sum 

 of £200,000, to be spent in experimental and research work 

 for the advancement of Cotton growing in that country. 



'That the Government be also respectfully requested to 

 make arrangements for a loan of £1,000,000 to the Sudan 

 Government for the construction of Irrigation and other 

 works necessary for the rapid development "i the Cotton- 

 growing Districts of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudai.. 



'And that copies of this resolution be sent to the Prime 

 Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of 

 State for Foreign Affairs, and Lord Kitchener of Khitrloum.' 

 lieturning to the subject of the journey, it was stated 

 by Mr. Hutton, in acknowledging the toast of The Cotton 

 Growing Expeditions, proposed by Lord Derby, the President 

 of the Association, that the visit and the journey occupied the 

 time between December 14, 1911 and February 23, 1912; 

 during this period about 9,000 miles was travelled. In 

 Egypt interviews took place with more than seventy- five per- 

 sons including His Highness the Khedive and Lord Kitchener, 

 the Agent-tieneral. In the Sudan, there were almost as many 



