Vol. X. No. 240. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



21.5 



THE BRITISH COTTON GROWING 



ASSOCIATION AND THE 



GOVERNMENT GRANT. 



In the Agricultural News for May 27, 1911, p. 16G, 

 a review was given of the Sixth Annual Report of the British 

 Cotton Growing Association, 1910, in which there appeared 

 the following paragraph: — 



' Reference is made to the promise of His Majesty's 

 Government, in 1909, to effect a grant-in-aid of £10,000 per 

 annum, for a period of three years, to assist in the pioneering 

 and missionary work of the Association, on condition that 

 the latter should raise additional capital to the amount of 

 £150,000, and estaliiish and maintain seven pioneer ginning 

 and l)uying stations in West and East Africa, at the same 

 time supiilying, free of charge, seed for sowing. It is now 

 known that the attempt to raise the capital required has 

 failed, so that other arrangements may have to be made in 

 relation to the matter.' 



The statement in the last sentence of this paragraph was 

 based on a public telegram, dated London, April 27, which 

 was as follows: — 



' The British Cotton Growing Association has announced 

 its failure to raise funds in Lancashire, upon which the 

 Government grant and Colonial culture are dependent.' 



In consequence of what is stated in this telegram, the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture addressed a letter to Mr. .1. A. 

 Hutton, Chairman of the Briti.ih Cotton Growing Association, 

 requesting further information in connexion with the matter. 

 In reply, Mr. Hutton writes, drawing attention to a state- 

 ment on p. 8 of the report mentioned above, which shows 

 that the Association has fulfilled the conditions attached to 

 the Government grant of £10,000 per annum, namely, that 

 additional capital to the amount of £1-50,000 .should be raised. 

 The confusion seems to have arisen from the statement, in 

 the same paragraph of the report, to the effect that the balance 

 of the £500,000 required for the work of the Association has 

 not yet been raised; this, however, was not a condition of the 

 Government grant. 



It is thus evident that, as the conditions have been ful- 

 filled, the Government will assist the Association to the 

 extent of £10,000 for three years. Whether this had been 

 a fact or not, there was little need for apprehension in the 

 West Indies, as the money is to be used entirely in connexion 

 with cotton-growing in Africa. 



Cotton in Uganda. — The Assistant Superintendent 

 of Cotton Cultivation for the Eastern Province, in his report 

 for the month of February 1911, states that instructions have 

 been issued to growers that all old cotton plants must be 

 uprooted and burned by the end of March; a great number of 

 these have aheady been pulled up and stacked in the middle 

 of fields ready for burning, and it is not anticipated that any 

 difficulty will be experienced in having the instructions 

 carried out. 



Very full instructions have been issued with regard to 

 the coming crop. In areas affected last season by boll worm, 

 advice has been given to sow a trap crop of Indian corn. 

 Growers have been told to commence sowing cotton any time 

 after April 15, to finish before the end of July. Preparation 

 of land has been begun early, and in some localities largo 

 numbers of plots have already been broken. Given a favour- 

 able season it is anticipated that the increase in next season's 

 output will be enormous. (From the Supplement to the 

 Uganda Official Gazette, March 31, 1911, p. U4.) 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN 



UGANDA, 1909-10. 



The increase in the export trade is most satisfactory, 

 and is the outstanding feature of the year in the trade of the 

 Protectorate. The domestic exports show an increase in value 

 of £28,906 over the previous highest year, viz., 1907-8. This 

 increase is mainly due to increased exports of cotton, hides 

 and ruliber, which are all staple articles of trade. 



The net increase in food, drink and tobacco was £11,518. 

 The trade in chillies revived considerably during the year. 

 Part of the increase in the value shown is, however, due to 

 the enhanced value of this article. The exports of ground 

 nuts, ghee (clarified butter), and sesame seed were the highest 

 the Protectorate has yet had. 



The net increa.se in raw materials, unmanufactured, was 

 £36,367. There was a decrease in cotton seed, due to a local 

 firm having started crushing the seed and exporting oil, and 

 to the retention of considerable quantities of seed for plant- 

 ing. A decrease in sheep skins is due almost entirely to fall 

 in prices. 



The large increase in the exports of cotton is again 

 a prominent feature of the export trade. Calculating that 

 cotton loses about two-thirds of its weight in ginning, the 

 total quantity of ginned cotton exported during the year 

 would amount to 1,158 tons, or 6,488 bales of 400 lb. each. 

 This is an increase of 433 tons over the previous year. 



The exports of rubber, hides and goat skins are the 

 highest on record. The total quantity of rubber exported 

 was 47 tons. Of this quantity, 36 tons was shipped by the 

 Mabira Forest Company, who have a lease of a large forest 

 area. Their rubber is chiefly obtained from the West African 

 rubber tree {Funtumia elastica), and it compares favourably 

 with the best Para rubber. Another company has been formed 

 to work another large tract of land, and negotiations for other 

 forest areas are going on. 



Amongst new articles of export which appear for the first 

 time, and which give promise of success, may be mentioned 

 beeswax, cotton-seed oil and sesame oil. {Colonial Reports — 

 Annual, No. 670, p. 10.) 



It is reported by H.M. Consul-General at Manila that 

 the amount of hemp produced in the Philippines has been 

 steadily increasing during the past few years. In 1909, the 

 output was about 1,280,000 bales of 280 B).; this increased 

 to 1,340,000 bales in 1910, and it is estimated that the pro- 

 duction for this year will reach at least 1,400,000 bales. The 

 increased output is taking place in consequence of the lower- 

 ing of prices, which causes the natives to manufacture more 

 of the fibre in order to obtain a remunerative return. No 

 machinery is used in the production of hemp in the Philip- 

 pines, chiefly because a machine sufficiently light to be 

 transported into the hemp country has not been invented 



