326 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



October 20, 1917. 



COTTON. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



Messrs. Wolstenholnie and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date September 17, 1917, with 

 reference to the sales of West Indian Sea Island 

 cotton: — 



In the absence of stock, no business is reported in West 

 Indian Sea Island, but there are eager buyers, as spinners 

 are without stock. 



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

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the 

 week ending September 15, 1917, is as follows: — 



ISLANDS. The receipts are practically nil being only 

 2 bales, consequently there is no market as yet. It will be 

 probably several weeks before there is sufficient movement to 

 admit of any offerings. 



GEOEGiAS AND FLoKiDAs. The market in Savannah has 

 not opened, the small sales reported there being chiefly old 

 crop cotton. The business done so far has been in the 

 interior markets at very irregular prices, some sales having 

 been made in the early part of the month on a basis of Extra 

 Choice to Fancy 69c. landed, but since then recent sales have 

 been at 6.5c. landed. At this decline there is still no general 

 buying, the trade being disposed to delay coming into the 

 market, hoping for a lower range of prices. 



The following (juotations are based on the sales made 

 recently, viz.: — 



GEORGIAS AND FLORIDAS. 



Fancy 63c. 



Extra Choice 62c. . 



The exports from Savannah to date were, to Northern 

 Mills 123 bales, Southern Mills 66 bale.*, and from Jackson- 

 ville to Northern Mills 642 bales. 



CROP ADVICES. During the past month the weather has 

 been favourable, excepting too much rain in some sections. 

 The boll weevil has done much damage in South-western 

 Georgia, and the outlook there is very unfavourable for the 

 crop, but in other sections of the State, as well as in Florida 

 and Carolina, the promise is for a ^ood yield. The increased 

 acreage planted may partly, if not wholly, offset the ravages 

 of the boll weevil in Southern Georgia. However, crop 

 estimates have a very wide range, and the total out- 

 turn is estimated from 100,000 to 130,000 bales. 



BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSO- 

 CIATION. 



The one hundred and sixty-third meeting of the 

 Council of the British Cotton Growing Association was held 

 at the Offices, 15, Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday, 

 September 4. In the absence of the President (The Rt. 

 Hon. The Earl of Derby, KG.) Mr. J. Arthur Hutton 

 occupied the Chair. 



Reference was made to the death of Mr. John E. 

 Newton, who was formerly Chairman of the Association, 

 and a resolution was passed expressing the deepest sympathy 

 of the Council with Mrs. Newton and family in their sad 

 bereavement. 



FUTURE OF THE COTTON-IJROWrNG MOVEMENT. It was 



reported that the Empire Cotton (Jommittee had now been 

 appointed by the Government, and that they had already 

 held two meetings. 



SUDAN. The negotiations with the Government for 

 the development of the irrigation scheme for the Gezira 

 plain are still under consideration, and it is hoped that 

 a satisfactory settlement will be come to shortly, so that 

 the work will be pushed on without any further delay. 

 Of all the schemes which the Association have under 

 consideration this is the only one which offers any possi- 

 bility of a large production of high-cla's cotton within 

 a reasonable lime. In view of the dangerous position of our 

 future supplies of cotton, it is considered absolutely essential 

 that the work should be pushed forward with as little 

 delay as possible. 



WE.ST AFRICA. A letter from Sir Frederick Lugard, 

 the Governor of Nigeria, was read, stating that it would 

 be disastrous to the cotton- growing industry of Nigeria if 

 anything were to happen to prevent the exportation of 

 cotton to the United Kingdom, and that he views the 

 situation with great anxiety. The Governor points out 

 that the industry, though still in its infancy, hts been 

 steadily built up and fostered by the untiring labours 

 of the Association and the whole hearted support of 

 the Nigerian Government, and it is only within the 

 last few years that the results of these endeavours 

 have begun to show them.selves in the increased out- 

 put and added confidence of the native producers, and 

 should any check be experienced in buying this year's crop, 

 the whole of this labour will be wasted, and cotton growing 

 in Nigeria will receive a set-bask from which it will take 

 years to recover. A report was read on cotton cultivation 

 in the Northern Provinces of Nigeria for the year ending 

 December 31, 1916, by the Director of Agriculture for 

 Northern Nigeria, in which the Director expresses satisfac- 

 tion that the optimistic terms of his previous report have 

 been amply justified by subsequent events, and that the year 



1916 has proved by far the most successful in the annals of 

 the Northern Provinces so far as cotton production is con- 

 cerned. The amount of ordinary cotton seed distributed free 

 to natives by the Association during the past three years is 

 as follows; 1914, 269 tons; 1915, 147 tons: 1916, 290 tons. 



Various reasons are put forward ti^ account for the 

 largely increased purchases at Zaria in 1916, as compared 

 with previous years, and among the explanations may be 

 mentioned the following: — 



(a) That owing to the low prices offered for ground 

 nuts during the period following the declaration of war, 

 there was a scarcity of money in the North with which to 

 buy cotton for the native spinning; industry. 



(b) That lack of purchasing power was alsf) experienced 

 owing to the mines restricting their operations and reducing 

 their purchases of local cereals. 



(c) That the increasing use of English cotton goods 

 reduced the demand for raw cotton locally, and therefore left 

 a greater surplus for purchase by the Association. 



(d) That a greater area of cotton was planted. 



(e) That the great scarcity of food in 1913 and 1914 

 caused the value of all local produce to rise to famine prices, 

 and that the price of cotton rose in sympathy with all other 

 products. The years 1915 and 1916 were years of plenty, 

 and prices fell to .such a low level that the 1 d. per R. given 

 by the Association became acceptable to the native, who 

 during the two previous years had scorned the same offer 



The Director of Agriculture states that the purchases in 



1917 may not corae up to expectations on account of the 

 unfavourable climatic conditions, but there will be an 

 increase of at least 500 per cent, in the quantity of long- 

 stapled cotton which is being grown under the auspices 

 of the Government Agricultural Department. 



