LAND TENURE AND COLONIZATION 1 01 



cattle, 305,000 camels and 216,000 sheep. Thus the quantity of live stock 

 is indubitably such as to justify the care given by the colonial government 

 to this form of wealth, and any initiative which might lead to its exploi- 

 tatioil in the interest of the home country. In Somaliland Italy has an 

 enormous breeding park which might, with suitable care and improvement, 

 ensure to her an important annual contribution in the form of excellent but- 

 cher's meat. But in order that the value of this reserve may be realized 

 its quality must be improved, by protecting it from certain constant and 

 powerful agents of depreciation, and it must be more actively commercia- 

 lized. 



As regards cattle alone the average weight a head of the fully grown 

 animals is more than 400 kilogrammes, and the market price was, before 

 the war, 10, 16 and 24 Maria Theresa thalers (i) a head, according to whether 

 the purchase was made in the interior or on the coast. That is to say that 

 in the least favourable case, allowing for onh^ 50 per cent, of the living gross 

 weight and for the maximum price, meat was sold on the coast for 27 liras 

 a quintal (2), without taking into account the skin, the price of which is 

 being lowered. Indisputabh^ these prices justify a confidence that there 

 could be trade in meat with Somaliland and that, in view of the prices on 

 European markets, it could be renumerative in spite of costs of transport, 

 and the increase in cost price which would be caused by a demand and by 

 other circumstances peculiar to commerce. 



Before the war slightly more than 3,000 heads of cattle and about 8,000 

 sheep were annually exported from Benadir. The skins of the exported 

 oxen, which may furnish another element of profit to betaken into account, 

 weighed 405,000 kilogrammes. Probably a considerable number of them 

 emanated from the districts of Abyssinia which lie below IvUgli. Such 

 weight corresponds to 58,000 head of live stock, if seven kilogrammes be 

 taken to be the average weight of a dried skin (3). 



§ 3. The land system. 



From the administrative point of view the process of colonization may 

 be considered to have two stages, the one subordinate to the other: first 

 the determination of the lands which are the State's free property, and then 

 the regime of agricultural concession. Obviously the State must determine 

 the available domain, that is to say the lands which can be granted for 

 colonization without injury- to the rights of third parties, before it makes 

 agricultural concessions. 



(i) I Maria Theresa thaler = nearlj' 2s. at par. 



(2) I quintal = 220 lbs. 



(3) For further details on this subject see Atti del Secondo Congresso degli Italiani alVEstero, 

 and especially 8th session, Theme II, DelV allevamento del bestiame in Somalia e dd suo trasporto 

 in Italia, Dr. Ferdinando MartogUo, Vol. I, Part III, pages 1715-1753. 



