COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 135 



with the prospect of a further increase, if an earlier ripening and 

 more resisting type of cotton can be introduced. 



(3) Gezira Plain. One of the most hopeful cotton growing 

 districts of the world. Certainly possible, even in the near 

 future, to obtain an annual crop of 10,000 bales and more of a 

 really high-class Egyptian cotton, with prospect of increasing 

 to 250,000 bales within the next 10 or 15 years, and to 1,000,000 

 bales and more in a farther distant future. 



(4) Rain district. The prospect of growing American cotton 

 there are extremely encouraging. There is sufficient land for 

 the growing of millions of bales and development will depend 

 upon increase of the population, active procedure of the Govern- 

 ment, and the necessary commercial support in the erection of 

 markets and ginning stations. 



(5) Gedaref and Kassala afford good prospects for cotton culti- 

 vation, with artificial irrigation, as also with the rainfall. 



On the basis of these findings of the Commission, the British 

 Cotton Growing Association, at their annual meeting of 21st May, 

 1912, requested the British Government : 



(1) To grant to the Sudan Government a sum of ^"200,000, 

 to be used for the purpose of investigations and experiments 

 with a view to the extension of the cotton cultivation in that 

 country. 



(2) To provide the Sudan Government for the beginning with 

 the sum of ^1,000,000, for the construction of irrigation and 

 other works, which are necessary for a quick expansion of cotton 

 cultivation in the Sudan. 



It is hoped that these amounts will suffice for the beginning, 

 but it is estimated that a total expenditure of ^8,000,000 for irriga- 

 tion works and railways, and ^4,000,000 as working capital, &c., 

 will be required. The first sum is to be provided by the British 

 Government, the latter to be found by private enterprise. 



In the meantime, however, nothing further was heard about 

 these projects ; neither the English nor Egyptian Government seemed 

 to be disposed to come forward with the necessary capital ; the Sudan 

 had not sufficient means of its own for large undertakings of this 

 kind, and private capital was held back, as the transaction did not 

 offer enough incentive. As a matter of fact, a large part of the 

 land of the Gezira is in the possession of the natives. It was a 

 singular occurrence that of the numerous English spinners who 

 took part in the International Cotton Congress in Egypt in the 

 autumn of 1912, not a single one made use of the favourable oppor- 

 tunity of visiting the Sudan and of forming an opinion of his own as 

 to the possibilities of that country. Meanwhile, while the German 

 edition of this book was being printed the Prime Minister of Eng- 

 land, the Rt. Hon. H. H. Asquith, informed a deputation from the 

 British Cotton Growing Association, on the 23rd January, 1913, that 

 he intended at the beginning of the next session to bring forward a 

 Bill by which the Government will be empowered to undertake the 

 guarantee of the interest on a loan of ^"3,000,000 sterling, the loan 

 to be raised by the Government of the Sudan for the development of 

 cotton growing. 



