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which I look in the future with much hope and interest though 

 its development may take years to mature I mean that part 

 on its north-eastern frontier along the Juba river. I am glad 

 to see that we are to have at our session to-day papers from 

 the distinguished and welcome delegates from Italy papers on 

 the question of the prospects of cotton in Italian Somaliland, 

 which joins our frontier on the Juba river. But I feel that 

 in this matter we ought to do more than join frontiers we 

 ought to join hands. In the arid parts of the tropics the 

 salvation of agriculture is water conservation and irrigation. 

 There is hardly a self-respecting Colony or Protectorate or 

 possession which has not been infected with the prevailing 

 fashion and got its own barrage. Our Northern Somaliland 

 offers no openings for agriculture if Dr. Brockman will 

 forgive me for saying so its principal products, for which 

 there is no European demand at present, are camels, dervishes 

 and Mullahs. But in Italian Somaliland to the south where it 

 joins our territory on the Juba river I think there is a great 

 opening for future development. I am told that the Juba 

 river, being constructed by a far-seeing, one might almost 

 say a commercial, Providence, is a series of terraces which 

 might form a succession of natural barrages if only the upper 

 course of masonry is added by human agency. If this is done 

 there are miles of suitable land on each side of the river 

 which can be irrigated by gravitation with a prospect of 

 unlimited crops of cotton and other tropical products. 



I hope I shall not appear in my enthusiasm to be using the 

 language of a company promoter. I do not suggest to any- 

 one that they should rush to peg out claims on the Juba. 

 They will find anything but a friendly reception from the 

 Marehan tribe, against whom an expedition has recently been 

 sent. But the reason I allude to this matter is that we have 

 here delegates from Italy, and I would like to say to them : 

 ' When you go back to Rome worry your Foreign Office 

 to make an agreement with us over the waters of the Juba 

 river, and I will do the same here." Foreign Offices are 

 notoriously inert, but if each pushes from our own side we 

 may overcome the vis inertia:. Italy and (ireat Britain have 

 been the best of friends for fully a century. It is a memory of 

 pride to us that British statesmanship played no small part in 

 the emancipation and unification of the Italian states, and I 

 should be glad if it proved possible in the future for us as 

 neighbours in a new continent to pursue a commercial entente 

 which would contribute to the industrial prosperity of both our 

 lands. I should like to see some of those savage tribes hand- 

 ling the boll rather than the spear; and I hope to see the gin 

 of cotton some day replace the gin of commerce. 



On the West Coast of Africa some progress is being made. 



