138 PLANTING IN UGANDA 



CHAPTER XV. 



Cost of Establishing Plantations and of 

 Preparing Products 



Capital Costs. There is great difficulty in 

 giving any definite figures of costs owing t- the 

 rapidly-changing conditions in Uganda. Land is 

 going up in price by leaps and bounds. What 

 could have been bought for 5s. per acre five years 

 ago now commands a price of 5 per acre. Labour, 

 too, is tending to become more costly. Most cer- 

 tainly the progress which is expected to take place 

 in the next few years will result in very much 

 higher wages than are now given. There will, of 

 course, be also an increase in the efficiency of the 

 labour ; and it is to the advantage of everyone, not 

 excluding the native, to keep the wages as low as 

 possible, and to allow increases to be only very 

 gradual, keeping pace with the increased 

 efficiency. 



Management is also a factor which may upset 

 any calculations. The costs of all the various 



