136 COTTON 



is fully recognised at the Colonial Office, and I might almost 

 go so far as to say that the officials there look on the 

 Association almost as a Department of their office. They 

 realise as no one else does, that wherever we go, and wher- 

 ever we are successful, we carry prosperity with us, though 

 it frequently happens that the Association itself is the only 

 body which derives no profit from its transactions. Thanks 

 mainly to our efforts, many of the West Indian Islands 

 which were in a serious financial position are to-day in a 

 state of prosperity. Thanks largely also to our work, 

 cotton is the leading article of export in Nyasaland and 

 Uganda, and " grants-in-aid " from the Imperial Govern- 

 ment to these Colonies have become a thing of the past. 

 Also in Nigeria cotton provides a large portion of the 

 revenue of the railway, and that Colony has benefited in 

 many other directions, for it is manifest that every pound's 

 worth of cotton exported has to be paid for by a pound's 

 worth of imported goods, with consequent benefit to the 

 revenue of the Colony. There is an old proverb : That 

 the real benefactor of mankind is the man who makes two 

 blades of corn grow where one grew before. Equally so 

 the man who can get cotton grown where none grew 

 before is conferring invaluable benefits both on the native 

 who grows the cotton and on those who spin it into yarn 

 and weave it into cloth, and also on the railway and ship- 

 ping interests, and all the other allied industries and trades. 

 There is a further point to which I must draw atten- 

 tion, and that is the valuable and disinterested advice which 

 the Association are able to give to the officials at the Colo- 

 nial Office and also in our Colonies. During the twelve 

 years we have been at work we have acquired valuable 

 experience, and the officials know that when we offer 

 any advice or urge any particular course of action, we have 

 only one object in view, and that is the development of 

 cotton growing in the British Empire. Knowing this, we 

 naturally are most careful in any representations we put 

 forward, and we never urge the Government to take any 

 particular step, whether it be the building of a railway or 

 the guaranteeing of a Colonial loan, unless we are con- 

 vinced that what we urge is in the interests of the Empire. 

 I say it with pride that we have never yet asked the Gov- 

 ernment to take any particular step without meeting with 

 success. I can only hope that the Association may be 

 able to retain its present semi-philanthropic character, and 

 obtain the necessary funds for it to continue its work on a 

 permanent basis. If anything were to happen which 



