148 COTTON 



Association. The merchants receive a fair remuneration 

 for their services, and the Association benefit by economies 

 in the cost of a special staff for buying cotton. I should 

 also mention the great advantage of having a thoroughly 

 pood bank established in a Colony. Cotton must be 

 oought with actual cash, and thanks to the Bank of British 

 West Africa, the Association are able to obtain all the 

 cash required even at outlying stations. 



The one great difficulty in West Africa, and indeed 

 throughout Africa generally, is the difficulty of transport. 

 African rivers, with the exception of perhaps the Nile and 

 the Congo, are generally too low for transport at the time 

 when cotton is coming forward, or else they are broken up 

 by rapids. In Nyasaland I have known cases when 12 

 months have elapsed between the time the cotton has been 

 gathered and when the proceeds could be realised in 

 Liverpool. At this very moment 500 tons of seed 

 cotton are lying at Yelwa on the river Niger, and it 

 will be impossible to transport it before December, when 

 the river rises. Even then it may not be practicable, for 

 $here are several stretches where the river is broken up by 

 rapids. 



There is no doubt that cotton growing in Africa can 

 never be really successful until the country is opened up by 

 railways, and this applies not only to cotton, but also to 

 other products. In West Africa, speaking generally, along 

 the coast line and for some distance inland, the rainfall is 

 far too heavy for successful cotton cultivation, and the 

 Association soon discovered that their efforts must be de- 

 voted to the interior. Consequently in season and out of 

 season they were continually urging the Government to 

 make railways, and it is largely in consequence of their 

 representations that the Lagos railway was extended from 

 Ibadan to Jebba, and that the Baro-Kano railway was put 

 in hand. Luckily, it seems almost impossible to put down 

 a railway in Africa which does not pay, and even if a rail- 

 way barely covered working expenses the indirect benefits 

 would more than balance the cost of interest and sinking 

 fund. In any case, it is a waste of labour and material to 

 convey produce on men's heads. The time which is thus 

 occupied in porterage would be better spent in growing 

 cotton. 



In this connection, I should draw attention to the 

 great value of the conferences which are periodically held 

 at the Colonial Office between the permanent officials and 

 representatives of the Association, under the Presidency of 



