152 COTTON 



ference held at the Colonial Office the question of Uganda 

 cotton has been brought forward "in one way or another, and 

 I have no doubt that at times the officials have looked on 

 the Association as an intolerable nuisance. 



For many years we continually urged the importance of 

 a direct service of steamers to and from Kilindini, Port 

 Sudan, and other ports in our East African possessions, and 

 it is largely due to representations made by the Association 

 that we now have a regular service of steamers from Eng- 

 land to East Africa. The Union Castle Company deserve 

 every credit for what they have done to meet this long-felt 

 want 



One of the principal difficulties in establishing cotton 

 growing in new fields is transport, and when the cultivation 

 of cotton began to extend in Uganda there was a serious 

 shortage of steamers on Lake Victoria and of trucks on the 

 Uganda Railway. This has now been put right, and the 

 Uganda Railway is now a paying concern, thanks mainly to 

 the revenue derived from the carriage of cotton and seed 

 and of the imported goods to pay for these. 



There is a fine harbour at Kilindini, but the wharfage 

 accommodation is inadequate for the traffic, and the Asso- 

 ciation have continually urged the Colonial Office to take 

 this matter in hand. I am glad to say the officials are now 

 fully alive to the importance of this question, and it is to 

 be hoped that we may shortly see better arrangements 

 established, and that ocean steamers will be able to go 

 alongside and discharge and load their cargo without the 

 wasteful expense and the delay of lighterage. 



UGANDA. 



The results obtained in Uganda are quite the largest 

 and in some ways the most satisfactory of any new cotton 

 field in the Empire. Unfortunately, owing to lack of suffi- 

 cient capital,, the Association were unable to undertake any 

 direct work, and had to confine their energies to representa- 

 tions to the Colonial Office and communications with the 

 Uganda Company. Later on, in 1906, when the British 

 East Africa Corporation was formed, the Association took up 

 shares in this company, and two of the Council joined the 

 Board of Directors, and the Corporation were appointed the 

 agents of the Association for East Africa and Uganda. 

 Although this was perhaps the most satisfactory arrange- 

 ment wHich could have been made, it cannot be regarded 

 as an ideal one. Every commercial company must naturally 



