156 COTTON 



improvement of transport facilities generally, and more 

 recently the Government have arranged to assist in the 

 issue of a further loan of 3,000,000 for the provision of 

 better transport facilities in our East African possessions. 



NYASALAND. 



Nyasaland is no exception to the general rule, that one 

 of the greatest difficulties in establishing cotton growing 

 in a new country is the absence of economical means of 

 transport. In the early days cotton had to be conveyed, 

 mostly in head loads, from Blantyre and elsewhere to the 

 Shire River. Thence it was conveyed by barge down to 

 the Zambesi and to Chinde. Frequently for many months 

 together river transport was impossible. At Chinde it was 

 transhipped into ocean-going barges and conveyed to Beira, 

 where it was loaded on to the ocean steamers. It is surpris- 

 ing that in face of these difficulties any cotton was grown 

 at all. A railway was first constructed between Port Herald 

 and Chiromo, and the extension to Blantyre was completed 

 in 1909. Later on, thanks very largely to the efforts of Sir 

 George Fiddes, arrangements were made for the extensor, 

 of the railway from Port Herald down to the Zambesi, which 

 would entirely eliminate the difficulties of low water in the 

 Shire river. Towards the cost of this the Association and 

 their friends raised 36,200 of the required capital, and the 

 work is now rapidly being pushed on. Negotiations are 

 also proceeding for the construction of a connecting railway 

 from the Zambesi to Beira, and when this is completed it will 

 be possible to load cotton on to trucks at Blantyre, which 

 will convey it direct to the steamer at Beira, This railway 

 will eventually become one of the main trunk lines in South- 

 East Africa, and its extension to Lake Nyasa and North - 

 Eastern Rhodesia is only a question of time. The Asso- 

 ciation have never missed an opportunity of impressing on 

 the Colonial Office the great importance of economic trans- 

 port for the produce of Nyasaland. 



Like Uganda and other Colonies, there was no Agricul- 

 tural Department in Nyasaland, but in consequence of 

 representations from the Association an expert was 

 appointed in 1904, and to-day Nyasaland has a small but 

 efficient Agricultural Department which is doing excellent 

 work. 



The quality of the ootton grown in Nyasaland is 

 generally excellent in quality, and as there are two types of 

 country, the Lowlands and the Highlands, so also are there 



