COTTON 



159 



2. KHARTOUM AND NORTH : Moderate pro- 

 spects of producing 5,000 bales or more of high-class 

 Egyptian cotton in the immediate future, with further 

 possibilities of increase if an earlier maturing and more 

 robust type of cotton can be established. 



3. GEZIRA : One of the finest cotton propo- 

 sitions in the world. There seems to be no reason why 

 in the next few years one should not raise annually 

 50,000 bales or more of really high-class Egyptian 

 cotton, with the prospect of the production increasing 

 to 250,000 bales within 10 or 15 years, and with further 

 possibilities later on of a production of 1,000,000 bales 

 or more. 



4. RAIN-GROWN COTTON : The prospects in 

 the Sudan of producing very large quantities of cotton 

 of American type are most encouraging and in some 

 ways better than those in either Northern Nigeria or 

 Uganda. There is land enough to grow millions ot 

 bales, but the future must depend on sufficient popula- 

 tion, efficient Government supervision, and the requisite 

 commercial assistance for buying and ginning. 



5. GEDAREF AND KASSALA : There are con- 

 siderable possibilities in these districts for both rain- 

 grown and irrigated cotton. 



There is not the least doubt that the Tayiba experi- 

 ment was an eminent success, and the Council therefore 

 decided to press the Government to do all in their power to 

 push on the development of the Gezira Plain with ail 

 possible speed. The establishment of cotton growing is a 

 slow business at the best, and many years must elapse before 

 any new field can be expected to produce 100,000 bales 

 annually even under the most favourable conditions. Con- 

 sidering that Lancashire consumption is over 4,000,000 bales 

 per annum, and considering also that the world's demands 

 for cotton are growing rapidly every day, it is evident that 

 the question is one of the greatest urgency. The Associa- 

 tion were convinced that the Gezira Plain was the only new 

 field where one might expect an appreciable quantity of 

 high-class cotton in a reasonable time, and on January 23rd, 

 1913, a deputation from the Association waited on Mr. 

 Asquith and urged that the Government should guarantee 

 the interest on a loan of 3,000,000 to be raised by the 

 Sudan Government for the construction of irrigation and 

 other works in the Sudan, The Government soon after- 

 wards introduced the necessary legislation in Parliament, 

 and it is hoped that the loan will shortly be issued and 



