494 COTTON 



In the Sudan the problem at first sight appears similar, 

 but there are other difficulties which may become serious 

 as the area under cotton increases. The labour supply 

 was utterly depleted by the wars with the Khalifa, and 

 in spite of the phenomenal rate of increase of Oriental 

 countries, it is still very short. Wages are at present 

 rather below the level of Egypt, which may be taken 

 roughly at a shilling a day for ordinary agricultural 

 labour; but it is easy to imagine what might be the effect 

 of a too rapid extension of cotton cultivation in the 

 Gezira leading to a scarcity in the labour supply. I am 

 indebted to Mr. Lawrence Balls for a characteristic fact, 

 namely, that the marriage dowry in certain districts has 

 risen steadily from the sumptuary limit of 2 which was 

 fixed by the Khalifa, until amounts as high' as 50 have 

 been recently demanded. A general rise in the standard 

 of living, which this seems to indicate, might very well 

 be followed by a rise of wages, which would seriously 

 hamper the development of cotton growing. 



In West and East Africa, including Nigeria, Uganda, 

 British East Africa, and Nyasaland, the labour situation 

 is very different. Cotton is cultivated almost entirely by 

 native smallholders who are more or less independent; 

 but if the value of their labour be judged by comparison 

 with the rates paid for other work, such as in the ginning 

 factories, it is very low. In Uganda, for example, the 

 labourers in the ginneries are paid about 2d. to 3d. per 

 day, and it is probable that in none of these areas does 

 the average day's wage rise so high as the Egyptian 

 figure of is. a day. In all these countries the chief 

 difficulty is transport. The grower has to carry his crop 

 on his head to the nearest market, from which it may 

 find its way by road or river to railhead. After a long 

 journey it at last reaches the seaport, from which it has 

 still a long sea journey to Liverpool. The result is that 

 for cotton which sells in Liverpool at 7d. to lod. per Ib. 

 the grower receives probably not more than 4d. to 7d. 

 In Nigeria, for example, the British Cotton Growing 

 Association fixed buying price was raised not long ago 

 to ijd. per Ib. of seed-cotton. As the ginning out-turn 

 is only about 27 per cent, this means about 4d. per Ib. 

 of lint. 



