484 MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



Problems of development in the Sudan all hinge on one 

 or another of three prime considerations. These are, 

 the extension of transport facilities, provision of water 

 for cultivation, and labour supply. 



The railway problem, which is the core of the transport 

 question, is more than half solved. One thousand five 

 hundred miles of railway are now working. It is a 

 somewhat striking accomplishment that goods can be 

 forwarded direct by through booking between Alexandria 

 and El Obeid, 2,000 miles away in the heart of Kordofan, 

 and between Gambela, on the upper reaches of the Baro 

 river, in Abyssinia, and Port Sudan, a distance of 1,367 

 miles. 



The railways and rivers, the latter of which still con- 

 stitute the great highways of commerce in the interior, 

 are complementary to one another in the service they 

 render to trade, and in the organization of transport 

 facilities effect is being given to this idea of inter- 

 dependence of rail and river as the basis of commercial 

 expansion. 



A network of roads, of a quality suited to the present 

 simple needs of the localities they serve, is gradually 

 being created, in order to feed traffic to the railways and 

 steamers, and special attention is being given to the 

 provision of additional wells, which have an important 

 influence not only in facilitating the movement of internal 

 trade but also in leading to the formation of new 

 villages. 



An important question connected with roads and com- 

 munications is the feasibility of introducing motor 

 transport in certain parts of the Southern Sudan, so as to 

 .avoid the wasteful carrier system, and also to overcome 

 difficulties arising from the mortality of transport animals 

 in districts infected by tsetse fly. 



As regards water for cultivation, it should perhaps be 

 added that the Gezira scheme is not the only project at 

 present in view, or indeed the only one on which work 

 has been commenced. Over 100,000 acres are gradu- 

 ally being brought under cultivation in Dongola Pro- 

 vince by means of a system of basin irrigation, and 

 -considerable work has been done in studying the 



