xxvi. Hoiv to Pay for the War 



arranged sufficient to cover all risks of loss, and to give the 

 Government granting the loan a high return. It is not 

 possible for any private individual to work on these lines, 

 but it is possible for Governments, There are millions of 

 acres of waste land in tropical countries waiting to be 

 developed, and all that is wanted is a little help from the 

 authorities to convert waste tropical possessions into verit- 

 able gold mines, producing wealth beyond the dreams of 

 avarice, in occupation as well as in money, and, in addition, 

 providing food for all. 



" As a proof of this, let us consider what Government 

 railways have done in developing Nigeria. Surely with 

 this striking object lesson in front of them, Governments 

 could assist in some other way^ to further develop coconut 

 planting and allied tropical industries, so as to insure that 

 we make the most of this enormous field for human 

 activity." 



Going back to the E.R.D.C. and their proposals, I cer- 

 tainly consider that those who financed the cost of building 

 and making a success of the Assouan Dam have not 

 derived, in direct payments, such monetary benefits as 

 they might have done and no doubt would have done, 

 without hurting anybody, had such a scheme been carried 

 out according to the present ideas of the E.R.D.C. On 

 the other hand, can it not be claimed that the Egyptian 

 Government has received its full share of profit (as well 

 as of richly-deserved praise) many times over, indirectly 

 if not directly, in the increased taxation, in the larger 

 import and export duties, as well as in the fresh businesses 

 that have been established through the building of the 

 dam which has brought vast additional wealth to the land 

 of the Pharaohs, additional wealth which is estimated by 

 Wilson-Fox at ^100,000,000 at least. 



' But only by keeping close control over those carrying out the schemes, 

 not by leaving the Development Board a " free leg" to act as it — i.e., the 

 Board —thinks best. " 



