194 THE WORLD'S MEAT FUTURE 



(who become quite expert at putting the cattle through) from 

 an hour to two hours. One good advance has been the erection 

 of these dips at the various farms. Unfortunately for the 

 employer of native labour, the introduction of so many of the 

 Indian coolies has caused the adoption .of their intensely slow 

 methods of working. If a road is being made the material is 

 carried in small baskets, mostly put into basket by hand, and 

 then carried at a very slow walk (about a two-miles per hour 

 rate) to its destination. To make the most of the available 

 labour this wants altering, though it wall take a strong man 

 to do it, but it would make the labour twice as efficient. Labour 

 is much dearer than formerly, but still ranges from 6 to 8 rupees 

 a month with food (posho), costing, say, 3 rupees average, or 

 well under a pound a month, including food. The hours worked 

 vary a great deal, and one settler gets on with his labour much 

 better than others, but it can be taken as a fact that labour is 

 getting dearer and more difficult each year. At the same time, 

 the better men are becoming more efficient. After all, the 

 natives do not require much money. The young men want 

 sufficient to buy one or two waves — the elder men more wives, so 

 that they can retire from work, and get their shambas (culti- 

 vated plot) worked by their wives. With most tribes it is the 

 wives who do the heavy work. I met two or three influential 

 settlers who considered that the cure for the nagging wife or 

 militant suffragette would be the taking of several mves by 

 the Europeans. The nagging wife would soon be left to cool 

 her ideas, and it is quite possible that many of our marriage 

 difficulties might be solved in that way. 



"The country, Avhere the elevation is over 5000 ft., is mainly 

 a very healthy one for Europeans, the climate delightful, with 

 very slight variations the w^hole year round. At the lower 

 levels and in Uganda, of course, fever is prevalent, and the 

 European has to take considerable care to avoid mosquitoes 

 and fly bites, and thus keep as free as possible from malaria. 

 In Uganda, which I did not visit at this time, the prospects are 

 stated to be very great for coffee, rubber, and cocoa, whilst cotton 

 affords a not very high return. To one who is tired of the 

 never-ending socialistic trend of Australian polities, British East 

 Africa offers not only the prospects of a very remunerative field 

 for his energies, but at the same time a very healthy spot in 

 Avhich to spend his days whilst he can indulge in big game 

 shooting to his heart's content." 



