July, 1908.] 



2! 



Fibred 



Arrangements have been made with the 

 Government to continue the " grants 

 in aid " for a further period of three 

 years, expiring on March 31st, 1910, as 

 follows : — 



Gold Coast £1,500 



Lagos and Southern Nigeria 5,000 

 Northern Nigeria ... 1,000 



£7,500 



These grants are, however, given on 

 condition that the Association provides 

 a similar amount of money, making a 

 total of £15,000 to be spent on" experi- 

 mental" and educational work in each 

 year. It is evident, therefore, that until 

 the cotton buying and ginning accounts 

 show a profit in excess of £7,500, it will 

 be impossible for the Association toshow 

 a surplus on its transactions in West 

 Africa. 



Arrangements have been entered into 

 with the Bank of British West Africa 

 for financing the cotton passing through 

 the hands of the Association, and had 

 it not been for this assistance it would 

 have been almost impossibe to carry on 

 the work in West Africa. Especial 

 thanks are due to Sir Alfred Jones, who, 

 in his capacity as Chairman of the Bank, 

 has facilitated these arrangements. 



3a. Sierra Leone. 



In the last report it was stated that 

 the results so far obtained were most 

 disappointing. The 1906-7 crop showed 

 little improvement on its predecessor, 

 and, in view of the limited funds at the 

 disposal of the Association, the Council 

 decided, in April, 1907, to close up this 

 venture, and to concentrate its main 

 efforts in West Africa on Lagos and 

 Northern Nigeria. The whole of the 

 buildings and plant were disposed of, and 

 after closing up the accounts there was a 

 deficiency of £2,703 12s. 5d., which has 

 been written off in the Balance Sheet. 



3b. Gold Coast. 



The progress made in this colony, 

 though slow, is satisfactory. The gin- 

 ning factory at Labolabo is working 

 well, and as far as quality is concerned 

 there is not much need for improvement 

 in Gold Coast cotton, which generally 

 obtains a higher price than shipments 

 from other parts of West Africa. 



3c. Lagos. 



The progress made in 1906 in Lagos has 

 been fully maintained in 1907, as will be 

 shown by the following statistics of the 

 value of cotton and seed exported from 

 this colony during the last few years ;— 





£. 



1902 



200 



1903 



7,000 



190-1 



12,000 



1905 



28,000 



1900 



60,000 



1907 



... 100,000 



The extension of the railway was com- 

 pleted as far as Oshogbo (60 miles beyond 

 Ibadan) in April, 1907, and it is expected 

 that the railway will shortly reach 

 Ilorin. It is being extended as far as 

 Jebba, on the River Niger ; and now 

 that the real cotton country has been 

 reached, one can confidently look for a 

 much larger increase in the production 

 oi cotton during the next few years. 



The Churchill Ginnery at Lafenwa 

 was completed early in 1907, and has 

 worked most satisfactorily. The Alfred 

 Jones Ginnery at Oshogbo was opened 

 in February, 1908. These two ginneries 

 were recently inspected by Sir Percy 

 Girouard and Sir Walter Egertou, and 

 both of them were most favourably im- 

 pressed. The Council have now decided 

 to erect another large ginning factory 

 at Ilorin, to be completed early in 1911, in 

 time for that season's crop. It will be 

 a similar plant to the Alfred Jones Gin- 

 nery, and will contain two batteries of 

 four gins each, with pneumatic feed and 

 a hydraulic press, and will turn out 

 12,000 bales per annum. Like the other 

 large ginneries at Lafenwa, Ibadan, and 

 Oshogbo, it will be protected against 

 risk of fire by a sprinkler installation. 



Serious difficulties arose in 1907 owing 

 to shortage of railway trucks, and both 

 the Association and the merchants 

 suffered very great inconvenience in not 

 being able to forward cotton and other 

 produce. The Association suffered some 

 heavy losses through "country damage " 

 to cotton and seed, as it was impossible 

 to store under cover all the large stocks 

 which were accumulating every day. 

 The Government have ordered a large 

 number of additional trucks, and it is 

 hoped that a trouble of this nature will 

 not again be experienced. 



A further difficulty arose in tranship- 

 ping cotton at the Lagos terminus. The 

 wharf and sidings on Iddo Island were 

 barely sufficient for the traffic from the 

 first section of the railway from Iddo to 

 Ibadan, a distance of 120 miles ; but now 

 that the railway has been opened to 

 Oshogbo, and is being extended to Ilorin 

 and the Niger, they are inadequate for 

 dealing with the increased traffic which 

 may be expected. Difficulties have also 

 arisen on the Lagos Bar with the branch 

 boats, and two steamers have been lost 

 in 1907. The Association's losses were 



