CO885-(20-21) — Page 279

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

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Of the West African Colonies and Protectorates named, Northern Nigeria is dependent upon a grant-in-aid from Imperial funds, and any expenditure on the encouragement of cotton-growing in that Protectorate has been under- taken with the consent of the Treasury.

EAST AFRICA.

The territories concerned in East Africa are the East Africa Protectorate, Uganda, and Nyasaland. All three Protectorates are dependent on a graut-in-aid from Imperial funds, and their expenditure on the encourage- ment of cotton-growing has thus been subject to the express approval of the Treasury.

For the three years from the 1st of April, 1907, an arrangement was in force in the East Africa Protectorate similar to that already described for West Africa. The Government of the Protectorate contributed £1,000 a year towards the cost of the experimental work of the British Cotton Growing Association, on condition that the Association spent that amount and an equal amount from their own funds on such work in the Protectorate. As the Association had no station of their own in East Africa, it was specially arranged that they should entrust the expenditure of the necessary amount to the British East Africa Corporation, a commercial concern, the Association retaining full responsibility for seeing that the money was properly expended on experimental work. Experiments in cotton cultivation have also been carried on at the Government Farus. No fresh arrangement has been made with the British Cotton Growing Association since the agreement referred to expired on 31st March, 1910, and Government experimental work will in future be carried on by the Government itself, A scheme of grants to native growers of cotton is in contemplation, and it is probable that Government officers will be used to induce the natives to take up the industry, to distribute seed, and to explain the most appropriate methods of cultivation.

In Uganda the experiments have hitherto been carried out solely by the Government. The industry was started through the

agency of the enlightened chiefs of the Protectorate, who, having by Government effort been convinced of the value of the industry, used their authority to induce their subjects to take it up. The industry,

which immediately assumed remarkable proportions, was supervised by the Government at every turn, special legislation being introduced to meet the evils arising from a mixture of varieties by controlling absolutely the disposal of all seed from ginned cotton, and the selection and distribution of seed for planting. Simultaneously experiments with different varieties of cotton, hybridisation, acclimatisation, and different methods of cultivation, were undertaken on the Government Farms and Plantations, and Seed Farms were established designed to supply all the seed required for sowing by the natives. The exercise of these activities necessitates the employment of a special staff of skilled officers. The Government expenditure on this industry amounts to a very large sum annually. A full description of the progress of the work in Uganda is given in a report by Sir H. H. Bell, K.C.M.G., the late Governor of the Protectorate, which was presented to Parliament in November last. [Cd. 4910.]

The importance of cotton-growing has long been recognised in Nyasaland. For some years the Government of the Protectorate employed a highly qualified cotton

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expert with a special view to examining and developing the

possibilities of the industry. The duties of this officer have now become merged in those of the Head of the Agricultural Department. Experiments in the cultivation of cotton designed to ascertain the most suitable and profitable varieties and to deterruine the best times of planting, the best methods of cultivation, &c., are under- taken on the Government Plantations managed by this Department. At the same time full use is made of the influence of Political Officers with the natives to induce them to take up cotton-growing. These officers supply seed to the natives, make sure that they cultivate and weed the crop, and finally that they pick it and bring it in for sale. The Agricultural Department has recently been considerably enlarged in view of the rapidly increasing importance of agriculture in the Protectorate, and cotton, among the other products for which the Protectorate is suited, will naturally come in for more attention. Under the new arrangement with the British Cotton Growing Association described in connection with West Africa the industry in Nyasaland will receive a further considerable impetus.

OTHER COLONIES.

The summary given is not quite exhaustive. Experi- ments in connection with the cultivation of cotton or endeavours to encourage the growing of cotton have also been made by Government in Ceylon, Cyprus, Fiji, Seychelles, and elsewhere, though not on so notable a scale as in the cases previously mentioned.

Although the Imperial Government have not hitherto contributed directly to the cost of the experiments in cotton-growing undertaken by Colonial Governments, it will be observed that they have done so indirectly in the case of the Imperial Department of Agriculture in the West Indies, Northern Nigeria, the East Africa Protecto- rate, Uganda, and Nyasaland. The new grant of £10,000 a year to the British Cotton Growing Association is, how- ever, a direct contribution from Imperial funds to work of an experimental nature in connection with cotton-growing in the Colonies.

In addition, the services of the Imperial Institute, which is supported by Imperial as well as by Colonial contributions, have been at the disposal of the Colonies. During the last few years the subject of the extension of cotton cultivation in the British Empire has received a large amount of consideration and investigation at the Institute, where there is an expert staff for the investiga- tion of the quality and defects of cotton, which works in co-operation with the Agricultural Departments in the Colonies, and supplies technical and scientific information respecting the various matters connected with the cultiva- tion and uses of cotton. The Scientific and Technical Department of the Institute received in 1906 a grant from the Imperial Government of £2,000, given in instalments of £500 per annum, which was devoted to meeting the special expenses incurred in conducting cotton investiga. tions and enquiries. This grant has now been renewed for a further period of four years.

A large number of samples of raw cotton, amounting to about one thousand, have been received recently, chiefly from the British Colonies and Dependencies, and have been examined in the Scientific and Technical Department, and reports on their properties and value have been pre- pared and forwarded to the Governments concerned.

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