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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

In conclusion, the Committee trust that the committee appointed by the Prime Minister, while considering the larger questions which affect the Empire and the Self-governing Colonies, will also consider the claims and needs of the African Crown Colonies and Protectorates, as it is from these partially developed countries, likely to accrue with their teeming populations, that a large expansion of trade in the near future, if they are provided with adequate shipping and railway facilities.

NYASALAND CHAMBER OF Agriculture and Commerce,

Blantyre, Nyasaland,

28th February, 1917.

Enclosure 2 in No. 41.

J. W. STRATTON,

Secretary.

MEMORANDUM ON THE AGRICultural Development of NyASALAND AS CONTRIBUTORY

TO EMPIRE SUPPLIES.

(a) What industries are essential to the future safety of the nation; and

what steps should be taken to maintain or establish them?

The agricultural industries which are essential to the future safety of the nation are those which provide the raw material for food, clothing, or munitions, and are largely cultivated or produced within the territory of any single nation

The most outstanding example in the present War is undoubtedly cotton, for which we are still dependent on America for eighty-three per cent. of our total requirements, although Britain has a greater area of land suitable for cotton- growing than any other nation.

Even under present conditions, with the control of the seas, the shortage of shipping facilities for handling cotton is largely responsible for the high price of meat, milk, and clothing-what would the position be in England if the American supply of cotton was unobtainable on account of war? Surely cotton in any recommendation from Nyasaland should occupy the most prominent position in our deliberations or recommendations.

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Next to cotton in importance I would place grain, and in so doing I am not looking from the point of view of Nyasaland under present conditions, but as a contributor to the food supply of the Empire, and under the general term “grain include maize, rice, and wheat, all of which are being grown in the Protectorate, the latter in larger quantities in occupied territory.

The importance of our local grain crops in the prosecution and economy of military operations in Nyasaland has been a surprise to many planters who only viewed grain as a native crop. The possibilities of grain-growing in Nyasaland are enormous, and the surplus native maize crop, amounting to 2,300 tons, acquired on the spot for the military authorities without any special cultivation for this purpose, give some indication of what quantity could be grown if cultivated for a definite market. Maize costs 20s. to 30s. per ton in Nyasaland, as against 10s. to 128. per sack in South Africa and Rhodesia, and the low price is a further indication of the possibility of Nyasaland becoming an important centre of maize production.

Tobacco.-Tobacco is frequently viewed as a luxury, but it is generally accepted that the moderate use of tobacco contributes in no small way to the efficiency of labour, and it is another example of a crop whose cultivation is largely an American monopoly; a supply of tobacco within the Empire is very important, and worthy of consideration from the financial point of view and the achievement of a self-supporting Empire.

Nyasaland, of all the Colonies or Protectorates, has, in face of prejudice and American competition, established her bright and pipe tobacco on the British market, and during the current year has supplied over four million pounds of cured tobacco, which, in quantity, is equal to fully four per cent. of the average consumption in Great Britain, and is no mean achievement for a planting com- munity with only 150 white settlers who commenced to export tobacco in 1899 with 2,240 lb.

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(b) To what extent and by what means the resources of the Empire (Nyasa-

land) should, and be developed?

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Cotton. The present acreage under cotton is 30,000, approximately; and, with an average output of one cwt. per acre, 7,500 bales are produced; this could be increased in the near future to not less than 350,000 acres, on really suitable land, without interfering with food supplies.

Maize, Wheat, Rice. It is impossible to state the present acreage of maize, which is native-grown and possibly exceeds 200,000 acres, but under certain con- ditions 20,000 to 40,000 tons could easily be grown for export, and even 100,000 tons per annum of grain would be possible within a few years.

Wheat-growing is in the experimental stage, but results in Angoniland and North Nyasa are distinctly encouraging.

The present production of rice is about a thousand tons. This industry is capable of considerable extension along the shores of Lake Nyasa.

Tobacco. During the past year 9,000 acres produced 4,000,000 lb. (approxi- mately) of cured tobacco; ten times the acreage would grow practically half the British requirements, and this is possible as the soil is available.

In conclusion, I do not hesitate in stating that everything depends on improved transport conditions, and Nyasaland will never be able to place at the disposal of the Empire the great wealth of its soil without direct railway communication between the sea coast at Beira and Lake Nyasa, and such communication will only be of value if the whole railway is Government-owned and run for the benefit of the country at low mileage rates which will encourage tonnage, and similar to those enjoyed by South Africa, America, and Canada.

On account of her wonderful fertility, climate, and large native population of excellent agricultural natives, maize, cotton, tobacco, rice, and tea can be pro- duced in Nyasaland for less money per ton than in any other part of the world, but heavy freights, primitive and uneconomical means of transport, entailing waste of labour, place such an obstacle in the way of agricultural development that the natural benefits with which nature has endowed the country are discounted, and Nyasaland is only able to place at the disposal of the Empire her highest valued products, such as tobacco, cotton, and tea, but even these suffer excessively by numerous transhipments and delays in transit to London.

During the past year the facilities accorded for entry of Nyasaland tobacco into Great Britain, which practically means preference for Empire productions, has been a great boon to the tobacco industry, and preferential tariff would go far towards increased production, but freights in keeping with American and other parts of the world would, without special preference, allow the Protectorate to market her crops and build up a strong financial position to the benefit of her settlers, natives, and Empire trade.

Under existing conditions the Protectorate is too poor to provide the necessary money, or even interest on money, for railways, and a railway through Nyasaland built with Imperial funds will well repay in a few years by supplying necessities for which Britain is at present dependent on America, and, in the directions indicated, materially assist towards the establishment of a self-supporting and prosperous Empire.

J. STEWART J. MCCALL,

Director of Agriculture.

9th March, 1917.

Enclosure 3 in No. 41.

COPY OF MINUTE BY THE HONOURABLE the Acting CHIEF SECRETARY.

1. IN Mr. Bonar Law's Circular of the 25th September, 1916, attention is invited to the "Recommendations of the Economic Conference of the Allies" [Cd. 8271], and to the fact that a committee had been appointed to consider the commercial and industrial policy after the War (with special reference to the conclusions of the Conference), preliminary to the convening of a conference representing the United Kingdom, the Dominions, and India at which the Secretary of State for the Colonies would represent the interests of Crown Colonies and Protectorates.

Mr. Bonar Law asked for a considered statement of the views of this Govern- ment on the recommendations of the Conference, and on the questions submitted to

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