CAB129-37 — Page 154

C. SOUTHERN PROVINCE

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114. It is not possible for the Corporation to give more than a sketchy report on the conditions existing and the amount and character of the work done in the Southern Province at the time of the take-over from the Managing Agency.

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115. The Contractors, John Mowlem & Co., Ltd., who were engaged for building and land clearing operations, had started work in November, 1947. They had been unable to conduct a stocktaking of the plant, machinery and stores in their custody at February 29, 1948. What operations had taken place had depended on inadequate communications, consisting of a temporary and makeshift harbour, constructed especially for the purpose at Mkwaya, on the Lukeledi river, and one poor road from Mkwaya to Nachingwea a road which, because of the badness of its surface, was damaging to transport and which, in the rainy season, was impassable. Some work was going on at Mkwaya, an experimental agricultural plot had been started at Nachingwea, experiments had been made in the winching-down of trees, considerable road work had started, and boring for water had also begun, although with little success. Some work was in progress in the con- struction of the new harbour at Mtwara, by Messrs. Balfour Beatty & Co. Ltd.

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116. At the beginning of March, 1948, the total staff of both the Corpora- tion and the Contractors in the Southern Province was just under 200 Europeans and approximately 4,000 Africans.

117. This is country of high rainfall: 30 to 40 inches mean annual fall, of the monsoon type, with some proportion of local instability fall. The rains may begin in late October or November and continue until April, in which month they begin tailing off, ceasing in early to mid-May. January, February and March should be the wettest months, December being not far behind.

118. There are about 100 rainy days and from the few reliable records Masasi (average 28.24 inches), Liwale (average 35.7 inches), Songea (average 44.4 inches), and Lindi on the coast (average 36.8 inches)-and from the nature of the vegetation, it seems that the region experiences a more regular and more bountiful rainfall than Urambo and a very much more satisfactory one than Kongwa. During the season December, 1948, to early May, 1949, the rainfall recorded at Namanga, Unit 1, was 26.18 inches, which was good considering the continental drought.

119. Falls of high intensity may be experienced, making soil conserva- tion measures essential.

120. The vegetation is made up of Miombo (Isoberlinia-Brachystegia Woodland) somewhat similar to that at Urambo but with various differences in species and in the representation of these. Combretum-Other Species, Open Woodland, is quite widely represented in portions, or may be found in either catena or mosaic relation to the Miombo. In certain portions of the Miombo there may be present a dense understorey of Bamboo (Oxyten- anthera abyssinica). Mbuga vegetation-grass with a thin tree population for the greater part-exists along the drainage lines and may be extensively represented or may be attenuated in width if considerable in length.

Essential Factors for Developments

121. It was clear to the Corporation that the future development of the Southern Province areas depended in the first instance entirely on com- munications, which were virtually non-existent. (See paras. 51 and 233.) The Corporation therefore decided that any significant development in the

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