and that "Imperial" policy which is depriving this district of its labour in order to work a few more stamps in South African gold mines, is going to make it less plentiful than

ever.

This policy seems likely to delay even the completion of the railway, which is a necessity of the first importance. When the railway is built there is an enormous territory waiting for development. Even under present circumstances some advances have been made to cultivators, and if sufficient funds are forth coming, it is in contemplation to advance £100,000 or £150,000, in order that 100,000 acres may be put under cultivation.

It is important to remember that men like Sir Harry Johnston, who knows this district well, and who recently sent a letter to the Times from which I have largely borrowed, are the most keen and enthusiastic about cotton-growing in this territory.

The only other British possession on this side of Africa which I need name is Rhodesia, in which experiments are being made by the British South Africa Company, with considerable hope of success.

Turning now from East to West, it is unnecessary that I should tell you cotton can be grown in Gambia, Sierra Leone, Lagos, Southern and Northern Nigeria, as well as in the French and German possessions in that region, in the Cameroons and Congo region. The only question is the extent to which it can be grown, and the price at which it can be put upon the English market.

In Gambia an experimental farm is being started, but it is not an easy matter to induce the natives to take up anything new. Some very fair samples of cotton have been grown. Gambia possesses an excellent waterway, and it is important for this colony to cease to be so dependent as it is on ground nuts.

There is a larger field in Sierra Leone. Experiments have been made with American seed, but the result is still doubtful. The best cotton sent home so far has been a native variety. The British Cotton-Growing Association has been fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Shelby Neely, an able young American from the Mississippi Valley; three expert black farmers have also been sent out, and every effort is being made to progress.

ensure

We now come to the Gold Coast Colony. In part of the colony, labour is so fully employed in gold-mining, that the supply is short and the cost is high. At the same time, it must be remembered that there is much good

cotton land, and that, in spite of the difficulties to which I have alluded, another new industry has sprung up there in quite recent years. The export of cocoa, which was almost an unknown article ten years ago, has increased some thousands per cent. in a very short time. Let us hope this may be the case also with cotton.

Passing by Togoland, where the Germans, with their usual scientific thoroughness, are trying to establish cotton cultivation, and the French colony of Dahomey, we arrive at Lagos, a most hopeful field. Here is a large and intelligent population, already interested in agriculture and acquainted with cotton cultivation, if only by primitive methods; there are large tracts of undulating land in the Hinterland; there is a railway slowly, if most expensively, wending its way into the interior; there is a Governor (Sir William MacGregor) who takes a great interest in the question, and there are experts who are very sanguine about the future.

Unfortunately, a good deal of ill-feeling has been caused by the revival of the old custom of levying octroi dues in Abeokuta and Ibadan. I state this as a fact; but express no opinion on the merits of the case. Much of the seed recently sent out was not sown, and progress has not been so quick as was hoped. There was also a deficient rainfall in 1903. The needs of the future are the extension of the railway beyond Ibadan towards Ilorin, and if the colony cannot afford to carry out this work, it is distinctly a case where Imperial assistance, either by funds or guarantee, should be given.

Cotton has been grown here for export in the past, but, owing to the fall in the price of American cotton, the trade ceased to be profitable. Mr. Hoffman, one of the experts to whom I have alluded, reports most favourably of the care given to the cultivation of the plant in the Ekití country in Yorubaland, but he insists on the want of means of transport in the interior, and on the consideration that the price paid to the native for cotton must not fluctuate, as the people are not in a condition to meet such changes."

Adjacent to Lagos is Southern Nigeria. An expert, Mr. Prince, was sent out there, and he cleared and cultivated a plantation of 50 acres close to Onitsha on the Niger river. A large sample of this cotton has been sent home, and is said to be exactly what is wanted in Lancashire. It is in contemplation to make a large plantation on the Sobo plains in Southern

Nigeria. The Government has offered to defray the cost of making a scientific analysis of the soil, and has also placed at the disposal of the British Cotton-Growing Association the services of Mr. Hitchens, who has had a large experience of the agricultural possibilities of the colony.

I may perhaps explain at this point, that it is not the intention of the Association to develop cotton-growing by a system of large plantations. It is obvious that it is impossible to supply the huge quantities of cotton that are required by any such method. As soon as slavery was abolished in the United States cotton ceased to be grown in large plantations even there, and in Africa a system of native farmers on small plots is desirable if such a system is feasible. This suggested large plantation in Southern Nigeria must be regarded rather as an object-lesson and a technical school than the beginning of an attempt to supply by this method the deficiency from which we suffer.

I now come to the last, but by no means the least, of the British possessions in which there is great expectation of an increased yield of cotton. I allude to Northern Nigeria, of which Lady Lugard gave us such a graphic account three weeks ago. It is not too much to say that our greatest asset there is the Governor, Sir Frederick Lugard, who has shown such a splendid combination of energy and pluck, of patience and endurance, of firmness and fairmindedness in that country, qualities which have quickly achieved a remarkable

success.

Northern Nigeria has a territory of 320,000 square miles, and a population of perhaps 10,000,000. That population is much less than it was, and much less than the country will support, and is composed principally of Haussas, the most intelligent and among the most civilised of the inhabitants of West Africa. By nature, peaceful and industrious, by inclination, keen and businesslike, it is impossible to over-estimate the commercial possibilities of this interesting race. As regards cotton it is indigenous in the country, and has been cultivated and manufactured there for a thousand years or more. It is a long way, however, from any part of Northern Nigeria to the coast, and the first imperative necessity is the building of a railway into the interior and the making of roads. A light railway can be built from a suitable place on the Niger to Kano for from half-a-million to a million pounds, and seeing that the British

taxpayer is already paying a subvention of £400,000 per annum, it is surely worth while to advance a little more to develop the country, and it will, probably, quickly pay for itself. If no railway is built, it is impossible to carry cotton down to the Niger at a rate which would leave any reward to the cultivator at all, and it will be useless to expect any large increase of trade with the interior. If a broad gauge railway is attempted it will take many years to build and cost millions of money. A light railway can be quickly constructed, and would soon test, in a practical way, the commercial possibilities of the country. I do earnestly hope that a light railway will be commenced without further delay.

The possibilities of British Africa have now been briefly touched upon, and the time has come when I may sum up the general considerations which arise from the work already done by the British Cotton-Growing Associa tion.

In the first place, it is proved that there is a vast territory in many different portions of our possessions where cotton can be successfully grown.

Secondly, whilst it is too soon to be certain in which of these possessions suitable cotton can be grown at a price to compete with the American and Egyptian supplies on which we now depend, there is every reason to suppose that when the Suakim-Berber and the ShiréNyasa railways are completed, cotton can be grown cheaply enough in the Soudan and British Central Africa to make it a commercial success, and there are strong hopes that this may be done in other parts of the Empire.

Thirdly, the chief difficulties in the way are labour, transport, and fluctuations of price. As to labour, it is a very doubtful policy to draft native labour from British Central Africa (where 12,000 acres are said to be already under cotton, and where labour is always short in the wet season) to the mines of South Africa. But there, as elsewhere, labour difficulties can only be met by patience and by just and reasonable treatment of all who can be induced to work. As to transport, our Governments must be more ready than they have been in the past, to make railways and roads where necessary. As to fluctuations of price, the British Cotton-Growing Association must minimise the effect to the native as much as possible.

Fourthly, it is obvious that the increased

growth of cotton in Africa will be best achieved in the long run, not by native labour in large plantations, but by native farmers. No system of large plantations can possibly meet the case nearly so well as a system of small farms cultivated by native owners. The problem is vast and, if the native can be induced to undertake cotton culture on his own account, his interest will be stimulated much more than it can be by an offer of wages. I am aware this is a disputable point, and I ought not to treat it dogmatically. Africa is large and one type of native varies from another much more than one European from another. Fortunately the native African is for the most part a born trader and, in many cases, willing to work if he is sure of a satisfactory market for his produce.

This brings me to the last consideration I desire to put before you. This is not the first occasion on which an earnest effort has been made to lessen our dependence on America for the greater part of our supply of

cotton.

In 1850 the Manchester Chamber of Commerce deplored "the continued dependence of the great industry of this district for the supply of its raw material, mainly from a single source," and in 1857 the Cotton Supply Association was formed, a most active and vigorous organisation, which worked hard for many years to increase the supply of Lancashire's chief requisite. The Association had the support of the Press, and the Times, in blessing it, praised the practical enterprise of its promoters, and seized the opportunity, not for the first or last time, of indulging in a gibe at the Manchester economists, who were supposed to be lukewarm to the movement. This Cotton-Growing Association was more cosmopolitan in its scheme of operations, more philanthropic in aim than the present effort, for it was partly directed against the slave-grown cotton of the States. But the British Empire was then smaller, and that was an age when cosmopolitanism was popular, and when business men combined altruism and commerce. I do not mean that the Association neglected the Empire. It bombarded the India Office with memorials and a great effort was made in East India with most happy results, during the time the American War lasted.

A noble attempt was made in the West Indies. I hold in my hand a letter from Mr. Stephen Bourne, of the Jamaica Cotton Co., Limited (patron, Lord Brougham) which states that the Sergeant-at-Arms had kindly allowed

a bag of cotton grown on the estates of the company to be on view in the House of Commons. The letter concludes, "I think there can now be no reason to doubt our entire success."

Besides the East and West Indies, Australia received much attention. A Commissioner was appointed to promote emigration, and the Queensland Government offered a bonus of £10 a bale on Sea Island cotton, and £5 a bale for other descriptions.

The Cape of Good Hope, Natal, and other of our possessions are also mentioned in the record of the Association's work.

The hopes of the pioneers of the movement seem to have centred almost as much on Turkey (European and Asiatic), Egypt, Italy, and Greece, the Brazils, and other parts of Central and South America as on the Empire. Serious efforts were made in Turkey, and an address was presented to the Sultan at Buckingham Palace in July, 1867, in which the Association states that it "has observed with admiration the wisdom shown by your Majesty in the selection of judicious officers to carry into effect the measures devised for extending the growth of cotton, and has never failed to appreciate highly the value of those measures." Unfortunately, all officers were not judicious, and all measures were not effective, and, as does sometimes happen even in Turkey,

64

express promises remained unfulfilled. Machinery, imported duty free, could not be erected up country, for want of authority from Constantinople. A tax-collector's impositions led to the suspension of operations in one district; the crop could not be gathered at the right time in another, because the farmer of tithes had not visited it; and the sacred custom of Bozook, which allows cattle to roam at large and devastate growing crops was so deeply rooted, that the constant orders of the Governors-General to abolish it were disregarded. In addition to all this, there was an export duty of 5 per cent. to 15 per cent. You will not be surprised to hear that the efforts of the Association in Turkey did not meet with permanent success.

It is unnecessary for me to describe their operations in other parts of the world. I may briefly sum up the results of this earlier effort. It would be a mistake to suppose that the work of the old Association was in any sense thrown away. There were some successes; there were many failures. The growth of cotton in Egypt, India, and Brazil has increased since their day, and they may claim some of the credit for

that increase; but of these three, Egyptian is the only kind we now use largely. The West Indian experiments appear to have failed at that time because the crop was a precarious one, and because the cultivation of sugar was far more remunerative.

In West Africa, the trade seems to have declined in later years through the low price of American cotton, and through a lack of cheap means of transport. In East Africa no serious effort was made, again because of the absence of transport facilities.

The great difference between now and then is that in the Soudan, Uganda, and British East Africa, British Central Africa, and Nigeria, we have to-day vast areas capable of growing cotton to all appearance as well as any other part of the world. None of these territories belonged to us, or were under our protection, forty years ago. Again, in the West Indies, economic conditions are more favourable to the growth of cotton than they were, and there is a field for experiment in Burma.

In spite, therefore, of the partial failures of the past, the new movement may be said to have every reasonable prospect of success. We shall waste no more time or trouble now on the Sultan of Turkey. On the other hand, the most hopeful fields of the future are new possessions or protectorates of the Empire, which could not have been exploited before, because of lack of transport facilities. We have got beyond the old ideas of laissez-faire run mad, which argued that it was never the business of a Government to make a railway which private individuals would not undertake. All this is to the good, and a sound combination of private enterprise and Government assistance should carry us far on the road to achieve the ends we have in view.

That there are great difficulties to surmount, no one will deny; that progress may be slower than some ardent souls desire is probable; but we must never forget the urgency of our needs, and we must not lose sight of the consideration that the Soudan and British Central Africa, and Nigeria, have each sufficient territory to grow, and a soil and climate suitable for growing millions of bales of cotton every year.

In conclusion, I have only to thank you for the patience and attention with which you have listened to a paper full of rather dry detail, and to ask you to continue to take an interest in what may be called, without exaggeration, a great Imperial movement,

DISCUSSION.

The CHAIRMAN thought the paper had been one of the greatest interest and of permanent value. No one could underrate the importance of the subject. This country depended on plentiful and cheap supplies of food, coal, iron, and cotton. He noticed a very remarkable omission from the paper, an unusual one nowadays when any trade question was being discussed, namely, that there was no mention of tariff reform. He did not mean to say by any means that that subject was out of order, but he did not suppose that anybody imagined that the first step towards encouraging the growth of cotton would be to impose a duty on the raw material, from wherever it came. The country naturally wanted to stimulate the growth of cotton, and the author could not have emphasised too strongly the great danger there was of the demand for raw cotton outrunning the supply, and the recurring danger of an oscillation of price, for which he pointed out quite rightly that the remedy was to increase the supply. The case for adding to the amount of the raw cotton crops of the world was proved, and the urgency of it was also proved. He agreed entirely with the author that it must be done by creating new sources of supply, and, as far as they were concerned, within the British Empire. He had not the least doubt that natural forces left to themselves would very greatly increase the areas which now produced cotton, but he agreed with the author that they ought not to depend upon the slow action of natural forces. Before they had afforded an increased supply there might have been a very ugly "squeeze," which might have left England without either a population or capital to take advantage of the increased supply when it became available. They were in presence of a very real danger; and he thought the author in his paper more than hinted that those who were most interested in the cotton industries had been a little backward in realising how serious that danger might be. But they had realised it now, and if that was so, perhaps after all Mr. Sully, whose name had not been popular in Lancashire lately, might turn out to have been a blessing in disguise, to everyone except himself, if he had helped them to realise that strenuous efforts were needed to increase the supply of raw cotton. The difficulties would be mainly those of labour and means of communication. He was very glad to hear the author's opinion that for the growth of raw material a peasant proprietary or tenant peasant farmers were needed, because he thought that tended to simplify the labour difficulty; and as he gathered cotton must be grown mainly in tropical areas, even if they had to import labour, the same controversies would not arise which arose when labour was imported into some other parts of the world. They were told that a perennial supply of labour could be brought from China. If it was imported from China into a tropical country he did not know that the same controversy would arise which had arisen in a

recent case in regard to importing Chinese labour elsewhere. But personally he should always prefer, assuming it was necessary to import labour (which he did not gather was proved in the case of cotton, because there was a large population in Africa already which was very well suited to growing cotton) to first of all look to parts of our own Empire, such as India, for its supply. With regard to means of communication he gathered that if railways and roads could be developed so as to bring the cotton-growing areas within reach of the coast, the sea means of communication would probably look after themselves. He understood that the choice of areas to be developed for cotton growing was almost embarrassing, and the British Cotton-Growing Association was, no doubt quite rightly, spreading its experiments over a very wide field, but if they intended to press the Colonial Office for assistance in regard to the building of railways it would be desirable not to press them too much, because Governments when they were pressed too much were apt to become first puzzled and then obstinate - but to concentrate their efforts upon pressing the Colonial Office to assist the railways in certain definite places. He thought something should be done; and that some choice should be made upon which the Colonial Office should be pressed specially to concentrate its energies. What was really needed was advice as to what areas should be developed and how they could best be developed; and there were several gentlemen present who could give that information.

Sir HARRY H. JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., said he could add a little information respecting the districts of Africa which the reader of the paper singled out as being possibly suited to the cultivation of cotton. With other gentlemen he had recently been instrumental in sending out to the little negro republic of Liberia an eminent botanist, Mr. Alexander Whyte, to examine into the interesting flora of Liberia; and amongst other discoveries that gentleman thought he had lighted upon was the important one of cotton, showing a long staple. It might or might not be a development of the wild Gossypium anomalum, which seemed to be the only truly wild species of the cotton tribe in the continent indigenous to Africa, or it might be like the coffee of Liberia, a new species peculiar to that remarkable little region, which had so much that was strange and confined to itself in its fauna and flora. The specimens had not yet arrived, but they were now on their way to Kew, and he hoped they might reveal a fresh ground on which cotton of valuable quality could be cultivated with great success close to the sea. In reviewing the various parts of Africa to which their energies should be devoted in the matter of cotton cultivation, he thought they should endeavour to be practical, and to select in preference the coast regions first if they were suited in climate, soil, and labouring population for the cultivation of cotton, Undoubtedly, Northern

Nigeria might be a magnificent field for cotton cultivation. Much of the soil was what would be called in India cotton soil, but as it was far away from the Niger and Benue it meant that the means of transport were absolutely deficient. Even the Niger and the Benue near the cotton-growing regions were obstructed by rapids, and were navigable only during a very short period of the year. He wished to say how thoroughly he agreed with the author in enunciating the principle that so far as possible they should grow cotton in Africa in partnership with the African, and should not attempt, unless it was absolutely necessary, to import foreign labourers if the business could be done by the African himself, under slight tuition at the hands of the European. The most important point of all was the means of communication which would make it possible to grow cotton at a profit in various parts of Africa. Undoubtedly, light railways were required to open up many regions which were close to navigable rivers or to the coast; but he could not help feeling that in regard to the matter of cotton cultivation as an imperial question, and of other questions equally important and equally imperial, they had not sufficiently enlarged the home machinery to deal effectively and economically with those questions. He would try to speak guardedly to avoid giving undue offence, but there were sometimes occasions on which they must grasp the nettle even if it hurt them. What was the practical position in regard to opening up the distant regions of the Empire by railways which were not under the great enlightened Government of India, but practically managed from Downingstreet? There was no definite system. A few years ago they went on the plan of handing over the matter to be dealt with by Crown Agents, who were the men of business at the Colonial Office. He could not say that the results that had come from Crown-agent-built or contracted-for railways had been altogether satisfactory, or even satisfactory. They had built railways at an extravagant cost, so extravagant that it had really compelled even the most imperially-minded taxpayer to reflect on how much further he could go on the same road. For instance, take the reports of Sir William MacGregor, and read his criticism on the way the railway was constructed through Lagos; and also read the many complaints, not of mere cavillers but of responsible people like Sir Alfred Jones, of the way in which the railway was constructed to Ashantee. Take also the Uganda railway. He was permitted to publish some views and statistics on the subject; and he came to the conclusion that if that business had been done by a firm, say, by contract, something like three-quarters of a million pounds might have been saved in the construction, out of perhaps five millions. When one had the national purse to draw on, and was not immediately responsible, one was apt to be much too large-minded as to expenditure; and when things were managed in that way all sorts of people were sent out, not because they were absolutely