LIFE IN THE SUDAN

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 4, 6 January 1930, Page 12

LIFE IN THE SUDAN

AIR TRAVEL ACCEPTED The report of Lord Lloyd, High Commissioner, on the Finances, Administration, and Condition of the Sudan, which was published a little while back, as a Blue Book, is a record of progress in many directions, (says an overseas paper. Lord Lloyd, referring to the scheme for devoting gradually to the tribal authorities such judicial and administrative functions as it is within their capacity to perform, says: "Experience of the new native courts, which have come into existence more particularly in tho northern provinces, has shown that much good work has been done, that the tribal chiefs have intelligently realised their responsibilities, and that the people are receiving justice on lines wihch are readily acceptable to them." The increase in comfort and saving of time to both tho Government and the commercial community was a feature of the development of roads, railways, and motor transport' all over the country. Air travel, both official and private, had become an accepted part of the transport system. Landing grounds existed at all important and many smaller places in the Sudan. The ramifications of a considerable trade in slaves from Abyssinia through the Tung Province to the nomad Arabs of the White Nile Province have been slowly but surely brought to light. As a result of tho measures taken the trade has now ceased, and the sentences imposed on those convicted of being concerned in it should effectively prevent a recrudescence." Dealing with the general economic situation the report states: —"Much attention has been paid to the question of transport, and it is a comforting reflection that tho completion of the new railways and the advance in motor transport was a further insurance against the risks of possible food shortage. The future can be faced with much more equanimity than was possible when the country was first threatened with scarcity four years ago." The report also states that there is no doubt that the native standard of living is rising throughout many parts of the country, and that the native "motor bus"—often merely a lorry carrying a cpnfused mass of goods and passengers—has made its appearance. A seat from Wad Medaui to Khartum (110 miles) costs only 3s. Largo areas in tho Sudan were rapidly becoming mechanised, whilo the growth of air traffic also marked a new phase. -