DEVELOPING THE SUDAN.

Evening Star, Issue 18852, 29 January 1925, Page 6

DEVELOPING THE SUDAN.

Already the good effects of moderate rule in Egypt are beginning to make themselves manifest, and the constant friction and unrest that prevailed .under tho extreme nationalistic policy of Zn.ghlul are, in accordance with the more conciliatory attitude of Ziwar, giving opportunities for a continuance of the development work that had been .planned in tho Sudan. Much, of course, will depend on tho result of tho elections In Egypt next month. It is to he hoped that the present Government will be kept in office. Should it receive an .adverse verdict it is to be feared that the peaceful and ordered life that has been the aim of successive British administrators, and which has enabled the present measure of self-govern-ment to bo granted, will be seriously disturbed, and tho prosecution of the important schemes for developing the resources of tho Sudan inaije more difficult, Tho British Government, of course, is tho actual controller of this great area, but some, at any rate, of the political leaders in Egypt would like to regain control of the country which was so badly administered before Great Britain took tho situation in hand.

It is proposed to divert tho Nile water for tho use of the Gczira district in, the Sudan, and a section of the Egyptian Press has claimed that this scheme will imperil the very existence of Egypt. The Egyptians venerate tho Nile as the cause of their prosperity, .and it can be understood that they will watch with jealous eyes any proposal that may detrimentally affect their interests. In the present case, however, it :s denied that Egypt will in any way suffer. The system devised for securing water for tho Sudan provides for the use of flood water, which may bo an actual danger to the riparian agriculturist in Egypt, and which, as is pointed out, in any case runs to waste in the Mediterranean, la this connection, in order to allay Egyptian fears, it is announced that the British Government has agreed to the appointment of an expert committee of three, with a Dutch engineer as chairman, to arrange a basis on which irrigation works should l be constructed, with full consideration of Egypt s interests. In 1920 a Commission was appointed by the Egyptian Government to give its opinion on the proposals for the regulation of the Nile water supply. Briefly explained, these include a barrage on the White Nile, a few miles south of Khartum, which is to form an immense reservoir, and a weir at Sennar, controlling the irregular torrents of the Blue Nile, and rendering them available for the irrigation of nearly 500,000 acres in tho Sudan. The most ambitious scheme is the formation of a barrage at Lake Albert. It is estimated tbat it will be possible ultimately to irrigate at least 1,000,000 acres altogether in tho Gczira, of which onethird would bo under cotton each year, while at the same time no water would be drawn from the Nile during any time at which it could not be spared from Egypt. Excellent cotton has been grown in the Sudan for many years, but the amount has been limited in the absence of irrigation. When tho works proposed are completed an immense increase in cotton production may be expected. This is of great importance, because the world is threatened with a shortage of cotton. America has been the chief source of supply, but as the amount produced each year is diminishing and the population is increasing with great rapidity it is evident that the people of the United Stales will soon consume all the .home-grown supplies. It is gratifying, therefore, to note that success is attending the efforts to grow cotton in various parts of the Empire, and the Sudan is an example. This is a country nearly as large as India. It was in a deplorable position when Britain took it over. Now, figuratively, the wilderness has been made to blossom as the rose. Famine and disease have been banished, a state of chaos replaced by well-ordered industry, and a period of prosperity initiated that will be. much expanded under tho irrigation schemes which are contemplated.