EMPIRE COTTON.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 January 1925, Page 8

EMPIRE COTTON.

HOPEFUL SURVEY .BY LORD DERBY. Tlie third annual general meeting of the Empire Cotton orowing Corporation was held recently at Westminster, Lord Derby, president of the corporation, in the cnair. Corel Derby, m moving the adoption of the report of the council, said that since last year there had been some alight improvement in the cotton trade. The American crop was larger than it nad been for some years , past, and, though it would ue rash to predict a continuation of this increase, it might be .-aid to have eased the situation at a moment when tneie wore signs ol increased purchases of the manufactured material from the Continent. The .increase of Empne grown cotton had been small compared' with the world’s crop, but there hud been a. most satisfa: tore propoiftouate improvement ovei last year's output and tlieie was every •indication that, this increase would be relatively larger this year, there was also a very greatly stimulated interest in cotton growing amongst growers, especially in Australia, South Africa, and Rhodesia, which he mentioned with particular interest, because in the firstnamed of these territories the cotton was grown by white farmers on their own farms, whilst in the other two the farms were owned toy white men, but cultivated by black hired labour. In Australia the cost of production and scarcity of population were the limiting factors. It appeared to Ire a country for small holdings of cotton grown* on a sound system of rotation with other crops, and it was essential that the cotton grown there should continue to be of the very best quality and as uniform as conditions ol miniate and soil would permit. He was glad to learn that both the State and Federal Cover union ts were considering how reseatch could best help tliier farmers and that Mr. Evans and Mr. Ballard, formerly of the Indian Agricultural Department, whose services had been lent* by the corporation, were being consulted osj the form this research should take and what its scope should be. Since their last annual meeting the corporation had sent Mr. Milligan, formerly a agricultural adviser to the Government of India, and Mr. Parnell, a plant breeder of great distinction, to South Africa, in accordance with a promise made “to Geueri.il tjinuts when he was first in this country. He was glad to say that the change of Government in the Union had made no. difference to* their posit ion. and! that; they appeared to be working on most harmonious terms with the Department ot Agriculture-. In South Africa the system oi Eiiiopean-owned farms and native hired labour had been in existence for hundreds of vears. It was, therefore, well established and thoroughly understood by all parties, and he believed that tiiere were very good prospects for cotton-growing in the Union. Indeed, the prospects were so promising that the corporation, in considering possible schemes of settlement, had found then main difficulty in the rapid, ho might also say the phenomenal, appreciation of land values during the past 1months. and he appealed to land owneis and development companies to make their terms for undeveloped land' as reasonable as possible If they wished, as he was sure they did, to attract settling farmers. (Cheers.) . The corporation had recently received from Mr. Milligan an encouraging report regarding the possibilities oi cotton growing in Swaziland, which was at present a territory administered by the Colonial Office. In the Sudan the. past year had. seen the steady and continuous building of the yh.ltwar dam, the completion <n which sho,.ld make it possible to put .a large additional -area under cotto-n and tc ensure to the Sudan Government, to the Sudan Riantations Syndicate, ant. to the native cultivators a reasonable return fur the work they had done. The political situation in the Sudan was. However, obscure. He congratulated the Govenor and the, Director of Agriculture in Uganda on the remarkable progress made in the cultivation of cotton in that Protectorate. it had been a real pleasure to the corporation to send them further assistance in Jibe shape of ploughs and also four of their best students at a reinforcement to the Department oi Agriculture. , . . . in Africa the main and principal need for the development of the continent was to be found in the solution of tiansport difficulties. He was glad to learn that the Corporation continued to urge the Government to build railways. The railway bridge over the Zambezi, expensive as it must be, was virtually necessary to Nvasaland, and some reduction in the present freight charges was absolutely essential if the farmers 1 and natives ol that Colony were to be enabled to grow a proper rotation of crops, which was one of the means by which the pests so. harmful io cotton and so typical of Africa were to be fought. The Corporation highly appreciated the facilities for training their students offered by the Jfcnperhil College of Tropical Agriculture. 'Trinidad., They had testified this appreciation in a practical fashion by continuing their grant to the college* lor a period of years, and by subscribing liberally towards the building fund inaugurated bv Lord Milner. , The Corporation had during the past 12 months co-cperated with the Indian Central. Cotton Committee in bringing to the notice of Lancashire those In-dian-grown cottons that were believed likeiv to be of value to the trade. This was particularly useful form of a«tivity, because not only would it stimulate interest in these types of cotton, but it would encourage Indian growers to improve the quality of their cotton, and thus was real co-operation between the Corporation and the Indian Committee towaids a development that, would be to the goed of both ends of the trade.