PAPER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS,

Otago Witness, Issue 2735, 15 August 1906, Page 75

PAPER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS,

THE NILE.— HI.

SCHEMES FOB THE FUTURE.

The construction of the barrages I have mentioned and o£ the Assouan Dam, however, does not complete the storage scheme necessary to give- Egypt all the water she wants. She can use 3,500,000,000 cubic metres more of water ;- and even with: the raising of the Assouan to its full height, 2,500,000,000 cubic metres will still Be unprovided, for. So Britain cannot oease construction. Indeed, before the Sudd and 1 BaJir el Ghazal areas can be thoroughly drained something must be done to restrain the unimpeded flow drainage will give, or to store the increased quantity that will come down even more suddenly than, at present. What can be done? First, it will be a comparatively easy matter to bar the exit from Lakes Victoria and- Albert Nyanza, and by raising- the level of these lakes, store up an immense amount of water, which can be liberated into the Whit* Nile at will. Then, the Blue Nile. which is fed" largely by Eake Tsana in Abyssinia, can. be controlled by, a barrage at the lake outlet, and for every metre the lake is raised in height 3j300,000,000 cubic metres of water can be stored. Damming back- the lake 3 too, will provide water for irrigating the rich alluvial plains sf the Blue Nile between the cataracts of Rosaires and Khartoum. WHO HOLDS EGYPT MUST HOLD THE NILE.

It will easily be seen from what I have written that the irrigating and fertilising waters- of the Nile are the very life-blood of Egypt, and that both for the sake of the Egyptians and- capitalists who have invested money in Egypt, the control of the waters of the Nile must be in the hands of the rulers of Egypt The rulers of Abyssinia have in time gone by — if tradition be true — actually dammed back or turned aside the Blue Nile, and »n embassy, taking rich presents, once interceded with the Abyssinian King, who relented, and "in one night the river increased three cubits." "The danger is by no means an imaginary one, and this is recognised in. the latest treaty between, the Government of the Soudan and Abyssinia, concluded May 15,- 1902, in which it is laid' down that no work shall be constructed across the Blue Nile, Lake Tsana, or the River Sobat which shall arrest the ffow of their waters into the Nile, except by mutual agreement." Abyssinia must become subject to Egypt or must be ruled by a friendly king if Egypt is to get the full benefit of the "red" waters. —

And the danger was still more real farther up the river. Before the fall of Omdurman "the European. Powers had appeared upon tlie scene in every direction. In the east Massowah had been handed over to the Italians in 1885. . . . In 1893 a British; Protectorate ovev Uganda and Unyoro (both between Lakes Victoria and Albert Nyanza) ; and in 1895 the British flag was hoisted at Duffile (half way between Lado a_id Wadelai)." Most serious of all was the French movefent from the Upper Übanghi (a northern tributary of the Congo) district of French Congoland into the Bahr el Ghazal province. The Belgians had already made considerable expeditions into this quarter, and had penetrated as far north as Hofrat-en-Nahas (lat. lOdeg N., long. 25deg E.) in Southern Darfur. In 189r they made over their claims to the French. The French GovernoV of Upper Übanghi, M. Liotard [Never mind the names, except to turn up the names in. an atlas to get a good conception of what went on. — Pater.], immediately began to lay his plans with great energy and forethought for the solid establishment of French power in the Valley of the Nile. At the end of 1895 he crossed the Congo-Nile watershed, and seized Tembtira (approximately sdeg N. lat... 28£deg K. long.), on the Hueh. an affluent of the Bnlir el Ghazai. He also occupied Dem Ztibehr (appro*. 7adeg N. lat., 26 deg E. long.), on the Bahr el Hrnnr. Captain Marchand arrived with reinforcements from France in 1897, and after spending some time in con&olidatmg his position by occupying, posts throughout the country, he set out on the final stage of his journey. After great difficulties and some figitin? with the Dervishes, he reached Fas>hoda just eight weeks before the fall of Omdurman.

"The Frencli preparations bad not escaped the attention of those responsible for _££pt. i » «. In vieir of the Fif-.nr.Ji

advance it was absolutely necessary" t&t~\ Egypt to reassert her rights in the Soudaa.emphatically and at once. Immediately after the occupation • of Omdurman Lord Kitchener hastened on to Fashoda and found Marchand there. The situation waa j grave. For France it was galling in the. extreme to be foiled just in the moment of success, but for Egypt the question waa vital. The stake at issue was not the possession of a few acres of swamp, but the control of the summer water supply. Marchand' s mission w-as by no means the mere freak of an adventurous traveller, anxious to hoist his country's flag. It was undertaken as part of a policy skilfully planned and deliberately pursued. "It waa no mere coincidence that in the previous- year .the Bouchamps Expedition had set out from Abyssinia and endeavoured, though vainly, td join hands with Marchand from the east. Firmly based in th© Bahr el Ghazal, masters of -the Upper Valley, and joining hands with, the Abyssinians", the French would have been in the end complete masters: of the fate of Egypt. If the French' had insisted- there must have been war. Happily, they gave way, and W the "agreement of 1889 withdrew all their posts in the Bahr ef Shazal. The boundary of. the Soudan was fixed along the Nile-Congo, watershed." . * ' So, you see, the fertilising" and the irrir gation of Egypt 'depends upon the Nile waters, and foT her prosperity she must control the whoTe of the Jfile watershed. One cannot help regretting^ that the Cfladatonian policy- of retreat has cost so much' blood and money in the . Soudan ! ■and in South Africa. ,Fortunately, wßen. Kitchener took Omdurman the British Ministry looked ahead. When we in Australia and New Zealand see how often ti»is inability to think and- to act Imperially has resulted in weakening the British Empire in the Pacific, at times too when no opposition would have been made: to the enlargement of our territories, one cannot help feelings regret at the want ofstatesmanship. The Soudan might have been lost not only by bad statesmanship, but by our having at that time an inferior or inefficient navy. One 1 or both have lost to us- the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, a part of New Guinea, and,, further back, nearly all the islands of the Pacific* now in foreign hands. We must train ourselves to thing* Imperially. THE PBODT7CTS OF EGYPT AND THE SOUDAJf. Cotton, maize, tobacco, cigars, cigar T ettes, rice, sugar, wheat, fodder crops, dates-, coffee, etc., are grown and exported ; cattle and* camel-breeding axe sources of wealth ; ivory, rubber, feathers, senna are exported' in increasing- quantities ; and gnnuarabic (the best cornea from: Kordofan) is exported largely to- make liquid 1 gum, chewing mixtures, sweets, -etc., and to put 1 a glaze on. calico when it is being manufactured. Melons, beans, barley, lentils, flax, etc., are grown for j home consumption. * To. those boys and girls interested in history and! geography, I am sure these notes will be much more valuable than stuff crammed up from geographies written often enough by men ignorant of both subjects. I =====