A Times telegram from Cairo published on Wednesday states that
the Sirdar, as Governor-General of the Soudan; has decided that his province will be thrown open to traders and " others "—we presume, tourists and sportsmen—without re- striction, some daybetween September 1st and September 15th. Foreign goods will enter free of duty, except for a registration fee that will be levied. at Wady-Halfa. A tax of 20 per cent. ad valorem will, ,however, be payable on Soudanese goods exported,--such as -gums, ivory, and feathers. The beginning of September is fixed as the date because the railway will by that time be completed to Khartoum. The Times telegram also says that the Sirdar is well satisfied with the condition of the Soudan. Taxes are being regularly paid, and the health . of _Omdurman has greatly improved. All this is excellent • news, but it would not be wise to be over-sanguine. It is very seldom that conquest is not followed by a certain re- action—as we have seen in Uganda—and though we have not the slightest fears as to the ultimate result, people must not imagine that the Soudan is yet quite in the condition of Surrey. Our administrators have still many a tough job before them.
