CORRESPONDENCE

A LETTER FROM KHARTUM [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—The Mohammedan religion regards the making of wells or the provision of supplies of water as works of special merit. And there is a well-known saying in our own language that the greatest benefactor of the human race is the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before. An abundant water supply and fruitful agriculture are a blessing in any country, but they are doubly so in an arid land. Hence the traveller, who after passing across the flat, featureless and barren plain of the Gezira suddenly finds himself in the area irrigated from the Sennar Darn, cannot fail to be impressed with the merit and beneficence of the great irrigation works which were recently inaugurated by Lord Lloyd.

Although the canals dependent on the Sennar Dam only began to operate last July, the area under irrigation has already been transformed in a wonderful fashion. In place of parched, cracked and almost barren earth, supporting a scanty population and a few half-starved donkeys and goats, the traveller finds a region of smiling cotton fields; interspersed with patches of peas and maize and carrying a numerous popu-- lation and an increasing number of fat donkeys,camels, cattle and sheep.

The main features of the irrigation scheme may be sum- marized in a few words. The principal work consists of a granite-faced dam some two miles in length across the Blue' Nile at Mahwar, which -is situated some 220 miles south of Khartum. The dam performs a double purpose. It creates a reservoir some fifty miles long and with a capacity which would be sufficient to supply the needs of Greater London for nearly two years. During the period of low Nile, that is to say from the middle of January until the middle of April, when irrigation ceases, the irrigated area will draw its supply from the reservoir, the -whole of the natural flow of the river being allowed to pass through the Dam to supply the needs of Egypt. The Dam is also the -starting point of the canal system for irrigating the Gezira plain, a canal taking off at the west end of the dam and being so enneered that the water in it reaches the level of the plain and flows freely on to the land at a distance of about thirty-five miles from the Dam.

The area canalized and capable of irrigation 'comprises about 300,000 acres, and is therefore about the size of Bedfordshire. Not all this, however, will be under cultivation in any one year. For it is proposed to follow a three years' rotation, one-third of the area—i.e., 100,000 acres—beingundereottonevery year, one-third under a green or grain crop, and one-third-fallow. During the present -season the area actually under cotton amounts to about 80,000 acres.

The irrigated area has been limited to 300,000 acres, in order to meet the fears of the Egyptian Government that the effect of the-scheme might deprive Egypt of water. That part of the Gezira Plain which lies to the north of the latitude of the Darn amounts to about five million acres, and provided sufficient water is available it will be possible to irrigate- some three million acres from the existing Dam at the comparatively low additional cost required -to increase the size of the main canal and to excavate additional distributary canals and field channels.

The total cost of the works, exclusive of interest during the period 'of construction, amounts to about £8,000,000, and it is estimated that the value of the annual cotton crop produced on 100,000 acres will amount to about 21,800,000; - - The completion of the present works is the calinimition of persistent and strenuous-efforts extending over twenty years, in the course of which difficulties have been surmounted which at times have threatened to wreck the scheme.

• Official proposals for the irrigation of the Gezira Plain were first put forward by Sir William. Garstin in the year 1904. At that time no wheeled transport existed south of Khartum, and the journey from Itharturn to Sennar, except during the short period of high Nile, when the river was navigable, had to be made on camel or horseback and took nine days. It is illus- trative of the, backward condition of the Gezira at that time that the district in which the Dam is now situated was infested by lions, which were a terror to the population. The country was unsurveyed and little was known of the extent or nature of the rights of the natives in it. The only agriculture carried on was the cultivation of " dura," or other 'rain crops, by primitive methods in years of sufficient rainfall. In years of good rainfall abundant crops are produced, but the rains are very variable, and when they fail there is scarcity. During the period of Dervish rule famines occurred owing to the failure of the rains, while as recently as 1914 the population under- went extreme hardship and were only saved, from famine by the action of the Government in importing grain from abroad.

Towards the end of 1904 a staff of engineers was formed to study the possibility of irrigating the Gezira and to prepare a scheme. Simultaneously steps were taken to study and find a solution for the various other factors which had to be dealt with before .a prictical irrigation scheme could be brought into being. The railway was carried on from Khartum to Sennar, which it reached in 1910. A cadastral survey and a register of title were taken in hand and completed between the years 1906 and 1912, the survey being carried out by a unique method.

Of all the problems which had to be solved none was more difficult than that of finding out profitable crops which could be cultivated successfully in the peculiar climate and soil of the Gezira, and of training cultivators, who were only accus- tomed to the primitive and easy methods of rain cultivation traditional in the district to the more arduous and scientific methods necessary for irrigated crops. This task the Sudan Government wisely entrusted• to the Sudan Plantations Syndicate, Ltd., a company which already had considerable experience of cotton-growing in the Northern Sudan. Between the years 1911 and the opening of the Dam the Syndicate established and operated large farms, irrigated from the river by pumps, within the area now irrigated by the Dam. The result of their experiments was to establish that long staple Egyptian cotton can be successfully cultivated in the Gezira. As illustrative of the difficulties which had to be overcome, it may be mentioned that whereas in Egypt cotton is sown in March and harvested in the autumn, in the Gezira it is sown in July and August and harvested between January and May.

Preliminary work of construction was started in the year 1914, but was broken off by the War. When after the ter- mination of the War work was restarted, it was found that as a result of the general rise in prices and other causes the original estimates would be greatly exceeded, and the scheme came near to be wrecked on the question of finance. Parlia- ment came to the rescue and sanctioned a large increase in the capital cost, the interest on which it guarantees.

In order to obtain an adequate financial return on the large capital expended, it was obviously necessary, having regard to the ignorance of the native cultivators, to place the cultiva- tion under European management, so as to get the largest possible area under cultivation immediately, after the com- pletion of the Dam and to ensure scientific methods. The Government accordingly decided to employ the Sudan Planta- tions Syndicate to carry out an minor canalization within the area, to provide it with the necessary finances, farm buildings and equipment, and to act as managers as regards all agricul- tural operations. The arrangement made between the Govern- ment and Syndicate was in the main the work of Lord Kitchener and is of special interest. For it aims at obtaining the benefit of European capital and • European enterprise and science while fully protecting the interests of the native and safe- guarding him from exploitation. In addition it supplies to the native cultivators, who by themselves would be incapable of co-operative effort, the advantages of co-operative methods

• of agriculture.

In conclusion, though the success of the irrigation scheme seems assured, I shall not be drawing a truthful picture if I gave the impression that all difficulties have beensurmounted. As I have already mentioned, the cost has greatly exceeded the original estimates, and A remains to be proved.whether the

area of 300,000 acres now canalized will be sufficient to meet the annual charges: An increase in the irrigated area is. in itself desirable and will perhaps be necessary to place the undertaking on.a sound financial footing. In this connexion Lord Lloyd:in the course of his speech at the opening of the Dam, stated that he is hopeful of arriving at an understanding with the Egyptian Government.

Again, cotton is a difficult, crop to grow. It is a matter for congratulation that a competent research staff is already studying the various agricultural problems.—I am, Sir, &c.,

YOUR KHARTUM CORRESPONDENT.