Great Scheme of Development to Meet British Demand London, Jan. 3.
In view of the threatened shor-age of American cotton for the Lancashire mills and the resulting serious position in which England's textile industry is likely to be placed, British official circles are directing considerable attention to development schemes in the Sudan by which it is estimated Egypt's annual production of long staple cotton can soon be increased 110,000 bales.
A loan is about to be issued, guaranteed by the British Government, to provide for the construction of a 217-mile extension of the Sudan railways to Kassala ju order to make possible the expansion of the cotton-growing area in the delta of the river Gash, at the same time opening Eastern Sudan for the export of cereals and cattle.
Within. a few years of the opening of the railway extension it is stated that 100,000 acres of cotton will be grown annually, and eventually a considerably larger area will be cultivated in this district.
A further loan is soon to be raised to finance the building of a dam at Makawar, on the Blue River, and a canalization system for the: irrigation and development of a large cotton area in the El Gezira district south of Khartoum. Contracts for this work have already been let, and the first crop will be planted in 1925, The El Gezira scheme is capable of the development of 3,000,000 acres, but is to be limited to 100,000 acres for the present.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.