115 t , C.

very largely on adequate civil administration, and that it is a waste of time to send vetm’inary inspectors to districts which are only very loosely controlled.

On the whole the number of deaths from this disease was less than usual. Other diseases reported were pleuro-pneumonia, East Coast fever, piroplasmosis. and foot-and-mouth disease.

The quarantine stations passed 25,888 cattle and 179,021 sheep for export, a decrease of 11,000 and 14,000 respectively on the figures for 1917-18, accounted for partly by the interruption to trafiic early in the year and partly by shortage of grazing, due to the indifferent rains of 1918.

An these were absorbed by the Egyptian market and the British army in Egypt.

Y.—PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION.

12. Introduction.

Provincial administration has been carried on successfully, though considerably handicapped by the difficulty of obtaining staff.

Eor the first two years of the war this shortage caused a certain amount of anxiety, as vacancies occurred which could not be filled, and the strain on the experienced officials who remained was consideniable.

From|he latter part of 1916, however, it began to be possible to obtain a regular supply of officers mainly invalided from the various theatres of war for service with the Egyptian army. Many of these were lent to the Soudan Government for work in the administration, and have rendered valuable services.

Administrative work cannot be said to have been wholly normal owing to the exceptional demands made on the Soudan on behalf of the British forces, mainly for the sujDply of foodstuffs and animals. The burden of organising the purchase and delivery of these supplies fell principally on the province officials, and made a great addition to their ordinary work.

The success with which it was carried out is due to the efforts of the officials and the Iwal co-operation of the Sheikhs and Chiefs of tribes.

These remarks apply chiefly to the northern and central provinces, which are closely administered, in touch with the chief communications of the country, and contain the chief productive districts. They include Haifa, Dongola, Berber, Red Sea, Kassala, Khartoum, Blue Nile, White Nile, Kordofan and Sennar provinces, those provinces, in fact, where the population is mainly Arab.

In the negroid provinces, where the natives are far more primitive and the administrative control is much looser, the main problems have been the maintenance of public security and the extension of Government control over the remoter tribes. Both these objects have been successfully followed. The rectification of the frontier between the Soudan and Uganda in the year the war broke out gave a large tract of country to the Soudan. A new district, called the Latuka district, was formed in the Mongalla province and the tribes still furtier East have been visited.

The case of Darfur province is slightly different from both of the above, as it is entirely new country taken over from Ali Dinaras Government by conquest in 1916. The problem has been to obtain the confidence of the natives and, with a very inadequate staff, to lay down the framework of a proper Government. This is being successfully accomplished, but it is an enormous territory, and some time must elapse before it can be fully administered and become a paying unit in the administration.

A satisfactory start has been made in the training of native civilian administrators, to act as- assistants to the British inspectors in the provinces. A school has been started at IChartoum where youths selected either from respected and influential native families or from promising members of the Government service are being trained in general administrative work. A considerable number have been sent out to the provinces, and excellent accounts have been received of their energy and usefulness.

13. Military.

The numbers and disposition of the troops in the Soudan have remained substantially the same. A few alterations have been made in organisation, and a new unit, the Western Arab Corps, has been raised for service in Darfur.

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