88 ( No. 96 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS a The transport problem deserves immediate and care ful consideration. The extension of the railway to the Congo border would do much to facilitate and develop the trade of Uganda , and other extensions are little less urgent. These , as well as measures to avoid congestion, have been mentioned above , in connection with the Uganda Railway. In particular, the development of Kilindini Harbour is urgently necessary, as the delay to which cargo and vessels are subject under existing conditions isa handicap which imperils the export of lower -priced commodities, As regards cost of transport, the Uganda Railway authorities claim to have reduced export freight charges to the lowest possible rates, while the shipping lines are said to have run their services in the past at an actual loss. A proposal has been made that the British lines should be subsidized by the Imperial Government, afterthe German precedent. The growing revenues of the Colony might contribute to such a measure; or , following a suggestion made in Mr. B. Cave's report on Zanzibar ( 1909), joint action might even be takenby all the East African colonies tosecure lower freights and improved services in return for certain concessions or subsidies . The Protectorates singly may not be able to negotiate with effect, but collectively they would be likely to obtain favourable terms . Whatever action may eventually be taken , it is obvious that cheap freights are a prime necessity, if the produce of the country is to be placed on the market at an outlay low enough to repay enterprise and stimulate produc tion .

British East Africa faces towards the east, and an eastward expansion of trade is a probability of the future. Uganda cotton is now beginning to find a market in India ; and, in addition to cotton , the coffee, cocoa, copra , rubber, sisal hemp, flax, hides and skins of East Africa may yet figure on the import lists of India , Australia , America ,and even China and Japan, while all these countries can supply products suitable to the needs of the Colony.

Attention is sometimes drawn to the adverse trade