~ 21 —

milliemes (2s. 8d.) on actual running expenses, including all lalDour. The cost of

the experimental plant, landed at Khartoum, and including erection, was

£E. 1,645, and if 10 per cent, depreciation be allowed on this figure, the cost of

water per feddan is increased to 128'2 milliemes or 266 mm. per 1,0C0 mm.

Relative Efflciency of Sakia and Pumping Station.—It will be of interest to compare such a figure with the cost of sakia irrigation in the case already cited. With the three-course rotation, cotton, wheat, beans or dura, a third of the

land would receive twelve waterings for cotton, a third seven waterings for wheat and the balance five waterings for dura or lubia, or an average of eight

waterings per feddan. It has been shown that the sakia tenant would pay for

this irrigation two-fifths of his crops with a normal value of £B .2.320, representing

very nearly the actual cost of supplying the water by means of the water-wheel. The same irrigation has been effected with the steam pump at a nett cost of

£E. 1.005, and a gross cost, including depreciation, of £E. 1.025. The effect

of the extension of this system in the form of a chain of pumps along the whole

length of sakia cultivation and the ultimate elimination of the water-wheel,

should result in an annual economy on costs of production amounting to, say,

£E. 132,000 in present circumstances, while this figure should be further

enhanced by the provision of facilities for the iniportation of liquid fuel.

Wider Range of Ptimp Irrigation.—Sakia irrigation is moreover confined

to a very narrow belt on the crest of the river bank, as the maximum range of

flow for the small quantity of water delivered by the wheel, rarely exceeds 200

yards. The conformation of the riverain lands, however, lends itself to the

economic watering of a far wider belt, corresponding with a gentle slope inland

from the flood bank to the " karoo." It has consequently been found possible

in the case of the experimental area, which is typical of the Nile banks, in the

northern provinces, to extend irrigation on 1,500 metres of river-front from

about sixty feddans previously served by water-wheels to approximately 500

feddans under the pump. On a conservative estimate it should be feasible to

quadruple the total area of irrigation and reduce the cost of production by at

least a fifth. Such additional margin of profit would constitute the capital

fund for improvements in cultivation proper, from which further economies

and better yields may confidently be expected. Among incidental benefits

to be derived from the introduction of steam pumping, would be a large increase

in taxable areas and a far closer approximation between assessment and actual

collection of land-tax.

Finance and Administraiion.

A prima facie case for the establishment of modern pumping machinery

on the Nile banks based on actual experiment leads to a further enquiry for

the best means of capitalising and administering such a scheme. Happily, a