— 34 — payable as railage, Khartoum to Port Sudan, 110 milliemes as handling charges at .Port Sudan and £E. 1.250 to the shipping company. The balance of 725 milliemes was absorbed by various incidental expenses, commissions and forwarding charges ; and upon a careful analysis and reduction of the latter figure the future of the export trade will certainly depend.* The Elevator System.—All the circumstances of the local grain market, including the absence of commercial firms of standing and a command of credit, the character and capacity of the native merchant and the isolation of trading centres, point to the fact that in the work of building up an export trade the initiative must be exerted by the Government and particularly by the railways and steamers. Safe storage, cleaning, grading, adjustment of stocks in the cause of steadier values, economies in handling and forwarding, and the assembly of bulk shipments are among the functions for which the Government is alone qualified in existing conditions, and upon the adequate performance of which the future of the industry must necessarily depend. That such purposes are best served by the establishment of an elevator system is a contention supported by a very convincing body of testimony and evidence unequivocally favourable to elevators as the only really efficient means of handling grain.

A change from bag to bulk loading would undoubtedly entail considerable initial expenditure. A country elevator capable of holding 400 to 500 tons at a time would probably cost in the Sudan £2,000, while a port elevator with a capacity of 16,000 to 20,000 tons could hardly be constructed and equipped for less than £60,000. Compensation would be found in a measurable saving of 6s. 3d. per ton on costs of bags and numerous other economies which, although they cannot well be expressed in figures, are none the less real. The establishment of elevators in Canada, the United States and Argentina has been due to railway administrations who found that if their railways were to be made to pay they must take steps to create trafiic. "To this end they erected, and for a time operated, grain elevators ; they inspired confidence in the farmers to settle and * A useful- comparison is afforded by the facilities ensured to the South African farmer. These are to be attributed directly to the far-sighted policy of the Natal Government, which had determined to secure a profitable outlet for surplus grain and build up railway traffic, and the agricultural industry pcuri passu, as has been done elsewhere, by accepting at the outset the smallest possible margin of profit. In 1907 the Minister of Railways secured from the Conference lines a freight rate for maize of 10s. per ton Durban to two European ports, via the Cape. This was subsequently extended to beans and ground nuts. The Government Agency in London made a small charge for sale, commissions and other expenses, amounting to 7d. per sack of 200 lbs. A rebate of 3d. was allowed on each new sack, reducing these charges to id. The Manager of Railways reduced railage on grain to a half-penny a ton per mile. A system of Government grading at the port was established and forward sales on certificate were arranged. Within six months of the introduction of this system 51,000 tons left Durban for Europe, as compared with a total shipment of 430 tons in the previous year, while as the result of official grading the price for maize advanced to 30s. 3d. a quarter, as compared with 26s. 3d. paid at the same date for Danubian maize. These shipments consequently realised 12s. 7d. per sack of 200 lbs. or £6 5s. lOd. a ton. Transport costs from Maritzburg in the midlands of Natal, including cartage, railway carriage, handling, freight, banking charges and all other incidental items of expenditure, including commission on sale in the home market, amounted according to the published tarifi' to £1 Is. 2d. per ton, or 2s. OJd. per sack.