§ 40. Mr. HANNONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, in view of the reported irrigation scheme, subsidised by the French Government, to promote cotton growing on the Niger, His Majesty's Government will consider the initiation of a similar scheme in British territories?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREI do not think that any scheme for irrigating land in that portion of the Valley of the Niger which falls within the Protectorate of Nigeria is required, in view of the ample rainfall of most of the parts of Nigeria through which the river runs. But the Government of Nigeria is alive to the possibilities of works for water storage and irrigation in the drier districts in the north of Nigeria; and has recently asked that an irrigation engineer should be engaged to report on such schemes in Sokoto Province. The area in Nigeria in which cotton can be grown without irrigation and within easy reach of the railway is, however, so large that I doubt if any irrigation scheme would be justified if it were carried out solely in order to increase the production of cotton.