§ Mr. DUCKWORTHasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware that the Government of Uganda has notified all the cotton producers that the responsibility for housing their cotton prior to its acceptance by the railway must rest on the. producers; and whether, seeing that these producers are not in a position to provide such needed shelter for their cotton during the long period of waiting, what steps are being taken to avoid any repetition of the breakdown in the arrangements for transporting the last cotton crop?
§ Mr. AMERYOn the 15th of October the Governor of Uganda was authorised to issue a statement in the following terms:
While the Secretary of State is confident that the railway administration is doing everything in its power to provide transit accommodation on a scale proportionate to the increased facilities for handling the traffic which it expects to have in operation next season, the responsibility of the Government for receiving traffic must be limited to the capacity of these facilities, and neither the railway nor the Government of Uganda is prepared to provide storage accommodation. Ginners must therefore themselves make arrangements for the, protection of their cotton before its acceptance by the railway, whether by constructing sheds or by effective dunnage and covering. Further, it is incumbent on all consignees of inward traffic into Uganda to assist the railway to the utmost extent by removing their goods from the wharves and transit sheds as quickly as possible and so relieve the pressure of the transmit accommodation.
2013WThe only case in which special consideration is required is that of the more remote ginneries, from which facilities for transport to the Lake Kioga waterway have to be utilised as they offer. The question of the provision of receiving sheds for the purely temporary accommodation of cotton from these ginneries has been discussed between the Governor and the general manager of the Uganda Railway, but special accommodation of this kind cannot be ready in time for the new season, and it will not be required if the improved arrangements for dealing with the cotton as it comes to hand are successful.
It must be pointed out that the provision by the railway of receiving sheds of this kind would involve an expenditure both on capital cost and on working which would be reflected in an increased railway rate, and that the small supply of labour which is available has been used, probably to better effect, on the works for the improvement of port facilities in Uganda and on the construction as rapidly as possible of the through railway into Uganda.
It is hardly possible to admit any breakdown in the 1925 arrangements, in view of the very great excess of exports of Uganda cotton from Kilindini over the figures for 1934:
1924. 1925. Centals. Centals. March quarter … 69,775 105,126 June quarter … 212,188 319,952 September quarter … 174,840 277,897 December quarter … 57,615 — Total … 514,418 702,975✶ ✶ To date. In spite of this excellent result, which reflects the greatest credit on the railway administration, there had admittedly been local and temporary congestion, with some damage which occurred mainly, I understand, outside the railway's responsibility.
The steps taken to reduce the chance of a recurrence of congestion in 1926 are, briefly, a reorganisation of railway administration in Uganda, including the appointment of a divisional superintendent and the transfer of wharfage from the Marine Department, the improvement of handling appliances at the Uganda ports, the increase in the fleet on the 2014W lakes, the provision of additional rolling stock, locomotives and drivers, and finally the opening of a portion of the new deep-water wharf at Kilindini. On its side, the Government of Uganda has spent £20,000 this year on improved facilities, outside the sphere of the railway, for the movements of imports and exports.