Portuguese East Africa or Mozambique

The railway to the Transvaal (55 m.) belongs to the State, connecting with the Union of South Africa railways at Komati poort, and is of prime importance. In the last three months of 5927, the total receipts of the Lourenco Marques railway were £125,623. New railway shops are to be built at Lourenco Mar ques. New engine sheds are nearly complete. The Swaziland line (44 m.) to Goba on the Swaziland border, is to link up eventu ally with the Union system at Breyten, considerably reducing the distance from Lourenco Marques to Germiston. The Gaza railway (51 m.) with a 2 ft. 6 in. gauge, runs from Vila Joao Belo (Chai-Chai) to Chicomo, near the river Inharrime. This railway handles about 9,000 tons of goods per year, mostly agricultural produce. The Beira railway (200 m.) in the Mozam bique Company's territory, links up with Rhodesian railways at the frontier. The Trans-Zambezia railway (156 m.) from Dondo on the Beira Junction railway to Murraca, on the south bank of the Zambezi, was opened in 1922. The Central African railway on the north bank of the Zambezi (61 m. long, of which 45 m. are in Portuguese territory) is connected at Port Herald with the Shire Highlands railway. The Xinavane railway from Moamba to Xina vane (55 m.) is to be prolonged via Chissano to Vila Joao Belo Chai-Chai ), or via Chibuto to Chicomo (7o m.). The line from Inhambane to Inharrime is 55 miles; and that from Lourenco Marques to Marracuene is a light railway (extension to Man hica is authorized) with gauge 0.60 metres, 32 km. long. In 1927 it carried 20,736 passengers, and receipts were £5,150 lihras. The Quelimane-Mocuba line is on the river Lujella; the Lumbo line (on the mainland off Mozambique), to Mkonta, is 94 kilometres. This is to be extended to the Nyasaland border, when it will be the shortest route from the sea to Lake Nyasa. Lines projected are : the prolongation of the Gaza railway. Chicomo via Jinagai to Inharrime, 51 m., and southwards to Xinavane; Quelimane--Shire Highlands; Port Amelia—Lagos district ; Nambula and Serra de Chinde sections of the Mozam bique railway.

The Zambezi is navigable by light draught steamers throughout its course in Portuguese territory with one break at the Kebrassa Rapids-400 m. from its mouth. By means of the Shire affluent of the Zambezi there is direct steamer and railway connection with British Central Africa.

Agriculture.

The province is, on the whole, very fertile, especially between Angoche and Quelimane, and in the Limpopo valley, where, as in the valley of the Zambezi, the soil is fer tilized by inundations. The chief products are : sesame, indigo, coffee, ground-nuts, gum copal, rubber, sugar, cashew-nuts, coco nuts, copra, mangrove-bark, maize, tobacco, cotton, etc. The irrigation and drainage scheme for the Limpopo valley, worked out by Col. Balfour, which will affect 20,000 hectares of good land, and cost £500,000, providing work for about 40,00o natives, has been officially approved. It has recently been decided to send five students from the province to agricultural schools in the Union of South Africa, with a subsidy of f zoo per ann. each, on condition of their serving the State for at least two years on their return.

The following are notes on some chief products (see further under section on Mozambique and Nyasa Companies). Cotton production has diminished south of the Save river, owing to irregular rains. Total export in 1926 was 1,154 tons, valued at

L81,765. Of this, the Mozambique company exported 652 tons, value £66,709. There are i 1,000 hectares under cotton in the Quelimane district. In 1926 the total sugar production (including that of the Mozambique company), showed an increase of 16,00o tons on the previous year. Of this total, 50,966 tons, value were exported. The chief centres are the lower Zam bezi, and on the Buzi and Incomati rivers. 5,524 hectares are under sugar in the Quelimane district; production in 1924-25 being io,ioo tons. The chief producers are the Incomati sugar estates at Xinavane in the Lourenco Marques district, and the Sena sugar estates and the Companhia Colonial do Buzi, in the Nyasa company's territory.

In 1926, exports of oil seeds, etc., equalled 52,030 tons (the largest item of export), value £810,862. (This is apart from the Mozambique and Nyasa companies, of which there are no re turns.) There has been a considerable increase in export of oil seeds. Macurra is increasingly exported. With the exception of the last, production of oil seeds is almost entirely limited to the districts of Mozambique and Quelimane; ground-nuts, castor-oil seeds and sesame are limited to the district of Mozambique, and copra to that of Quelimane, which exported 18,065 tons, valued at £363,454 in 1926. Tobacco is being increasingly grown, prin cipally for cigarettes. Growers ask for stoppage of importation. 500 tons were exported in 1924-25 in Quelimane district. 74% of the tobacco used in the province is local, the rest being im ported from America and the Union of South Africa. Prospects are good. Export duties in 1926 were an increase of about L13,000. The production of tea increased from 45 tons in 1924-25, to 55 in 1926-27, and 63 in 1927-28. Wheat has given good results experimentally, and is being increasingly culti vated, especially in the Zambezi valley. In the first three months of 1927, 1,627,661 kilos of bananas were exported from Mozam bique, of a value of £21,660. A recent decree regulates conces sions of five years for the exploitation of wild, fibrous and rubber plants. Rubber plantations exist in the Quelimane district, but owing to the price, fresh planting has practically ceased. There was no production in 1924-25.

The conditions for growing sisal are excellent, except in the district of Lourenco Marques. Great plantations exist in the north, especially in the territories of the Nyasa company, Mozam bique company, and in the Quelimane district. Quality is not as good as in Tanganyika sisal. There are 8,344 hectares under sisal in the Quelimane district. Over 9,000 tons were exported last year, at an expected return of LI() pe.. ton. There are five varieties of coffee native to the province. Tney have small grains, with little caffeine. Most of that exported is grown by natives, but there are a few plantations in the Mozambique district. Maize is grown, mostly by natives, in every part of the province. In 1926 the Mozambique company exported maize to the value of 2:36,722. Coconut is exploited especially in the Quelimane dis trict, where are some of the largest plantations in the world. Copra valued at 1363,454 was exported in 1926. Kapok is culti vated in the Quelimane district.