The Future of the Soudan.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 106, 8 February 1900, Page 3

The Future of the Soudan.

After tho fin-il defeat and death of tbu Eliaiifa, JUr Charles NViieid, *wbo was sot Lie by tlae Sirdar at Omcumnon after twelve year,3* imprisonment, was interviewed by a loprei-ieniafciveoi. the Da'!} Chronicle regarding the future of the tJoi.dan. Jle said that ulie^o wr.s now no danger of serious tronblG, and the country had a prosperous tirae johcarl. Ho thinks that the British, people are too much inclined to regard the Soudan as a kind of uninhabil"d desert, whilo really the d(SGri, if* only in the north, and in the oO at horn districts, which have Khartouji as their centre, there is excellent virgin soil capable of growing anything under oidinary cultivation. The Dervishes have always neglected the magnificent opportunities for cultivation which tboir land oilers. Between the Blue Nile and the Win c Nile there is the Lame splendid soil only awaiting culthation. Then, Mr Neufeld has reason to believe that the mineral wealth of the Soudan is considerable. "At Omdurman," bo said, " the natives ha\o brought to me gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron which they had obtained from the ground. The natives in their way extract a fair amount of minerals fiom the ground themselves. Further, there is the prospect of enoimous trade m rubber, gum, ostrich feathers, ivory, ami ebony. When the new Capo to Cairo railway is finished, Khartoum will become tho great thriving capital of Centiai Africa." M~r Neufeld's opinion of the trading prospects of the country m?y be judged from the fact that he intends to return to Khartoum as a merchant. The mitr.es, ho says, are intelligent, but they are not capable of self-government. Until they become accustomed to British rule they will bo always liable to conspire against the white man, but the Sheikhs, or patriarchs, could safely bo entrusted with considerable powers, subject, of course, to British supervision. Tho most difficult question to be faced is, in jVJr Neufcld's opinion, that of slavery. " Tho people," he said, " would resent very strongly any order commanding them to free their slaves immediately. It would be bad for the slave, as well as for his owner. The slaves are not treated badJy. Many of tho Soudanese treat their slaves better than their own children, because of the property interest they have in them. On the other hand, the selling of male slaves is already prohibited among them, and the Khalifa used to insist on this condition. I think, therefore, that in time slavery will gradually be weeded out of tho Soudan, without any rigidly-enforced order which micht load to trouble." Mr Neuield's opinion, on tho whole, is distinctly hopeful. He believes that the country will be developed along the lines adpted in West Africa, but the advent of speculators in place of genuine merchants and traders would be a calamity. It is to be hoped that this view is not too sanguine^ for the Soudan has an immense debt to repay to Britain for her years 01 patient and often costly eiiorts in the cause of civilisation.