. . The first project to be undertaken was the construction of the new road from Namanga to Arusha. In continuation of the programme in that area it was decided to extend the new road from Arusha through Moshi, to Himo with a short extension towards Tanga. The first contract was let, in 1949, to Messrs. Stirling-Astaldi & Co. This project, which is now complete, provides 135 miles of first class road, with a stone base course, and an 18 feet wide bituminous surface. . . . .

The roads in this area not only carry some of the heaviest traffic in the country, but the volcanic soils are probably as difficult as any in the world for purposes of raod building. In the circumstances the substitution of bituminous surfaces for earth or gravel was long overdue.

It should also be noted that the plan provides for a further stretch of bituminized road westwards from Arusha for 50 miles, but owing to rising costs on the roads now being constructed it has been necessary to postpone the building of this section. It is, however, intended to bring this section of the Great North Road up to bituminized standard as soon as finances permit, since most of it passes over friable volcanic soils and carries very heavy traffic, and along it the produce of the Oldeani farming area and the produce of the Mbulu District is evacuated to Arusha

Estimated costs:

1. Great North Road

a) Namanga to Arusha "950,000

b) Arusha to Makiyuni " 410,000

c) Makiyuni to Tundama "31,051

d) Bridges "200,000

e) Mporotos Deviation " 60,000

Total "1,651,051

split to

Territorial or Loans Funds "796,051

CD & W Funds " 855,000

Other areas where improvements to the existing roads are needed are the farming area of Oldeani in the Northern Province. . . .

It is hoped to start, in the not too distant future improvements on such roads as the Makuyuni-Oldeani Road . . . .

Estimated "150,000

The history of the Sisal industry in Tanganyika has an air of romance. In 1892 the attention of Dr. Hindorf, then working on an estate near Amani, was attracted by a Kew bulletin to the Sisal plant (Agave sisalana, Perrine), as he thought this plant might thrive in the plains stretching from the foot of the Usambaras to Tanga. After an unsuccessful attempt to obtain planting material from Yucatan he was able to arrange for the import of 1,000 bulbils from Florida. This was shipped to Hamburg, repacked, and forwarded to Tanga in 1892, and upon arrival the sixty-two surviving plants were put in a nursery at Kikogwe, near Pangani. Thus were the foundations of the present industry laid, and its development from such a small nucleus is little short of remarkable.

Later in 1906, 1,000 bulbils were imported from Mexico by Messrs. Amboni Estates Ltd. (through Kew), and in 1907 plants were introduced into Kenya from Tanganyika by the late E.D.Rutherford.