3 FEBRUARY 1906, Page 2

Last Saturday at Port Soudan Lord Cromer, in the presence

of the chief Egyptian and Soudanese officials, formally opened the new railway from the Nile to the Red Sea. The terminus on one side is the new harbour near Suakim, and on the other the Atbara junction of the present line to Khartoum. The total length of the line is three hundred and twenty-five miles, exclusive of sidings, and it has been completed in fourteen months at a cost of ER1,400,000. The new railway will lessen the distance between Khartoum and the sea by nearly nine hundred miles, and is only one of many which are projected to connect the different districts of the Soudan with their nearest port. Lord Cromer in an admirable speech, which we have dealt with elsewhere, pointed out that only by making the Soudan prosperous could Egypt get rid of the charges of its administration, and that there was no question of damaging the existing line by the new adventure, since what benefited one would benefit all. Egypt was further dependent on the Soudan for the regulation and improvement of that water-supply which alone gave her prosperity, and it was her interest to do everything to promote the prosperity and secure the peace of the Upper Nile Valley. In State economics long views are the truest prudence.