1947 And All That

According to Wikipedia, the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme was a plan to cultivate tracts of what is now Tanzania with peanuts. It was a project of the British government.groundnuts It was abandoned in 1951 at considerable cost to the taxpayers when it did not become profitable. Ground nuts require at least 500 mm (20 inches) of rainfall per year; the area chosen was subject to drought.

This might give the impression that the British Government did not know what it was doing (perish the thought), but they knew what they were talking about, as this extract from the 1947 Order shows;

In the Nuts (underground)(other than ground-nuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts, other than ground-nuts, as would but for this amending Order not qualify as nuts (underground)(other than ground-nuts) by reason of their being nuts (unground).

Are we all clear on that?

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