65 



During- the seasons of scarcit}' time rotations are enforced, over 

 ^vhich the eno-ineer has ahnost absohite control. The purpose of the 

 administration is rather to save the more vahiable crops than to pro- 

 tect the irrigators uniforndy. This insures a maximum return to the 

 treasury through taxation, hut seldom atiords an impartial and equi- 

 table division of the water. For instance, during some seasons rota- 

 tions occur ever}^ four days; that is, irrigators are allowc^d to use the 

 water a certain length of time and then be di^prived of it for four 

 days. Dtiring the warm seasons of the year, in June and July, four 

 days of drought is sufficient to kill rice. The fellah who has i)lanted 

 this crop is the sufferer, and, although his taxes ai-e remitted, he has 

 no income from his land and nuist earn his living in some other way. 

 It has been found necessary to modify the rotations under some of the 

 longer canals l)ecause it often occurs that the water never reaches the 

 lower end of a canal. Usually when water is turned into a canal it is 

 allowed to run for a dav before any one is permitted to divert it. In 

 this way it will run a considera])le distance before the volume is dimin- 

 ished to any great extent. 



CAUSES OF LITIGATION. 



Owing to the fact that the government controls the diversion and 

 division of water there is no litigation l)etween irrigators as to water 

 rights. Cases are occasionallv brought against the government 

 because the water supply is short or because the size of the pump the 

 engineers have permitted to be installed does not suffice for the irriga- 

 tion of the lands it was intended to serve. These cases are becomino- 

 rare, as the engineers can generally show that the water was distributed 

 as generously as the supply furnished hy the river would warrant and 

 that the volume made availalJe l)y pumping, if properly used and 

 distributed among the irrigators, would have sufficed for all. 



Such suits, if the amount of money involved is small, go first before 

 the native courts, where, at present, a government officer is usually 

 looked upon with suspicion. For this reason an engineer outside of 

 the government service can often greatly annoy the administration by 

 juaking adverse reports or giving testimony in contradiction to that 

 presented by the government engineers. As the irrigation cases in the 

 courts are nearly all small and relate generally to rights of wa}" and 

 similar questions, the engineers have ne^■er had to give them much 

 attention, and as the English have slowlv instituted reforms in the 

 ■court proceedings, just decrees and decisions are now the rule rather 

 than the exception. The P]gyptian engineers are also favored by the 

 absence of any specific laws or regulations which would limit them to 

 certain prescril)ed duties. With the power behind them which secured 

 them their positions in the first place, they are enabled to take what- 

 2TT52— No. 130—03 5 



