66 



ever decisive action i.s necessaiy and to institute such reforms as, in 

 their judgment, are plainly necessary. 



Another question which often leads to lawsuit aoainst the g'overn- 

 ment is the remission of taxes on the irrigated land or the i-eduction 

 of taxes on the lands where the water has to be pumped. For 

 instance, during the summer of 1901, onh" 38 acres out of a 50-acre 

 farm were covered during the Nile flow, leaving 1'2 acres to be 

 watered by pumping. As the owner failed to notify the govern- 

 ment at the time that the water was not high enough to irrigate all 

 of his land, he was taxed for the entire 50 acres as though it had all 

 received the benefit of the high Nile. The government taxes on land 

 which has to be irrigated by pumped water are only half as much as 

 where the land is flooded. A suit of this kind is often expensive, and 

 the testimony is generallv ([uite voluminous. If a native brings the 

 suit, and the area is small, involving a loss of less than $500, the case 

 goes to a native court. If the land belongs to a foreigner the case 

 goes to the mixed tribunals. In the former court the proceedings are 

 in Arabic, and the records are published in Arabic and English. In 

 the mixed tribunals the proceedings are generally in English, French, 

 or Italian, and the proceedings are always published m French oi' Ital- 

 ian. If an appeal is taken from the decision of the mixed tribunals, 

 the case goes to the court of appeals at Alexandria, where the pro- 

 ceedings are in French and are published in French. 



When Mohammed Ali undertook the execution of the perennial irri- 

 gation works in Egypt, he carried on the reform as though he were 

 the proprietor of all the land and water in Egypt. He flxed the rate 

 of taxation, hired engineers to design the irrigation works and super- 

 intend the construction of the same. Where labor was wanted, he forced 

 the fellaheen to leave their farms, either to excavate the canals or to 

 work on the numerous irrigation structures connected therewith. The 

 Egyptian farmer has long been used to this kind of treatment. In 

 fact, he has never seen an3'thing else until within tiie last tifty years, 

 and it will take him a long time to entirely recover, even if the gov- 

 ernment makes it possible for him to do so. It is not surprising that 

 a wise irrigation code has not developed in Egypt, when all of these 

 conditions are considered. In a country where land titles were un- 

 known, it would not be presumed that the rights of an irrigator would 

 be recognized or protected. 



Mohammed Ali, while not granting permanent title to agricultural 

 land, instituted many reforms. Among these was the distribution of 

 fi-om 2i to 5 or 6 acres of land to each person. This was made quite 

 early in his reign, and in 1842 he permitted the holders to dispose of 

 their land as they pleased. At no time, however, did they hold any 

 actual title to the land thev farmed. Together with the lack of titles 

 and the weight of taxation, the fellaheen have in many cases been 



