290 



EGYPT. 



war year of 1882. la 1885 and l>-86, owing 

 to a fall in prices, the value was only 9,986,- 

 500 per annum. 



The accounts of the treasury are full of arbi- 

 trary changes, adopted for the purpose of show- 

 ing each year a favorable result. The rev- 

 enue for 1887 is given as 8,010,749, against 

 7,896,654 in 1886, and 7,980,233 in 1885. 

 The expenditure is said to have amounted to 

 7,987,067, against 8,039,980 in 1886, and 

 7,834,379 in 1885. This shows a surplus of 

 23,682 in 1887, as compared with a deficit of 

 143,326 in 1886, and a surplus of 145,854 in 

 1885. The deficit in 1886 is accounted for by 

 the expenditure for corvee abolition and dimin- 

 ished railroad receipts. There were, however, 

 in that year extraordinary and non-recurring 

 receipts, under a new law granting perpetual 

 exemption from military service, amounting to 

 249,900, whereas the payments for temporary 

 exemption in the previous year were only 

 17,300. The revenue for 1885 was swelled 

 to a nearly equal amount by abnormal railroad 

 receipts paid for the transportation of English 

 troops. The corvee charge was continued in 

 1887; but the deficit was changed into a 

 surplus by manipulation of the accounts in 

 transferring the estimated deficit in the receipts 

 of the domains and Daira administrations, 

 which is 140,000 and the salaries of employes 

 of the Government for the last month of the 

 year, amounting to 200,000, to the budget of 

 1888. This jugglery was necessary to avoid a 

 deficit, notwithstanding the new tax on for- 

 eigners, which yielded 65,000, and that on 

 tobacco-culture, producing 8,000. The rev- 

 enue from direct taxes in 1887 was 5,468,931 ; 

 from indirect taxes, 1,545,950; from remu- 

 nerative administrations, 884,095; and from 

 other sources, 111.773. The receipts from 

 the land-tax in 1887 show a slight increase, 

 owing to an extension of the cultivated area. 

 In years of a good Nile a continued improve- 

 ment can be counted on in the future, owing 

 to the public works that the English have con- 

 structed. But in 1888 they have had, for the 

 first time, to confront a situation caused by a 

 bad Nile and, at the same time, an increase in 

 military expenditures, due to their selfish and 

 mistaken policy on the Red Sea coast. 



The expenditure for 1887 under the differ- 

 ent heads was as follows: Debt and tribute, 

 4,899,220; civil list and pensions, 701,318; 

 remunerative expenditure, 698,275 ; public 

 security, 652,843; administration, 753,219. 

 Under the head of remunerative expenditure 

 is included the item of 32,374 for the fruitless 

 search for petroleum on the coast of the Red 

 Sea, in which enterprise the Government has 

 sunk 169,164 altogether. A comparison with 

 former years shows some saving in administra- 

 tive expenses, due to economies, and a reduc- 

 tion in the civil list and pensions, owing to the 

 commutation of pensions. 



The budget estimates for 1888 make the 

 net revenue 8,126,661, and the expenditure 



8,102,661. A reduction in the price of mili- 

 tary exemption was expected to increase the 

 revenue from this source by 150,000. The 

 troubles in the Soudan have led to an increase 

 in the army and gendarmerie, which had been 

 reduced in order to lighten the expenses. The 

 final estimate of the results of the low Nile is 

 that 260,000 acres between Cairo and Assouan 

 will be thrown out of cultivation, causing a 

 loss of revenue for 1889 of 300,000. The loss 

 to the country will amount to more than 

 1,000,000. 



The Egyptian convention placed to the credit 

 of the Government, to be expended for certain 

 specified extraordinary purposes, the sum of 

 10,129,074, being the proceeds of the interna- 

 tional guaranteed loan of 9,000,000 and of the 

 sales of Government lands and old material 

 and the recovery of arrears. Of this total, 

 4,143,956 were paid out for Alexandria in- 

 demnities, 100,000 for a court-house and 

 custom-house, and 78,118 for the emission of 

 the loan. Of 2,757,000 that were appropri- 

 ated to covering past deficits, there remained 

 73,680 unexpended at the close of 1887. Of 

 1,000,000 that were assigned to the Soudan 

 to meet the cost of evacuation, there had been 

 paid out 884,182, and out of an equal sum set 

 aside for irrigation works the expenditures had 

 been 479,715. Of the fund assigned to the 

 commutation of pensions, only 41,162 re- 

 mained, so that the saving in the ordinary 

 budget under this head ceased with 1887. The 

 total balance remaining from the extraordinarv 

 fund was 1,250 945, including 500,000 that 

 is held as a reserve for general treasury pur- 

 poses. Of the balance, only 740,165 was 

 actually disposable, the remainder consisting of 

 public lands that had not yet been sold. The 

 charges upon the revenue on account of debts 

 of all descriptions are estimated for 1888 8t 

 4,306,000, divided as follows: New guar- 

 anteed loan, redeemable by a fixed annuity, 

 307,000; privileged debt, bearing 5 per cent, 

 interest, 1,087,000 ; 4 per cent, interest on 

 the unified debt. 2,184.000; estimated deficit 

 of interest on the domains and Daira Sanieh 

 loans, 350,000; interest payable to England 

 on Suez Canal shares, 194,000; payment to 

 Daira Sanieh loan commissioners, 34,000 ; 

 Moukabala annuity, 50,000. In 1888 a new 

 4f-per-cent. loan was contracted for the con- 

 version of the Daira Sanieh debt, and the. fur- 

 ther commutntion of pensions by the sale of 

 land belonging to the Daira and the domains. 



The Government made in 1888 a settlement 

 of the ex-Khedive Ismail's claims, which have 

 been presented annually since the English oc- 

 cupation, but were never before examined or 

 adjudicated upon. He claimed that the Inter- 

 national Commission of Inquiry had taken land 

 that he had never conceded, and also the stock 

 and crops on the domains, which had never 

 been accounted for to him, and that the indem- 

 nity of 260,000 a year that he had been prom- 

 ised had never been paid. He reckoned his 



