274 



EGYPT. 



in its deliberations. The ministry in the begin- 

 ning of 1890 was composed as follows : President 

 of the Council, Minister of the Interior, and 

 Minister of Finance, Riaz Pasha; Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, Zulfikar Pasha; Minister of Jus- 

 tice, Fakhri Pasha ; Minister of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Ali Mubarek Pasha. Sir Evelyn Baring 

 has been the British Agent and Financial Ad- 

 viser to the Khedive since the English control 

 and direction of Egypt began. 



Area and Population. The area of Egypt 

 north of Wady Haifa, the boundary determined 

 on provisionally after the evacuation of the Sou- 

 dan, is 12,976 square miles, exclusive of the oases 

 in the Libyan Desert, the arid region between 

 the Nile and the Red Sea, and El Arish in Syria. 

 The population of the Nile valley and the Delta 

 in '1882 was 6,817,265, including 245,779 nomads 

 and 90,886 foreigners. The foreigners, nine- 

 tenths of whom resided in Lower Egypt, com- 

 prised 37,301 Greeks, 18,665 Italians, 15,716 

 French, 8,022 Austrians, 6,118 English, 948 Ger- 

 mans, and 4,116 of other nationalities. The na- 

 tives are all Mohammedans excepting the Coptic 

 Christians, descended from the ancient Egyp- 

 tians, who live to a great extent in tents. They 

 number about 300,000. 



The schools, which are supported by fees, num- 

 bered 6,639 in 1887, with 7,244 teachers, exclu- 

 sive of 17 schools maintained by the administra- 

 tion of the Wakufs, which had 2,000 pupils. The 

 number of felons convicted in the courts of 

 Lower Egypt increased from 287"in 1884 to 1,144 

 in 1888; of other offenders, from 4,846 to 14,968. 



Finances. In the budget for 1890 the land tax 

 and date tax were estimated to produce 5,100,- 

 000 Egyptian pounds; professional and urban 

 taxes, 248,000 pounds ; customs duties, 1,078,000 

 pounds ; octrois, 281,000 pounds ; salt and natron 

 taxes, 220,000 pounds ; fisheries, 80,000 pounds ; 

 navigation dues, 70,000 pounds; railroads, 

 1,352,000 pounds; telegraphs, 27,000 pounds; 

 port of Alexandria, 110,000 pounds; posts and 

 postal boats, 220,000 pounds; lighthouses, 95,- 

 000 pounds ; Ministry of Justice, 340,000 pounds ; 

 exemption from military service, 100,000 pounds ; 

 rent of Government property, 70,000 pounds; 

 Governorship of Suakin, 12,500 pounds; pension 

 fund, 70,000 pounds; other receipts. 205.500 

 pounds ; total revenue, 9,650,000 Egyptian 

 pounds. The total expenditure was estimated at 

 0,500,000 Egyptian pounds, distributed under 

 the following heads: Public debt, 4,263,095 

 pounds: Turkish tribute. 678,397 pounds; civil 

 list of the Khedive, 100,000 pounds ; civil list of 

 Ismail Pasha, 114,127 pounds; the Khedive's 

 private Cabinet, 60,900 pounds: Ministry of 

 Public Works, 441,910 pounds; Ministry of Jus- 

 tice, 351,490 pounds; administration of the 

 provinces, 351.195 pounds; Ministry of Finance, 

 125,277 pounds ; Ministry of the Interior, 133,- 

 438 pounds; Ministry of 'Public Instruction, 80,- 

 337 pounds; other ministries, 124,022 pounds; 

 customs administration, 99,584 pounds ; octrois, 

 43,701 pounds; salt and natron. 64,514 pounds; 

 fisheries, 11,381 pounds; navigation, 3,487 

 pounds; railroads, 637,000 pounds; telegraphs, 

 34,000 pounds; port of Alexandria, 19,500 

 pounds; posts and postal boats, 198,606 pounds; 

 lighthouses, 29,720 pounds; public safety, Min- 

 istry of War, police, prisons, and army of occupa- 



tion, 682,557 pounds ; Suakin, 109,000 pounds ; 

 pensions, 475,000 pounds ; suppression of the cor- 

 vee, 250,000 pounds ; other expenditures, 27,762 

 pounds. The total receipts in 1889 were 9,719,- 

 000 pounds, and the expenses 9,523,000 pounds. 



The total amount of the funded debts at the be- 

 ginning of 1890 was 103,426,640 Egyptian pounds 

 (1 E.=$4.97). The 3-per-cent. guaranteed 

 loan amounted to 9,111,100 pounds: it is repay- 

 able by a fixed annuity of 307,000 pounds. The 

 privileged debt, 22,296,800 pounds in amount, 

 paid 1,087,000 pounds interest in 1889; the uni- 

 fied 4-per-cent. debt, of which the capital sum is 

 55,988,920 pounds, paid 2,184,000 pounds. A 

 loan raised in 1888 at 4 per cent, amounts to 

 2,268,900 pounds, on which for interest and ex- 

 penses 130,000 pounds were paid. The Mouka- 

 bala, or domestic debt, has been in great part 

 repudiated, the creditors receiving only an an- 

 nuity of 150,000 pounds, which was promised till 

 1930. The Domains debt, amounting to 5,173,- 

 440 pounds, and the Daira Sanien, amount- 

 ing to 8,587,480 pounds, are paid from the rev- 

 enues of those estates, the deficiency in interest, 

 amounting to 175,000 pounds in 1889, being 

 made up by the Government, as well as the an- 

 nual payment of 34,000 pounds to the Daira Sa- 

 nieh loan commissioners. The interest on the 

 Suez Canal shares of the ex-Khedive, purchased 

 by the British Government, is 194,000 pounds, 

 which must be paid till 1894. the term for which 

 Ismail Pasha had previously hypothecated the 

 profits. The total charges on the revenue on ac- 

 count of debts, as enumerated above, was 4,261,- 

 000 Egyptian pounds in 1889. The tribute and 

 interest together represent an annual drain of 

 5,400,000 pounds, representing 53 per cent, of the 

 revenue and equal to 45 per cent, of the total 

 value of the exports. The whole of the culti- 

 vable soil of Egypt at the market price of land 

 is worth a smaller sum than the capital of the 

 debt. The land tax, which constitutes the largest 

 part of the revenue, is estimated by some at 50 

 per cent, of the rent value of the land, while 

 others say that it represents three eighths of the 

 gross produce. The financial situation has im- 

 proved in the past two or three years, prices hav- 

 ing risen and the productive area extended. The 

 economical condition of the people is better in 

 many respects than it was in Ismail's time, 

 when they were at the mercy of rapacious offi- 

 cials and deeply in debt to the usurers. The 

 taxes are now fairly collected and paid at the 

 most convenient time. The conscription is con- 

 ducted impartially, and the price of exemption 

 reduced to one fourth of the former amount. 

 The khedivial decree of Jan. 2, 1890, abolished 

 forced labor in so far as it was still employed 

 in clearing the canals and drains, though not for 

 the dams and embankments. By the law of Jan. 

 9, 1890, the trade-license taxes were readjusted 

 in such wise as to bear more equitably on the 

 rich, while whole classes of the working people 

 are entirely relieved. Europeans are in future 

 to pay these taxes, the immunities secured by 

 the capitulations having been removed. Joint- 

 stock companies pay - per mille of their capital 

 up to a maximum tax of 300 pounds; contract- 

 ors, the same rate on their contracts ; merchants, 

 bankers, lawyers, physicians, engineers, and ar- 

 chitects, a fixed tax and a certain percentage of 



