256 



EGYPT. 



Public Works and Public Instruction, Hussein 

 Pasha Pakhry; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bou- 

 tros Pasha Ghali; Minister of Finance, Ahmet 

 Pasha Mazloum ; Minister of Justice, Ibrahim 

 Pasha Fouad. 



Area and Population. The territories under 

 the rule of the Khedive of Egypt prior to the British 

 occupation were estimated to embrace an area of 

 1,406,250 square miles, with a population of 16,952,- 

 000. The Soudanese and equatorial provinces were 

 evacuated after the rebellion in the Soudan in 1884, 

 though the sovereign rights of the Khedive were 

 not relinquished. At the instance of the English 

 counselors Wady Haifa was accepted provisionally 

 as the limit of Egyptian rule and jurisdiction. 

 Within this restricted boundary Egypt has an area 

 of about 385,000 square miles, of which only 12,976 

 square miles, embracing the valley and delta of the 

 Nile, are inhabited, the rest being desert. The 

 population is 6,817,265, or 638 to the square mile in 

 the settled area. The University and Mosque of 

 El Azhar, in Cairo, has been for a thousand years 

 one of the chief centers of Moslem learning. There 

 are about 800,000 Copts in Egypt who have followed 

 the Jacobite creed since the first century of the 

 Christian era, and have for their ecclesiastical head 

 the Alexandrian patriarch. The Coptic language 

 is taught in their schools, and more than 50 per 

 cent, of the community can read and write. There 

 were 8,913 schools in Egypt in 1894, with 12,505 

 teachers and 196,610 pupils. Of the teachers, 10,491 

 were Mussulmans, 1,948 Christians, and 71 Jews. 



Finances. The budget for 1896 makes the total 

 revenue E. 10,260,000 (1 Egyptian lira or pound = 

 $4.94), of which E. 4,870,000 are derived from 

 the land tax and taxes on date trees, etc., E. 130,- 

 000 from urban taxes, E. 1,670.000 from customs 

 and tobacco duties, E. 200,000 from octrois, 

 E. 170,000 from salt and natron, E. 90,000 from 

 fisheries, E. 75,000 from navigation dues, E. 1,- 

 720,000 from railroads, E. 43,000 from telegraphs, 

 E. 120,000 from port dues of Alexandria, E. 105,- 

 000 from the post office, E. 85,000 from postal 

 boats, E. 70,000 from lighthouses, E. 380,000 

 from the Ministry of Justice, E. 95,000 from ex- 

 emptions from military duty, E. 90,000 from rents 

 of Government property, E. 15,000 from the Sua- 

 kin district, E. 57,000 from the pension fund, and 

 E. 275,000 from various sources. 



The expenditures are estimated in the budget at 

 E. 9,630.000, of which E. 3,802,683 are for the 

 public debt, E. 665,041 for the Turkish tribute, 

 E. 100,000 for the Khedive's civil list, E. 97,927 

 for civil lists of the khedivial family, E. 55,934 

 for the Khedive's private Cabinet, E. 737,789 for 

 the Ministry of Public Works, E. 387,726 for the 

 Ministry of Justice, E. 328,026 for the administra- 

 tion of the provinces, E. 86,021 for the Ministry 

 of Finance, E. 105.180 for the Ministry of Public 

 Instruction, E. 84,322 for the Ministry of the In- 

 terior, E. 23,358 for the Council. of Ministers, the 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Legislative 

 Council, E. 155,810 for the customs administra- 

 tion, E. 34,504 for the administration of octrois, 

 E. 44,726 for the salt and natron administration, 

 t E. 10,000 for the collection of fishery dues, E. 3,- 

 058 for navigation dues, E. 840,000 for railroad 

 administration, E. 41,000 for telegraphs, E. 28,- 

 000 for the port of Alexandria, E. 97,525 for the 

 post office, E. 85,707 for postal boat administra- 

 tion, E. 26,934 for lighthouses, E. 481,313 for 

 public security, war, and the army of occupation, 

 E. 120,457 for Suakin, E. 430,000 for pensions, 

 E. 250,000 for suppression of the corvee, E. 5,682 

 for sundry purposes, E. 131,339 for various serv- 

 ices of ministers, E. 40,000 for the sanitation of 

 Cairo, and PL 30,000 for unforeseen expenses. 



The revenue collected in 1895 was E. 10,568,000, 

 and the expenditure was E. 9,480,000, an improve- 

 ment on the estimates of E. 308,000 more of reve- 

 nue and E. 120,000 less of expenditure, leaving a 

 surplus of E. 1,088,000, the largest yet realized. 

 During the first four years of the British occupa- 

 tion there was an annual deficit averaging E. 690,- 

 000 ; in the next three years the income and outgo 

 nearly balanced : and since 1890 there has been a 

 large surplus each year, averaging E. 699,000. 



An international commission drew up a project 

 in 1880 for the liquidation of the debts of the Egyp- 

 tian Government, including the loans secured on 

 the Daira Sanieh and Daira Khassa estates. The 

 capital of the debt was then !)S.:!'.is.ii2<) sterling. 

 The revenue from 1882 on was estimated at E. 8,- 

 411,622. . Revenues amounting to 3,513.734 were 

 assigned to the service of the debt, leaving 4,897,- 

 888 as the estimated balance available for all pur- 

 poses of government. Railroad and telegraph in- 

 come and the port dues of Alexandria were reserved 

 for the interest of the privileged debt and a sinking 

 fund that woidd extinguish it in 1941. The customs 

 revenue and the taxes of the four provinces were 

 similarly assigned to the service of the unified debt, 

 the surplus to go if necessary to make up any de- 

 ficiency in the requirements of the unified debt. In 

 1884 Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, 

 Russia, and Turkey guaranteed a new loan of 9,- 

 000,000 to take up E. 8,000,000 of floating debt, 

 pay the Alexandria indemnities, and improve the 

 irrigation works. This guaranteed loan bears 3 per 

 cent, interest, the unified debt 4 per cent. The 

 privileged debt originally paid 5 per cent. In 1888 

 a loan of E. 2,300,000 was issued to commute the 

 revenue of Ismail Pasha and other members of the 

 khedivial family from the domains, which loan was 

 paid off in 1890. In that year the privileged debt 

 was converted into a 3^-per-cent. loan issued at 91, 

 the Daira Sanieh loan into a 4-per-cent. loan issued 

 at 85, and 1,333,333 was raised on privileged bonds 

 to be employed on irrigation works. In 1893 the 

 domains loan was converted into 4J-per-cent. bonds, 

 exchanged for the others at par. The capital of 

 the Egyptian debt on Dec. 31, 1895, amounted to 

 104,636,900, of which 55,974,820 represented the 

 unified bonds still outstanding, 29,393,580 the 

 privileged debt. 8.699,300 the guaranteed loan, 

 6,644,360 the Daira Sanieh loan, and 3,924,840 

 the domains loan. The internal debts of the Gov- 

 ernment were not funded with the foreign debts, 

 but for their partial repayment the Moukabalah 

 annuity of 154,000 was provided, which will cease 

 in 1930. The total debt charges for 1896 amount 

 to 4.220,000. The actual receipts of the Govern- 

 ment in 1894 were E. 10,321,523, and the expendi- 

 ture E. 9,601,258. leaving a surplus of E. 720,265. 

 of which E. 256,947 went to the reserve fund of 

 the Caisse de la Dette, making its total amount E 2.- 

 199,740; E. 118,843 went to the special reserve 

 fund of the Egyptian Government, bringing it up 

 to E. 279,186 ;" and E. 344,475 remained on de- 

 posit with the Caisse as economy from the conversion, 

 making this fund E. 1,408,161. The surplus of 

 1895 added 402,000 to the conversion economies, 

 increasing the fund to 1,833,000, while the general 

 reserve fund was increased to 2,717.000, and the 

 special reserve fund at the disposal of the Egyptian 

 Government to 471,000; giving a total of 5,021, 

 000 in the reserve funds. 



The Army. After the army, which revolted 

 against the Khedive and European control in 1882, 

 was disbanded a new military force was organized 

 by Sir Evelyn Wood. This army, commanded by 

 76 English officers, with Sirdar Sir Herbert Kitche- 

 ner as commander-in-chief, had in 1896 a total 

 strength of 15.153 men. Egyptians are liable to con- 



