EGYPT. 



265 



Salaries and wages in arrear 793,706 



Due to Dairas 1,205,286 



Due to religijus foundations 823,785 



Due to Government administrators 108,000 



Due to Caisse des Orphelins 191,580 



Arrears of loan rouynameh * 870,000 



Account current with bankers 646,000 



Arrears of tribute 239,255 



Port of Alexandria 539,375 



Other public works 898,000 



Cancalment of grain contracts '232,500 



Sundries-all specified 2,240,563 



Partially secured debts uncovered 837,000 



Interest to December 31, 1873 49,000 



Errors in accounts 9.000 



Total 3,188,000 



From this, however, must be deduct- 

 ed 



Amount due to Government adminis- 

 trations, this being a simple question 

 of transfer of accounts 108,000 



Economies to be made by selling goods 

 not yet delivered to War Department, 

 but 'for which value had been allowed 100,000 



Sums paid by the Minister of War sub- 

 sequent to' closing books 229,000 



437,000 



Total amount of floating debt 7,751,000 



In this amount is included a sum covered by a dis- 

 posable asset, owing to Messrs. Greenfield 540,000 



7,211,000 



The following amounts may also be 

 deducted : 



Interest of rouynameh loan to be add- 

 ed to capital 370,000 



An amount passed as u exoedants sur 

 les versements des impots," on which 

 little information could be obtained, 

 and which, if repayable, does not re- 

 quire special arrangement 97,000 



467,000 



Amount of floating debt to be settled 6,744,000 



The following do not require imme- 

 diate settlement : 



Religious foundations 328,000 



Caisse des Orphelins 140,000 



468,000 



6,276,000 



Accepting this estimate of the floating debt, 

 the report now turns to a consideration of 

 the necessary expenditure of the state. The 

 amounts allowed for this service by the Go- 

 schen-Joubert arrangement were as follows: 

 For 1877, 4,259,350 ; for 1878, 4,403,960 ; 

 for 1879, 4,500,000. During the course of 

 the present inquiry the Viceroy voluntarily 

 offered to accept a reduction of this amount to 

 3,200,000, but this offer was probably based 

 on the old system of accounts, in which each 

 administration deducted its own charges from 

 its gross revenue and returned only the net 

 amounts to the budget. This system having 

 been altered, the Commission estimates the 

 total cost of administration, exclusive of in- 

 terest, at 4,474,559 for 1878, and 4,529,559 

 for 1879. Adding to these the cost of interest 

 and sinking fund for the two years say 5,- 

 931,106 in 1878 and 5,800,704 in 1879 we 



* In 1874 the Viceroy invited the natives to subscribe to 

 a non-reimbursable loan (rouynameK) of 5,000,000, the sub- 

 scribers to receive a perpetual annuity at 9 per cent on their 

 capital. The amount subscribed was 8,420,000. One cou- 

 pon was paid, and that only to some subscribers. 



have the gross expenditure of the two years 

 as 1878, 10,405,665; 1879, 10,330,263. 

 Finally, we come to the yearly receipts, esti- 

 mated at 7,819,000 for 1878 and 9,949,000 

 for 1879, the difference in the two years being 

 caused partly by the failure in the crops owing 

 to last year's low Nile, and partly by the pay- 

 ment in 1878 of 634,000 properly chargeable 

 to the former year, 1877. The deficit for the 

 two years thus amounts to 2,586,665 for 1378, 

 and 381,263 for 1879 ; and adding to this the 

 accepted amount of floating debt, 6,276,000, 

 we arrive at a total deficit of 9,243,928. 

 These figures are, however, as stated by the 

 report, subject to a deduction of over three 

 millions sterling, as follows: 



Security against partially guaranteed debts, the 

 rate for the unified debt being calculated at 55 



per cent, on the nominal 837,000 



Amounts nominally due to the Dairas, but since 



surrendered 1,861,000 



(156,000 of this is included among sundry 



debts.) 



Amounts for the amortisement of unified debts, 

 which will thus be diminished by end of 1878. . 900,000 



3,098,000 



A deduction of this amount reduces the total 

 sum for which there is immediate need to little 

 over six millions. 



In conclusion, the report proposed a number 

 of specific financial and administrative reforms, 

 all of which tended to limit the authority of 

 the Khedive, the chief of which were : " That 

 no taxes shall be imposed or gathered without 

 a law authorizing them being promulgated ; 

 that future legislation may extend the taxation 

 to foreigners ; that there shall be an efficient 

 control over the tax-collectors ; that there shall 

 be a reserve fund to provide against the con- 

 tingency of a bad rising of the Nile ; that there 

 shall be a special jurisdiction for complaints on 

 the subject of the collection and assessment of 

 taxes for the special protection of the natives ; 

 that existing vexatious taxes shall be abolished 

 except for works of public utility; that the 

 obligation to military service shall be placed 

 under restrictions ; and that all the immovable 

 property of the different Dairas shall be inde- 

 pendently managed by a special administration 

 for the benefit of the creditors both of the 

 state and the Dairas." Furthermore, it plainly 

 called upon the Khedive to surrender all his 

 property, estimated by him, exclusive of the 

 sugar estates already surrendered to the Daira 

 debt, at about 450,000 per annum. He was 

 to receive in exchange for this surrender to 

 the state an acceptance of all his liabilities 

 by the public Treasury, and a civil list for him- 

 self and his family. To this proposal the Khe- 

 dive agreed, and in an interview with Mr. Riv- 

 ers Wilson, on August 23d, made the follow- 

 ing speech : 



I have read the report of tlie Commission of In- 

 quiry over which you presided. It is full of details, 

 and, if time has not permitted you to exhaust some 

 questions, I do not the less cordially thank you and 

 your colleagues, whose absence I regret, as I should 

 have desired to thank them also in person. With ref- 



