248 



EGYPT. 



ENGINEERING IN 1892. 



April 14, constituting Abbas Pasha legally 

 Khedive of Egypt. 



Judicial Reform. The reforms in the judi- 

 cial methods, as prepared by Justice Scott in 

 1891, were to a great extent carried out in 1892 ; 

 and Justice Scott, in his first report on the na- 

 tive tribunals, gives the scope of the work done 

 since his arrival in the country, in 1890. The 

 system that was in use was the French system, 

 founded on the Code Napoleon, and embodying 

 those rules of equity and good conscience which 

 prevail throughout the civilized world. Apart 

 from their inherent merits, the laws have been 

 in practice in the mixed and native tribunals 

 for a good many years, and the people had be- 

 come used to them. It was therefore decided 

 not to make a radical change in the existing 

 system, but only to simplify the procedure. It 

 was found that the qualification of the judges 

 was not of a high standard; in almost every 

 tribunal there were numbers who had received 

 no legal training, and who had not been im- 

 proved by practice. The same drawback to 

 efficiency existed in the Court of Appeal. One 

 by one changes were effected in every tribunal, 

 and those that were clearly unfit were eliminated, 

 and men of good reputation and legal training 

 were put in their places. On account of the 

 difficulty of finding a sufficient number of 

 judges with proper qualifications, the old meth- 

 od of 3 judges sitting together, even in the first 

 instance in all civil and criminal cases, was abol- 

 ished, and the system of a single judge, sitting 

 in summary civil justice, with a limited criminal 

 jurisdiction, and subject to appeal in all but 

 the smallest matters, was adopted. These sum- 

 mary tribunals were introduced very gradually 

 throughout the country, and numbered 33 on 

 June 1. The introduction of the one-judge sys- 

 tem necessitated the establishment of some sys- 

 tem of inspection and superintendence, and the 

 Committee of Judicial Surveillance was there- 

 fore established. It is composed of the Judicial 

 Adviser Justice Scott, M. Menondo, and M. 

 Le Greele. Under them are 2 inspectors and 1 

 secretary. Their work consists of inspecting all 

 tribunals, the examination ot dossiers, chosen 

 weekly at random in every tribunal, on which 

 they have to report to the committee. They 

 also receive and report periodical returns from 

 all tribunals as regards the business done. The 

 judicial adviser has to make periodical visits to 

 the tribunals, so as to see the work of each of 

 them at least once a year. This surveillance is 

 quite independent of the system of appeal; it 

 calls attention immediately to the error, in order 

 to prevent its recurrence, but it does not at- 

 tempt to set the error right in the particular 

 case. In order to provide a continuous supply 

 of new judges, the Khedivial School of Law was 

 founded some years ago, but it had been with- 

 out a head for four years ; a new director was 

 chosen, and the standard of instruction was 

 raised. Justice Scott proposes to reduce the ex- 

 pense of litigation, reform the bar, and abolish 

 the exceptional tribunals, which under the new 

 organization have lost their usefulness. 



Taxation Reforms. Several taxation re- 

 forms were instituted to relieve the burden of the 

 Egyptian people. Salt, of which the Government 

 has a monopoly, was reduced 40 per cent, in price. 



The professional tax, which was a grievance, 

 affecting the poorer traders especially, was abol- 

 ished. About 150,000 acres of uncultivable land, 

 heavily taxed, but of no value, were relieved of 

 taxation. The taxes on the Mazroof lands, which 

 were originally sold by the Government against 

 the payment of a quit rent, but which, with the 

 reduced values of produce, could not afford to 

 pay an annual tax fixed in more prosperous times, 

 were reduced so as to equal the taxes levied on 

 other lands in the same localities. In order to 

 carry out the reforms of an equitable reassess- 

 ment, the rates of taxation, which numbered 

 about 1,400, were reduced to only 220. Liberal 

 fiscal regulations for the purpose of encouraging 

 the reclamation of land and a system of improv- 

 ing the old village land registers were also adopt- 

 ed. A decree prohibiting the importation into 

 the provinces and territory dependent upon 

 Egypt south of 20 of north latitude, or the manu- 

 facture in them of distilled liquors, was issued 

 according to the resolution of the Brussels Con- 

 ference of July, 1890. 



Treaty with Germany. A commercial con- 

 vention was signed between Egypt and Germany, 

 July 22, 1892, to go into effect April 1, 1893. 

 This treaty differs somewhat from those entered 

 into with Austria, England, and Italy, in that it 

 specifies the procedure to be adopted in case of 

 dispute as to the valuation of goods, a provision 

 as to the admissibility of searching German 

 domiciles for smuggled' goods, and in annexing 

 to the treaty a copy of the existing customs reg- 

 ulations and by-laws, which the Egyptian Gov- 

 ernment is debarred from ckanging, in certain 

 clauses, without the consent of the German con- 

 sul-general. A duty of 15 per cent, ad valorem 

 is fixed as a maximum which Egypt may impose 

 upon silks, wines, spirits, petroleum, animals, 

 and cereals. 



ENGINEERING IN 1892. The past year 

 has still further emphasized the tendency to re- 

 store old and create new canal systems. Par- 

 ticularly is this true in Germany, where nearly 

 all the available streams are canalized ; in Bel- 

 gium, where the plan of making Brussels a sea- 

 port is well-nigh realized ; in Italy, where Rome 

 ere long will complete a canal to saltwater; and 

 in France, where the merchandise by canal now 

 amounts to more than one third of that conveyed 

 by rail. In Great Britain many of the old canals 

 were long since acquired by railways and discon- 

 tinued as canals, the earthwork, of course, being 

 utilized to the new end. The Manchester Ship 

 Canal is the only great work approaching comple- 

 tion. Among the most notable of the works now 

 under way and approaching completion is the 

 Sault Ste. Marie Canal, building by the Canadian 

 Government ; the Merwede, connecting Amster- 

 dam with the Rhenish provinces of Germany ; the 

 allied Dutch work contemplating the drainage of 

 the Zuyder Zee ; and the Manchester Ship Canal, 

 uniting the great cities of Liverpool and Manches- 

 ter, England. In this country the final collapse 

 of the Panama Canal scheme under French man- 

 agement has been followed byadramatic exposure 

 of corrupt dealings among its principal officers 

 dealings, it may be said, which were more than 

 suspected, and were indeed common talk in New 

 York for several years before the final crash. 

 The only other American works of special inter- 



