254 



EGYPT. 



The length of the Government telegraphs at 

 the beginning of 1893 was 1,922 miles, with 

 6,763 miles of wire. The number of dispatches 

 sent during 1892 was 1,470,000. 



The post office in 1892 forwarded 9,191,000 

 internal and 3,719,000 international letters and 

 postal cards, and 30,074,000 internal and 2,232,- 

 000 international newspapers and other inclos- 

 ures. The number of registered letters and 

 post-office orders was 362,000; declared value, 

 E. 14,551,000. 



Suez Canal. The number of vessels that 

 passed through the canal in 1892 was 3,559, of 

 10,866,401 gross tons. Of these, 2,581, of 8,101,- 

 904 tons, were British; 292, of 809,013 tons, 

 were German ; 174, of 635,585 tons, were French ; 

 177, of 433,543 tons, were Dutch ; 74, of 198,206 

 tons, were Italian; 61, of 191,145 tons, were 

 Austrian ; 66, of 146,525 tons, were Norwegian ; 

 26, of 98,240 tons, were Spanish ; 23, of 74,830 

 tons, were Portuguese ; 22, of 74,554 tons, were 

 Russian ; 43, of 66.239 tons, were Turkish ; 6, of 

 13,845 tons, were Greek ; 4, of 7,430 tons, were 

 Belgian ; 3, of 5,941 tons, were Japanese ; 2, of 

 3,455 tons, were Chinese ; 2, of 2,462 tons, were 

 Egyptian ; 1, of 2,229 tons, was Siamese ; and 2, 

 of 1,253 tons, were American. The receipts for 

 1892 were 2,978,098 sterling. The number of 

 passengers who went through the canal was 189,- 

 809. The share capital of the company is 200,- 

 000,000 francs, of which 3,335,000 francs have 

 been redeemed. Besides the 400,000 common 

 shares are 100,000 founders' shares, which have 

 the right to participate in surplus profits, and in 

 1892 received 4,172,854 francs. The various 

 loans of the company foot up 252,147,402 francs. 

 The net profits earned by the canal in 1892 were 

 41,728,543 francs. In accordance with the reso- 

 lution adopted by the International Sanitary 

 Conference at Venice, in 1893, a medical visit is 

 paid to all vessels arriving at Suez from the 

 East or the Red Sea, and when their condition is 

 found to be unsatisfactory they are not allowed 

 to proceed through the canal. By a decision of 

 the Egyptian Court of Appeals, the canal com- 

 pany is authorized to permit the passage of ves- 

 sels carrying petroleum in bulk. 



During 1893 the number of ships that passed 

 through the canal was 3,341, of 7,659,000 tons, 

 paying 68,000,000 francs in dues. The number 

 of passengers was 186,495, yielding 1,864,950 

 francs. The total receipts were 71,000,000 

 francs. The average duration of transit was 

 twenty hours and forty-four minutes. 



Hostility to British Control. Abbas Pasha 

 and the patriotic party achieved a partial victory 

 when Mustafa Pasha, who was considered the crea- 

 ture of England, was dismissed, and Riaz Pasha, 

 instead of Lord Cromer's nominee, Fakhry, was 

 made Premier in the beginning of 1893. Riaz 

 was not less hostile than Tigrane and the Khe- 

 dive to the encroachments of the British upon 

 the prerogatives of sovereignty, and when changes 

 were made in the official staff the friends of the 

 English were not favored. In the beginning of 

 1894 Abbas Pasha made a journey of inspection 

 to the frontier, where Gen. Kitchener's forces 

 were stationed. The replacement of Europeans 

 by Egyptians in the civil administration, friction 

 between native officials and their European chiefs, 

 and the utterances of the Arabic press had caused 



uneasiness not only among the English but the 

 other Europeans, and tension between the Eng- 

 lish officers and the native official class. The 

 Khedive expressed approval of various bodies of 

 troops that he inspected, but one battalion drew 

 from him severe strictures. Gen. Kitchener at 

 once tendered his resignation as Sirdar. The 

 Khedive, appreciating the danger of a breach 

 with England that would cost him his throne 

 and perhaps end in the annexation of Egypt to 

 the British Empire, begged him to withdraw his 

 resignation, which he did. Lord Cromer and 

 Lord Rosebery, judging the moment opportune 

 for humbling the Khedive and thus discrediting 

 him as a leader of the patriotic movement, de- 

 manded that he should make a public apology 

 and dismiss Maher Pasha, the Under Secretary 

 of War who accompanied him on his tour of in- 

 spection. Acting on the advice of his ministers, 

 he accordingly published on Jan. 26 a general 

 order in the official gazette, praising the efficiency 

 and discipline of the frontier force, and congratu- 

 lating its commanding officers, Egyptian and 

 English. Maher Pasha was transferred from 

 the War Department as soon as a civil post was 

 found for him. 



The Legislative Council, in discussing the 

 budget for 1894, passed serious strictures on the 

 English control. The number of English offi- 

 cials employed and the size of their salaries were 

 criticised somewhat unfairly, for there are only 

 320 in the civil administration and army together, 

 receiving the average pay of E. 500 per annum, 

 and none of them a higher salary than E. 2,C " " 

 The Egyptians complain with more justice the 

 the British control has done almost nothing to 

 advance education, seeming rather to aim at 

 keeping the people ignorant and incompetent 

 to govern themselves and assume charge of the 

 administration. The few who are fitted, they 

 say, are passed over, and the places that they 

 might fill are given to Armenians and Syrians 

 or to Copts in preference to Mussulman Egyp- 

 tians. The Legislative Council asserted tl 

 taxation was heavier than under the old regit 

 and that the fellaheen were impoverished undt 

 English domination. Riaz Pasha condemn* 

 these complaints as baseless or exaggerated. 

 The fellaheen, if no better off materially than 

 of old, are grateful to the English for relief from 

 the arbitrary exactions and petty tyranny under 

 which they formerly suffered, and especially for 

 the ampler and more equal supply of water that 

 they receive owing to the completion of the bar- 

 rage by the English engineers, and the equitable 

 and systematic administration of the irrigation 

 works. Besides the partial abolition of the corvee, 

 now made complete at a total annual cost of 

 E. 400,000 to the treasury, the Government has 

 removed various vexatious taxes which pressed 

 on the people out of proportion to the revenue ob- 

 tained, such as the tax on sheep and goats, which 

 yielded E. 40,000 ; the weighing and measuring 

 tax, producing E. 28,000 yearly ; and octroi 

 duties on rice, oil, etc., yielding. E. 10,000. The 

 license and professional taxes have also been abol- 

 ished at a cost of E. 180,000 a year. Postal and 

 telegraph rates have been reduced at a cost of 

 E. 10,000, and judicial fees scaled down with 

 a sacrifice of E. 5,000 per annum. An impor- 

 tant advantage to the agriculturists has been a 



