EGYPT. 



191 



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;: 



were without stated occupation. Only 5.8 per 

 cent, of the sedentary population over seven years 

 of age could read and write, in lower Egypt 7.02 

 per cent., and in upper Egypt 4.07 per cent. Of 

 the foreign population 74 per cent, could read and 

 write. There were 107 Government, national, and 

 Wakf schools, with 789 teachers and 10,859 pupils, 

 on Dec. 31, 1898; 187 mission schools, with 792 

 teachers and 20,089 pupils; and 9,703 other 

 schools, with 14,590 teachers and 180,573 pupils. 

 The European schools number 43, with 285 teach- 

 ers and 4,809 pupils, besides 34 schools for girls, 

 with 170 teachers and 3,345 pupils. In the Gov- 

 ernment schools the pupils are obliged to learn 

 a foreign language, either French or English, 

 whichever their parents or guardians select. 

 French is being gradually displaced by English, 

 which was taken by 78 per cent, of the pupils in 

 1899, and French by only 22 per cent. The popu- 

 lation of Egypt in 1897 was divided as to religion 

 into 8,978,775 Mussulmans, 608,446 Copts, 56,343 

 Roman Catholics, 53,479 Greek Orthodox, 25,200 

 Jews, 11,894 Protestants, and 268 undeclared 

 Mussulmans thus forming 92.23 per cent., Chris- 

 tians 7.5 per cent., and Jews 0.26 per cent, of the 

 total. 



Finances. The revenue in 1899 amounted to 

 E. 11,415,000, and expenditure to E. 10,254,- 

 000, leaving a surplus of E. 1,161,000, of which 

 E. 759,000 were paid into the economics fund 

 and E. 402,000 were left at the disposal of the 

 Government. The budget estimate of revenue for 

 1900 was E. 10,380,000, of which the land tax 

 produces E. 4,423,000, various direct taxes 

 E. 137,000, the tobacco monopoly E. 1,000,- 

 000, customs E. 900,000, octrois and salt 

 E. 400,000, various indirect taxes E. 193,000, 

 railroads and telegraphs E. 1,877,000, port dues 

 E. 152,400, the post office E. 125,000, various 

 services E. 81,000, law courts E. 562,000, mili- 

 tary service exemption E. 100,000. various other 

 sources E. 214,000, and E. 215,600 is taken 

 from the reserve fund. The expenditure for 1900 

 was estimated in the budget at E. 10,380,000, 

 of which E. 4,366,018 were required for the con- 

 solidated debt, E. 301,358 for various other 

 debts, E. 417,179 to cover the Soudan deficit, 

 E. 665,041 for the Turkish tribute, E. 437,000 

 for pensions, E. 253,861 for the civil list, 

 E. 12,578 for the Ministerial and Legislative 

 Councils, E. 1,764,927 for the ministries, 

 E. 298,837 for provincial administration, 

 E. 204,743 for cost of collection, E. 959,412 

 for railroads and telegraphs, E. 36,165 for the 

 ports, E. 108,159 for the post office, E. 30,327 

 for various services, E. 439,570 for the Egyptian 

 army, and E. 84,825 for the army of occupa- 

 "on. 



The foreign debt of Egypt had its inception 

 n the issue of 4,292,800 sterling of bonds in 1862 

 by Ismail Pasha to extinguish floating obligations 

 that he had incurred in carrying out schemes for 

 irrigation, the reclamation of lands, the establish- 

 ment of sugar factories, the extension of cotton 

 cultivation, and various other public and economic 

 improvements. Other loans followed in quick suc- 

 cession, as the enterprises were extended with 

 feverish haste during the American civil war, 



hen Egyptian cotton brought an enormous price. 



:ckless extravagance and official corruption 



nsumed a great deal of the money that Ismail 

 btained, which through mismanagement of the 

 >ublic credit and the machinations of the Euro- 

 pean houses that financed the operations was only 

 a part of the nominal amount of the obligations. 

 The amount of the foreign loans had risen to 

 38,307,000 in 1870, and in 1873 a new loan of 





32,000,000 was raised to pay off 28,000,000 of 

 floating debt. In 1875 the Khedive became em- 

 barrassed, and a decree was issued to consolidate 

 the debts into one of 91,000,000. When he was 

 unable to pay the interest on a part of the bonds 

 in 1877 an arrangement was made with the Eng- 

 lish and French bondholders to issue a preference 

 loan of 17,000,000 paying 5 per cent, arid a uni- 

 fied loan of 59,000,000 paying 7 per cent, in lieu 

 of the outstanding bonds. The separate loans se- 

 cured on the Khedive's Daira estates were con- 

 verted at the time into the Daira Sanieh debt of 

 8,815,430, paying 5 per cent. In 1878 bonds were 

 issued for 8,500,000 at 5 per cent., with the 

 khedivial estates as security, and a commission 

 was appointed to administer the estates. In the 

 following year the dual control of the public 

 finances by France and Great Britain was insti- 

 tuted. The Comptroller General announced in 1880 

 that Egypt could not meet the obligations in full, 

 and after examination by a commission appointed 

 by the great powers, and on the recommendation 

 of that commission, a liquidation law was pro- 

 mulgated reducing the interest of the unified debt 

 to 4 per cent., the amount of this debt being in- 

 preference debt to 22,743,800, and that of the 

 Daira Sanieh debt, the interest of which was fixed 

 at 4 per cent., to 9,512,880. In 1885 a new loan 

 of 9,424,000 was contracted, the capital and in- 

 terest at 3 per cent, guaranteed by the great 

 powers. A loan of 2,330,000 was contracted at 

 4| per cent, in 1888, and in 1890 this was con- 

 solidated with the preference debt into a new 

 preference loan of the nominal amount of 29,- 

 400,000, bearing 3 per cent, interest, E. 1,300.000 

 being borrowed in connection with the operation 

 for irrigation works and the commutation of pen- 

 sions. The Daira Sanieh debt was converted at 

 this time into new bonds for 7,299,360, paying 

 4 per cent. In 1893 the domain bonds were con- 

 verted into new ones for 8,500,000, paying 4 

 per cent. In the beginning of 1899 the guaranteed 

 3-per-cent. loan amounted to 8,558,100, the an- 

 nual charge for interest and sinking fund being 

 256,743; privileged 31-per-cent. bonds, 29,393,- 

 580, with an annual charge of 1,028,775; unified 

 4-per-cent. bonds, 55,971,960, with an annual 

 charge of 2,238,378; Daira Sanieh 4-per-cent. 

 bonds, 55,971,960, with an annual charge of 

 2,238,378; domains 4J-per-cent. bonds, 3,214,- 

 440, with an annual charge of 149,124; total debt, 

 103,444,580, of which 7,048,000 was held by the 

 commissioners of the debt; total annual charge, 

 3,930,280. On Dec. 31, 1899, the total amount 

 of the debt was 103,049,000, including 7,494,000 

 held by the commissioners of the debt, leaving 

 95,555,000 in the hands of the bondholders. The 

 interest charge was 3,862,000. Eeserve funds 

 were established in 1887 which amounted on Jan. 

 1, 1899, to E. 7,111,032, made up of a fund from 

 economies made by conversions amounting to 

 E. 3,617,000 and a general reserve fund of 

 E. 3,893,134. A special reserve fund was de- 

 pleted by extraordinary expenditure entailed by 

 the reconquest of the Soudan, and at the begin- 

 ning of 1899 showed a deficit of E. 92,439, but 

 on Jan. 1, 1900, there was a credit balance of 

 E. 243,000. The general fund on Jan. 1. 1900, 

 stood at E. 3,523,000, but of this E. 2,182,000 

 were pledged to expenditure of various descrip- 

 tions, leaving an unpledged balance of E. 1,- 

 341,000. 



The Army. The Egyptian army, trained and 

 commanded by about 100 British officers, with Col. 

 Sir Reginald Wingate in supreme command with 

 the title of sirdar, has a total strength of 18,395 

 men, with 1,610 horses and mules, 1,700 camels, 



