EGYPT. 



235 



The area of Egypt prior to the evacuation of the 

 Soudan and the equatorial province was estimated 

 ;ii 1,406,250 square miles, and the population at 

 16,952,00ft The area at present under Egyptian 

 rule is about 385,000 square miles, not including 

 the newly organized provinces of Dongola, Nubia, 

 and Suakin, and that of the cultivated districts in 

 the Nile valley and delta is 12,976 square miles. Of 

 the total population given above, 4,947,905 are males 

 and 4,786,555 females. The foreigners, numbering 

 112,526 altogether, comprised 38,175 Greeks, 24,467 

 Italians, 19,557 British, 14,155 French, 7,117 Austro- 

 Hungarians, 3,193 Russians, 1,277 Germans, 1,301 

 Persians, and 3,284 others. The population of Cairo, 

 the capital, in 1897, was 570,062; of Alexandria, 

 319,766. 



Finances. The budget for 1898 makes the total 

 revenue E. 10,440,000, of which the land tax pro- 

 duces E. 4,872,700, other indirect taxes E. 137,- 

 300, customs E. 850,000, tobacco E. 1,000,000, 

 octroi duties E. 204,000, salt duty E. 180,000, 

 fisheries E. 75,000, navigation dues E. 70,000, 

 stamps and registration E. 38,000, other duties 

 K. 30,000, railroads E. 1,800,000, telegraphs 

 E. 47,000, the port of Alexandria E. 130,000, 

 other ports E. 2,000, the post office and packet 

 service E. 191,000, lighthouse dues E. 68,000, 

 assay office E. 6,000, law courts E. 426,000, va- 

 rious ministries E. 20,000, exemption from mili- 

 tary service E. 100,000, interest on deposits E. 30,- 

 000, Government property E. 90,000, Suakin 

 E. 13,000, deductions from salaries for pension 

 fund E. 60,000. The expenditures are E. 253,- 

 861 for the Khedive's civil list and appanages, 

 E. 3,972 for the Council of Ministers, E. 8,270 

 for the Legislative Council, E. 11,116 for the 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, E. 86,056 for the 

 Ministry of Finance, E. 105,220 for the Ministry 

 of Public Instruction, E. 391,281 for the Ministry 

 of the Interior. E. 391,973 for the Ministry of 

 Justice, E. 630,069 for the Ministry of Public 

 Works, E. 107,458 for the general expenses of the 

 ministries, E. 319,022 for the collection of provin- 

 cial revenues, E. 75,752 for collection of customs 

 duties, E. 88,076 for the coast guard, E. 34,210 

 for collection of octrois, E. 47,068 for collection of 

 the salt duty, E. 1,400 for fisheries, E. 3,130 for 

 collection of navigation dues, E. 907,138 for opera- 

 tion of railroads, E. 42,000 for telegraphs, E. 28,- 

 000 for the port of Alexandria, E. 3,699 for other 

 ports, E. 99,525 for the post office, E. 79,450 for 

 the khedivial packet boats, E. 27,192 for light- 

 houses, E. 2,597 for the assay office, E. 439,570 

 for the Ministry of War, E, 84,825 for the army 

 of occupation, E. 120,517 for the Government of 

 Suakin, E. 213,000 for the Soudan, E. 439,000 

 for pensions, E. 665,041 for the Turkish tribute, 

 E. 34,000 for the Daira Khassa, E. 150.000 for 

 the Moukabala, E. 28,457 for interest and ex- 

 change, E. 100,000 for the domains deficit, 

 E. 34,000 for expenses of the Caisse de la Dette, 

 E. 307,125 for interest and amortization of the 

 guaranteed loan, E. 1,003,056 for the preference 

 debt, E. 2,182,906 for the unified debt, E. 250,- 

 000 for the suppression of the corvee, and E. 32,000 

 for unforeseen expenses, making a total of E. 9,- 

 831,032, leaving E. 265.037 of economies from the 

 conversion of privileged debt, and E. 343,931 as 

 the Government's share of surplus receipts. 



The cost of the Soudan expedition from March 31, 

 1896, to March 31, 1898, was E. 1,881,805. To bal- 

 ance the budget the sum of E. 100,000 for works 

 connected with the proposed storage of Nile water 

 for summer irrigation was struck out, and improve- 

 ments in every department of the civil administra- 

 tion was postponed, as well as all expenditure for 

 developing the resources of the country, notwith- 



standing an estimated increase of 210,000 sterling in 

 the revenue, derived mostly from customs, tobacco, 

 railroads, and justice. The total war expenditure for 

 the year was estimated at 702,000. To cover the 

 extraordinary expenditure for the Soudan incurred 

 in the previous two years 1,218,000 sterling were 

 taken from the special reserve fund. The cost of 

 the war and the administration of the Soudan up 

 to March 31, 1898, making no estimate for a further 

 advance from Dongola, was placed at E. 1,881,300. 

 Of this, E. 750,000 was expended on railroads and 

 telegraphs. The limit of administrative expendi- 

 ture, fixed at 6,368,000 sterling by the international 

 convention of 1885, has from time to time been 

 raised until it was 6,237,000 in 1896. 



The total amount of the debt at the end of 1896 

 was 104,413,740 sterling, not including the Mouka- 

 bala, or internal debt, which will be extinguished 

 by the payment of a fixed annuity equal to 154,000 

 until 1930. The guaranteed loan, bearing 3 per 

 cent, interest, amounted to 8,628,600, repayable by 

 a fixed annuity of 315,000; the privileged debt, 

 amounting to 29,393,580, pays 3 per cent, interest, 

 requiring 1,028,775 for 1898; the unified debt, pay- 

 ing 4 per cent., amounted to 55,971,960, requiring 

 2,238,378; the Daira Sanieh loan, paying 4 per 

 cent., is 6,631,600, the annual charge being 257,- 

 260, besides the annual payment of 34,871 to the 

 loan commissioners; and the domains loan, bearing 

 4i per cent, interest, amounted to 3,788.000. re- 

 quiring an annual payment of 149,124. The reve- 

 nue from the Daira estate and the domains in 1896 

 was E. 10,693,000, and the expenditure E. 10,- 

 377,000, leaving a surplus of E. 316,000. The 

 economies from conversion of debts amounted to 

 E. 2,229,726 up to the end of 1896, the general 

 reserve fund to E. 3,040,997, and the special reserve 

 fund to E. 408,218; total reserves, E. 5,678,941. 

 At the end of October, 1898, the amount held by 

 the commissioners of the debt was E. 6,148,844. 

 The domains estate, owing to the fall in the price 

 of cotton, has not produced enough to pay the in- 

 terest on the mortgage debt. The deficit in 1897 

 was 102,000. The Daira Sanieh properties, con- 

 sisting of 256,000 acres of excellent land, 9 sugar 

 mills, and 375 miles of railroad, formerly belonging 

 to the Khedive and the khedivial family, were in 

 June, 1898, sold to a syndicate of English, French, 

 and Egyptian capitalists for 6,400,000 sterling, 

 the exact amount of the Daira debt, which will be 

 paid off in 1905. The buyers will gradually take 

 over the property from the Daira administration, 

 and they are bound to resell it within seven years, 

 and to pay to the- Government half the net profits, 

 which must not be less than 20 per cent. The 

 khedivial fleet of steamers, together with docks 

 and warehouses at Alexandria and Suez, were sold 

 in January to a British syndicate for 150,000, only 

 a fraction of their cost and of the price that could 

 have been obtained by public tender. This transac- 

 tion excited the indignation of Frenchmen interested 

 in Egypt. On Dec. 31, 1897, the funded debt had 

 been reduced to 98,107,000. There was a debt of 

 E. 780,000 due to the British Government, being 

 the sum advanced to meet the expenses of the 

 Dongola expedition. The Government has con- 

 tracted for the completion of the Nile reservoir at 

 Assouan, at a total cost of 2,000,000, before July 1, 

 1903. The dam, 6,000 feet long, will raise the level 

 of the water 46 feet, thus storing 1,065,000,000 cubic 

 metres, which will be released to supplement the 

 supply in the river between April and September. 

 A smaller dam at Assiout raises the river level 

 during summer in order to increase the distributing 

 power of the canals, acting on the same principle as 

 the great barrage north of Cairo. The commis- 

 sioners of the public debt have released over 500,- 



