236 



EGYPT. 



000 of their accumulated funds for the improvement 

 of the barrage and for drainage works. The Gov- 

 ernment proposed in 1898 to apply during ten years 

 the annual sum of E. 216,000, being the interest 

 from the funds in the general reserve and of the 

 economies from debt conversions, to the reduction of 

 the land tax on lands taxed at more than one third 

 of their rental value, of which lands there are 

 1,000,000 acres. 



The Army. The Egyptian army consists of 18,- 

 000 troops, commanded 'by about 100 Englishmen, 

 with Major-Gen. Sir Herbert Kitchener as sirdar, or 

 commander in chief. The British army of occu- 

 pation in 1897 numbered 4,711 officers and men. 



Commerce. The total value of the imports in 

 1896 was E. 9,828,604, and of exports E. 13,232,- 

 108, exclusive of specie, of which the imports were 

 E. 3,720,425 and the exports E. 1,826,160. The 

 imports of cotton goods were E. 1,679,951 in value ; 

 silk, linen, woolen, and other fabrics, E 1,003,066; 

 coal, E. 388,935 ; hosiery and clothing, E. 425,- 

 984 ; timber, E. 424,357 ; coffee, E. 297,601 ; 

 wine, beer, and spirits, E. 349,883 ; tobacco and 

 cigars. E. 511,508; petroleum and oils, E. 240,- 

 03.') : machinery, E. 417,817; iron and steel goods, 

 E. 456,599 ; indigo. E. 169,630 ; fresh and pre- 

 served fruits, E. 216,557; live animals, E. 145,- 

 529 ; wheat and flour, E. 553,401 ; rice, E. 126,- 

 299 ; refined sugar, E. 25,131. The exports of 

 raw cotton were of the value of E. 9,986,861 ; cot- 

 ton seed, E..l,226,870 ; sugar, E. 765,172 ; beans, 

 E. 413,415 ; onions, E. 128,740 ; hides and skins, 

 E. 92,558 ; wool, E. 63,122 ; wheat, E. 53,818 ; 

 lentils. E. 7,264 ; corn, E. 3,614 ; gum arabic, 

 E. 1,794. The United States and India have be- 

 come large consumers of Egyptian cotton, taking 

 55,235 bales in 1897. The increase in exports of 

 cane sugar to the United States has been remark- 

 able, the shipments in 1897 amounting to 52,300 

 tons, three fourths of the total exports. 



The foreign trade in 1896 was divided among 

 different countries as follows : 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered at 

 the port of Alexandria in 1896 was 2.132, of 2,123,- 

 591 tons. Of these, 610, of 934,450 tons, were 

 British : 145, of 289,996 tons, French ; 142, of 249,- 

 150 tons. Austrian; 838. of 223,515 tons, Turkish- 

 80, of 170,505 tons, Kni;iii; M. of l;N!.:!'.i'.t tons, 

 Italian; 168, of 54.673 tons, (iivrk : :',o. of 46,070 

 tons, German; 18. of 26,450 tons, Swedish and Nor- 

 wegian ; and 16, of 5,743 tons, of other nationalities. 

 The number el.-ared was 2.105, of 2,094.684 tons. 



Communications. There were 1,215 miles of 

 railroads in Egypt, on Jan. 1, 1897, and of these 

 1,143 miles belonged to the Government. Of the 

 total mileage, which does not include the new mili- 

 tary railroad into the Soudan nor the railroads on 

 the Daira Sanieh estates, 825 miles were in the 



delta and 390 miles in Upper Egypt. There were 

 64 miles of private and 226 miles of Government 

 railroads under construction, and concessions had 

 been granted for 230 miles of narrow-gauge rail- 

 roads in the delta. The number of passengers 

 carried on the Government lines in 1896 was 9,854,- 

 000 ; tons of freight, 2,498,000. The gross revenue 

 was E. 1,820,970, and the working expenses 

 E. 787,930 ; net receipts, E. 1,033,000. 



The length of telegraph lines belonging to the 

 Government on Jan. 1, 1897, was 2,269 miles, with 

 8,450 miles of wire. The number of dispatches in 



1896 was 2,392,036. 



The number of letters and postal cards that 

 passed through the post office in 1896 was 15,310,- 

 000, of which 10,905,000 were internal and 4,405,000 

 foreign ; newspapers, etc., 8,800,000, of which 5,605,- 

 000 were internal and 3,195,000 foreign ; post-office 

 orders and remittances, 494,250, of the value of 

 E 16,150,000. 



The Suez Canal. The number of vessels that 

 passed through the canal in 1896 was 3,409, of 12,- 

 039,859 tons, of which 2,162, of 8,057,706 tons, were 

 British ; 322, of 1,120,580 tons, were German ; 218. 

 of 819,919 tons, were French ; 230, of 594,179 tons, 

 were Italian ; 200, of 520,994 tons, were Dutch : li,'. 

 of 267,769 tons, were Spanish ; 71, of 233,922 tons, 

 were Austro-Hungarian ; 47, of 209,509 tons, were 

 Russian ; 39, of 98,949 tons, were Norwegian ; 37, 

 of 58,357 tons, were Turkish ; 10, of 42,695 tons, 

 were Japanese ; and 11, of 15,279 tons, were Portu- 

 guese, Egyptian, etc. The number of passengers 

 was 308,241. The gross receipts were 3,182,800 

 sterling. The loan and share capital is 460,569,276 

 francs, besides which 151,174,307 francs of earn- 

 ings have been applied to improvements. The 

 net profits in 1896 were 42,283,380 francs. During 



1897 the number of vessels that passed through was 

 2,986, of which 2,103 were merchant ships, 727 mail 

 steamers, 31 vessels in ballast, 112 war vessels and 

 military transports, and 13 yachts, dredgers, and 

 propellers. In nationality 1,905 were British, 325 

 German, 206 Dutch, 202 French, 78 Austrian. 71 

 Italian, 48 Spanish, 48 Norwegian, 44 Russian, 36 

 Japanese, 7 Turkish, 3 Chinese, 3 Egyptian, 3 Amer- 

 ican, 2 Danish, 2 Siamese, 1 Mexican, 1 Portuguese, 

 and 1 Swedish. The total receipts were 75,607.029 

 francs, and the total expenditure 36,291,408. The 

 plague and famine in India and the drought in 

 Australia affected the traffic so injuriously that the 

 reserve had to be drawn upon to pay the diminished 

 dividend of 90 francs. The reserve fund was still 

 2,679,837 francs at the end of 1897. The average 

 time of transit has been reduced to fifteen hours 

 thirty-six minutes, notwithstanding the continuous 

 increase in the size of vessels. 



The Mixed Tribunals. The powers exercised 

 by the mixed tribunals, first conferred in 1876 and 

 renewed for the last time in 1894, would lapse in 

 February, 1899, unless previously renewed. The 

 British have desired, since the decision against the 

 appropriation of the general reserve fund for the 

 Soudan expedition, to curtail the jurisdiction of 

 these international courts. In 1898 the Government 

 submitted to the powers a proposal to modify thi 

 organic law of the mixed tribunals by withdrawing 

 from their jurisdiction cases of mixed interest unless 

 the parties are of different nationalities ; by allowing 

 complaints and pleadings in English as well as in 

 Arabic, French, and Italian; by transferring to tin 

 jurisdiction of the native courts all real-estate case- 

 between natives; by allowing no action to lie a gains! 

 the Government for measures taken by it in tb(> 

 general interest of Egypt or for any act connecter 

 with the execution or application of the laws am. 

 regulations of the public administration : and by 

 permitting only the Caisse de la Dette collectively, 



