COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 99 



beautiful artistic weaving is still carried on. Several thousands 

 of weavers, who, about the beginning of the new century, 

 came to Egypt from Northern Syria on account of unsatisfactory 

 conditions there, are said to cover, to-day, the whole of the demand 

 of Egypt and the Sudan in silk and union Aladsha material, which 

 represents an annual value of ^150,000 to ^200,000. A technical 

 school at Abutig near Assiut is endeavouring to train a nucleus of 

 competent weavers. 



Hand in hand with the weaving establishments, and often belong- 

 ing to the same owners, are the dye-works, these are also carried on on 

 a small scale ; the red and black colours are produced mostly in the 

 country, aniline colours and indigo are chiefly imported from Ger- 

 many, whilst a certain quantity of native indigo is still imported from 

 India. 



Towards the end of the 19th century fresh experiments were 

 made in Egypt with cotton-spinning and weaving factories, driven by 

 power. 



The Societe Anonyme egyptienne pour la filature et le tissage 

 du colon was founded in 1895 in Cairo, but never commenced to 

 work, and the following two factories, which were founded in 1899, 

 and supported by London and Liverpool capital, did not meet with 

 good results. 



The Egyptian Cotton Mills of Cairo, with a capital of ^"160,000, 

 20,000 spindles and 360 looms, liquidated in the year 1907, and the 

 machines were sold and sent to Aleppo. 



The Anglo-Egyptian Spinning and Weaving Company of Alexan- 

 dria, with a capital of 150,000, and 20,000 spindles and 500 looms, 

 never paid a dividend. 



In 1912, the latter English factory has been refloated by German 

 merchants of Alexandria, such as R. & O. Lindemann, Schneider, 

 and others. The old shares were reduced to 25 per cent, of their 

 nominal value, and the capital was raised to ^50,000 by a further 

 payment of ^12,500. This mill, which is now known as the Filature 

 Nationale d'Egypte, is managed by capable Germans, who possess 

 commercial and technical experience, and has even in the first year 

 been very successful, which is to some extent, no doubt, due to the 

 Turkish-Italian War, which has excluded Italian competition in 

 Turkey through the doubling of the tariffs. 



The factory uses mainly cheap Upper Egyptian cotton, of which 

 about 25,000 kantars were consumed in the cotton year of 1911/12, 

 along with a very small quantity of Indian cotton, and spins from 

 16's to 20 's, and a little quantity up to 30 's. About 20 per cent, of 

 its yarn production are sold to the Egyptian hand-loom weavers, but 

 80 per cent, is woven in the factory into plain shirtings, such as are 

 in demand by the ordinary indigo dyers of the district; they subse- 

 quently find a market in Turkey and in Egypt. 



The excise duty of 8 per cent, imposed in 1901 on the value of 

 the cotton goods made in Egypt as compensation for the import 

 duty, has been suspended in 1909 for a term of five years in accord- 

 ance with a Government agreement. 



The old spinning machinery and the looms of the factory were 

 made by Messrs. Platt Brothers & Co., Oldham ; some new German 

 machines have been added. 



