COTTOX IX EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 123 



SURVEY, SALE OF LAND, AND LAND TAX. 



Land in the Sudan is owned as 4< Kharadshi " land, i.e., after 

 it came under Mohammedan reign, it has remained against payment 

 of a tribute in the peaceful possession of the former owners, but the 

 Government has certain rights of supervision which enable it to 

 protect the natives, if need be, against European and other specu- 

 lators of land. The Land Ordinance of 1899 and that of 1905 gave 

 the basis for the gradual survey of the cultivated land and the 

 establishment of claims on land ownership, which had become very 

 uncertain during the unrest caused by the Dervishes. The beginning 

 was made with this survey in the provinces of Wadi Haifa, Dongola, 

 Berber, Khartoum, and the Blue Nile provinces. All wooded and 

 uninhabited land, for which no private ownership could be ascer- 

 tained, was taken to be the property of the Government. As regards 

 the ownership of land of the natives, it was decided that they can 

 be expropriated by the State, in case of necessary construction of 

 public works for irrigation, against a corresponding payment or 

 transfer of land in another district. Further, the decision was 

 arrived at, that the purchase of land belonging to the natives 

 by native or European speculators must be avoided, and it is now 

 only possible to sell land w r ith the sanction of the Governor 

 of the province. Expropriation by private individuals is not admis- 

 sible, as the Government of the Sudan, just as in Egypt, intends to 

 protect, before everything, the number of small holdings. Even as 

 regards the sale of public land, the Government takes up a very 

 reserved attitude and never grants concessions of land where there 

 is the slightest possibility that the purchase is purely of a speculative 

 character. The Government insists that first of all the survey should 

 be completed, and that an official land register should be instituted, 

 which will facilitate in future the transfer of land. 



On the basis of the survey the L T shur taxes (the Mohammedan 

 law of one-tenth) are being replaced by a tax which extends to all the 

 cultivated land. This latter is divided into six classes, ranging from 

 10 P.T. to 60 P.T. per acre. So far, only the land which has benefited 

 through the Nile flood or through artificial irrigation has paid a land- 

 tax. Land where rain cultivation is carried on is to be taxed in this 

 way only after the completion of the present survey ; until now Ushur 

 tax, representing a one-tenth part of the crop, is levied there. 



The conditions of the purchase of Government land vary in the 

 different parts of the vast territory very considerably, and every case 

 is treated by itself, according to the special nature, by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. When concessions are asked for land belonging 

 to the Government, the applicant, after depositing security, receives 

 permission to begin his preliminary investigations. After the lapse 

 of the period stipulated he must submit to the Government the full 

 programme of his scheme of land development and irrigation, on 

 the basis of which the concession may be granted and the final con- 

 tract be signed. So far Government has given land on lease at 

 10 P.T. per fecldan for a period of 75 to 90 years, under the condition 

 that the property will be converted into freehold, if certain prescrip- 

 tions of cultivation are fulfilled. In this way applicants for land, who 

 wanted the same only for speculation with a view to re-selling it, 

 have been excluded. Of course, such procedure will not easily induce 



