Gross Nr. 11059. from the natives, but have made little reference to their complaints on this britannien, score, as I am fully aware of the difficulties opposed to their redress, owing 18. Apr. 1895. to the conditions with which our Administration is hampered at every step. || Nevertheless, there have been some reforms in this direction, for instance, Europeans now pay house tax, which they did not do a few years ago. || I visited Egypt repeatedly before the dual control and during the dual control, and can state that the grievances which have been reformed by us all continued to exist under the dual control. || Unjust taxation, the levying of which bristled with wrongs and oppression. The horrors of the prisons, the corrupt administration of justice, the abuses and cruelties connected with the corvée, the application of forced labour to the sugar factories and to the private purposes of the wealthy and influential. || These evils, and many more which I could quote, continued to thrive and flourish until we undertook the work of reform, since then the worst of them have been remedied. || Taxes are collected honestly and with a humane consideration for the convenience of the people. | The prisons are managed well and on sound principles. || Justice is administrated with much greater impartiality than before, and is no longer at the service of the highest bidder. | The corvée is limited to its legitimate purposes, but still needs some reform. || The finances are managed skilfully, and their condition to-day presents a striking contrast to that which prevailed twelve years ago. || This is attested by the splendid surplus in hand and by the low rate of interest which the Egyptian Debt now pays. || Who would have believed during the last decade that Egyptian Unified Stock would ever come to be quoted above par! In June 1882 they stood at 52. The Administration of Justice. This reform, so grievously needed and of such vital importance for the regeneration of Egypt, is being carried out with great ability and courage. under the auspices of the British Judicial Adviser. The Department which most concerns the mass of the population of Egypt is that of the native Courts. || A dozen years ago Justice in these was a figure of speech-its aptest emblem, not the scales but an open palm-and the poor man pleaded in vain. Now this grievance is to a great extent remedied, and there were few subjects on which the natives were more unanimous than that they no longer had any cause of complaint in this connection. || On pp. 16 and 17 will be found details of the mode of procedure in what I may call Petty Sessions cases, a category under which comes the great bulk of the litigation, &c., which concerns the agricultural population of Egypt. Agriculture of Upper Egypt. The methods of the farmers of Upper Egypt remain much the same as they were in the time of the Pharoahs, except in the case of the Daïra Sanieh estates, where irrigation by steam and steam-ploughing have taken the place of the shadoof and the shakkich (water-wheel). || There are a few wealthy capitalists Gross who farm on a large scale or who undertake to irrigate lands on condition Nr. 11059. of receiving half the crop in return for their good offices. || The Daïra Sanieh britannien. estates may be regarded as model farms, giving the most valuable practical 18.Apr. 1895. illustration of all to the peasantry of how to farm on scientific principles. || In this way they render an important service and constitute so many training schools, instructing by example and keeping before the minds of the natives a higher standard of the art of cultivating their land to the best advantage. Within the last five years an excellent institution has been started at Cairo under British auspices, viz., a College of Agriculture. This may prove of immense importance to a people whose very existence depends on agriculture. One purpose of it is to study the question of the best varieties of cereals and cotton to plant, and the best varieties of stock to rear, and to put the farmers in the way of obtaining them, by introducing them into the country. Village Debts to Usurers. The Sheiks, Mudirs, and others whom I questioned stated that this evil had abated because of the important reforms in the method of collecting the land tax, formerley that used to be exacted in advance of the harvest, thus compelling the peasants to borrow, paying interest for the accomodation at the rate of 60 per cent. per annum. || The land tax is now collected after the harvest, when the farmers have had time to realize the value of their crops. | Money is, however, still borrowed for the purchase of land, also for wedding expenses. The entire domestic debt of all Egypt has, nevertheless, sunk from 10 millions sterling, at which it stood in 1883, to 7 millions. || The natives repeatedly dwelt on the vast boon it would be to them to have loan banks established advancing money at 12 per cent. on the security of the land or the crops. They would regard 12 per cent. as a fabulously low rate of interest, and I am surprised that private enterprise has not long ago supplied this want in view of the splendid financial returns which are undoubtedly within reach, and await the founders of such an institution. Temper of the People. In all the provinces I visited, the villagers were unanimous in expressing their gratitude to us for having emancipated them from the oppression and misgovernment of former days, for having put an end to the plundering of the inhabitants by dishonest and unscrupulous tax-gatherers, for having brought justice within reach of the poor, and having put an end to the system of bribery and corruption in the native Courts, which had previously prevailed. || In those districts which have benefited by the irrigation works, which have been carried out within the last few years, they acknowledged the advantage they had derived from increased water supply along the high-level canals, Ibrahimieh and Bahr Yusuf, in many places being enabled to grow two crops instead of one. They also expressed gratitude for the reforms in the corvée. || They received us cordially everywhere, and no disaffection was perceptible Nr. 11059. that is limited to Cairo and Alexandria, where it is artificially promoted, and Grose- exists chiefly amongst those who profited formerly by the misgovernment and britannien. 18. Apr. 1895. abuses of the past. Taxation. Amongst the valuable and important reforms carried out under this head is the abolition of the sheep tax, the reduction to some extent of the land tax, the reduction by 40 per cent. of the Government salt monopoly, and the abolition of the compulsory purchase of salt. || The abolition in the case of the provincial towns of octroi market dues, which were very vexatious and much complained of. || In former years the peasants complained to me that after paying the date tax they had further to pay octroi duties on every part of the date palm when taking it to market, the midribs, the fibre, and the fruit. This grievance has been, at all events, abated, though not yet entirely abolished. || I am glad to hear that steps are being already taken to readjust the land tax. I am convinced that this is an urgent necessity in Upper Egypt, but knowing as I do the enormous difficulties in the way of any reform in this direction, I venture to express my admiration for the courage and energy of the British Administration in undertaking to grapple with this important question. I have already referred to the valuable and much appreciated reforms carried out in the collection of the taxes. || I would venture to suggest a reform in the date tax to this extent-that they should not be taxed until they are in full bearing; they are now taxed when only just over 1 metre (French yard) high, or at 40 inches high. I am aware that a few precocious trees bear scanty crops at this early stage of their growth, but it would be good policy to postpone the collection of the tax until they are in full bearing. Re-survey of Lands. This important and most necessary operation has been undertaken by the Finance Department for the following reasons: 1. The land tax registers are often based on old surveys, made before the size of the feddan was legally fixed. This caused serious errors in the arcas taxed. || In former times, when it was desired to exact an excessive tax from a district, fraudulent measuring rods (cassabas) were furnished to the employés. I may observe that the cassabar is the Coptic unit of lenght, and has been adopted as the legal unit of length in Egypt. The villagers were defrauded by shortening these rods, as well as by allowing fewer square cassabas to the feddan than the due number. || The areas thus obtained were in excess, often very much in excess, of the actual areas. || In 1813 Mohamet Ali fixed the feddan 333 cassabas, but it was not till 1851 that the legal lengths of the cassaba was fixed at 3.55 mètres. || Peasant proprietors were wronged also in another direction. Their land being taken from them for canals, embankments, railways, or other public purposes, but no allowance was made for the reduction of the holding, thus occasioned, but the same proportion of tax exacted as before. britannien. 2. Land is continually changing hands through deaths or sales. These Nr. 11059. transfers ought to be registered, but the natives are very unwilling to do Grossthis, consequently the land continues to pay in the name of people long dead, 18.Apr. 1895. or in the name of previous owners who have long ago parted with their property. Endless confusion and difficulty is thus caused. 3. Improved irrigation has caused a large amount of land, previously desert, to be brought into cultivation, and the fact suppressed in order to keep the reclaimed tracts off the land tax registers. 4. A fourth reason for the survey, commenced a couple of years ago, but which will require a long period to complete, is the necessity of registering the State lands belonging to the Government, but still unpledged. || The very important work undertaken by the Finance Department is generally welcomed by the natives, because their accounts with the Government will thus be properly adjusted, and the errors of the old surveys eliminated, besides they secure by it a more certain title to their lands. (N.B.-Prior to 1880 the greater part of the people were theoretically only life tenants, but by the compensation given now on the abolition of the Law of Moukabalah, they now hold the land in fee simple.) Even the people who are cultivating Government lands, for which they do not pay taxes, are mostly in favour of the survey, since the Government sells them such lands at very moderate rate, and, after purchase, they can improve it without fear of confiscation; besides which, they have probably been paying heavy bribes to conceal the fact that they are cultivating the land. In cases where there is deficit in area, the excess tax is struck off. || The properly accredited and authorised officers are welcomed cordially by the villagers, for, previously, sham surveyors used to go about the country armed with measuring rods, and representing themselves to be Government employés, and would only leave each village on the payment of a liberal douceur, for the villagers stood in great dread of these pirates. The advantage to the Treasury of this survey now in course of execution is very great in some districts, since the newly cultivated land is thus brought under taxation, and State lands are often discovered which do not appear in the registers. | It is a great satisfaction to all parties to have the position of affairs cleared up, and the old confusion and doubt done away with, and, in many cases, long-standing disputes settled. || As the work proceeds, the areas are mapped; these maps will prove of great value and are much needed. || This survey adds, therefore, one more benefit to the country, on the one hand, and to the Egyptian Government on the other, which has been conferred by the British Administration. || I may here observe that I have been very much struck by the amount of hard work got through daily in every Department. The Chiefs of Departments are no longer mere figure-heads, but look personally into every detail, and devote an amount of time and attention to their duties not always to be matched by officials at home. Nr. 11059. britannien. The Egyptian Army. I was informed by the native officers that the present condition of the 18. Apr.1895. army is a vast improvement on the old state of things. || The camp I visited at Assouan was as well ordered and as systematic in its arrangements as regards tents, the men's kits, &c., and also in the perfection of its discipline, as the camp at Aldershot. || The officers told me that they got on very well with their English brother officers, adding that they were good comrades, but bad linguists. Irrigation. The immense improvement under this head I have already referred to. The achievements of the Public Works Department are a subject on which the British Administration may justly pride itself, they have resulted in the reclamation of tracts which were previously desert, and in enabling two or three crops to be raised annually were only one was raised before. || Details of these improvements will be found in the Appendix annexed to this summary, but a vast deal still remains to be accomplished. || As connected with the subject of irrigation and the question of the projected reservoirs at Philae, I visited this island in order to judge for myself of the effect of restoring the walls with which it was once surrounded and raising them to a sufficient height to keep out the water in case the scheme of a great reservoir at this point was carried out. I traced the foundations of the original wall in its entire circuit; it was about 700 yards in circumference. At one point there is a natural wall, already, of more than sufficient height, consisting of immense granite boulders; this formation might be imitated at intervals in the new wall so as to break its formal appearance, and give it a certain correspondence with Biggeh and the other islands around. || Within the inclosure there would be a distance of about 60 yards between the west wall and the temple, but considerably less on the east. || The chief temple faces south, and the space intervening between of the façade of the great Pylon and the southern extremity of the island, more than 100 yards in length, is disfigured with mounds of mud bricks, the relics of Arab and Coptic houses. || This could be levelled and planted with palm groves, or converted into a botanic garden; this would form a picturesque and artistic setting both for the colonnades right and left, and for the main temple itself. || Thus within the inclosure, so far from the monuments being spoilt, they would, on the contrary, be set off to advantage, and rescued from their present squalid surroundings, an important improvement. || Externally, the island would lose some of its picturesqueness, but not to the extent that might be supposed, for the palm groves and the higher portions of the temple would show above the inclosing wall, and Philae would be more assimilated to the neighbouring islands. There would be nothing inconsistent with ancient traditions in the wall itself; all Egyptian temples were surrounded with high walls and embankments, and Phile was no exception; it would be simply a restoration, |