BRITISH RULE IN EGYPT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3979, 9 July 1913, Page 7

BRITISH RULE IN EGYPT.

SOME OF THE BENEFITS

Lord Kitchener is the official representative of British rule and influence in.the land of Egypt, and his annual report of the economic progress of the country has just been published.

DEPENDENCE UPON COTTON

'H’he prosperity cf Egypt,” says the “Times,” in summarising this report, “depends upon cotton and the price of cotton. The production of Egyptian cotton had. been doubled by 1894, but the country was no better off, because prices had fallen greatly. At the end of last century prices bounded 1 upward,' the value of cotton exports doubled, and money poured into Egypt. It was largely wasted in the period of inflation which ended in the ‘boom’ of 1907, with its subsequent disasters. Only a continuance of abundant crops and good prices has enabled Egypt to emerge successfully from that time of trial. There are other precarious aspects of this dependence on cotton. Egypt is fighting the common boll-worm, which has been ravaging the crops, and has now become aware of the presence of a pink boll-worm which threatens to be a menace. The cultivators are greater enemies to their 'crops than are these insects. Their wilful adulteration of their cotton has been damaging the high reputation of Egyptian, cotton. Legislation is now checking these suicidal practices. “Again, the variation in the flow of the Nile is an important factor. For several years the Nile lias been comparatively low, but in accordance with precedent a series of exceptionally high Niles may now be expected, which means a danger of floods in Lover Egypt and possible widespread disaster. The danger -was lessened when the raising of the Assuan dam was completed last December, but it is proposed to build a new dam on the White Nile forty miles above Khartum, by which the supply can be still further regulated.

PROTECTING THE PEASANT.

“The fellah has to be still further protected against himself. Egypt is a multitude of smafl holdings, and the improvident peasantry were rapidly being expropriated from their land by swarms of rapacious money-lenders. The Agricultural Bank was not quite realising expectations, and the facilities it offered were not a sufficient check. Lord Kitchener turned to his Indian experience for a remedy. He had a share in passing the Punjab Land Alienation Act, and knew how invaluable that measure had proved. He has now been instrumental in passing in Egypt the Five Feddan Law, which exempts the holdings of small farmers from seizure for debt. His Cantonal Justice Law is a reform which will give effect to local usage and provide the peasantry with swift access to justice from their own notables, without recourse to the elaborate procedure of larger courts. He is establishing rural savings banks upon methods which are encouraging thrift, because they make it easy to save.

DEVELOPING NATURAL RESOURCES.

“He has become a roadmaker, and Egypt will soon become covered with a network of good roads, and no longer be chiefly dependent upon her railways and her waterways for means of communication. Above all, he has perceived that Egypt’s dependence upon cotton must be lessened, and to that end he is stimulating the development of the other resources of the country. Lord Kitchener's report on the progress of the AngloEgyptian Sudan is equally encouraging. The Sudan is now very nearly self-supporting; in four years its external trade has increased from under two to over three millions sterling, and the great Gezira triangle between the White and Blue Niles should soon be producing large quantities of excellent cotton.”