CAIRO.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 October 1922, Page 4

CAIRO.

NOTES FROM THE NILE. CAIRO. Aug 5. Old residents like myself have seen many changes in Egypt luring the score of years we have sojourned in the Valley of the Nile, hut nothing coming compares with the transformation in the matter of landmarks which Cairo has undergone since the war. Indeed those who served here during the Palestine campaign would he. surprised at the alterations made in tin' old haunts they Knew so well.

Thu first thing Licit, will strike them will he the substitution of “Savoy House” for “Savoy Hotel” over the building which throughout the' war was the G.H.G. of tile E.F.F. It lias now been taken over by the Egyptian Government as nllices at a rental which has nutde the- directors of the Nungoviti-li Hotels wear a perpetual smile; and rooms which before tho war witnessed some of the most brilliant scenes of the/ Egyptian season are now given up permanently to laboratories and other highly utilitarian but m»ne the less relatively-dry as dust uses. Villa. Victoria, where the Australian Headquarters used to he, is now, the headquarters of the Mid-Fast Section of the Royal Air Force, which has done such splendid work in opening and working the air-route troin Cairo to Baghdad. Auzac Hostel, where the ■‘boys’’ were so well looked liftin’ by the Y.M.C.A. and whi.ru many a jolly evening was spent in the good old war days, lias been sold. The main building has been taken over by Cox’s who are launching out in a. remarkable manner, and the liacki-door, so to speak, bus been acquired hv the Cairo Stock Exchange. Many of our readers may also remember the large house in the middle of ftti extensive garden, facing the Anzac Hostel, which was said to be haunted, and had, in consequence been vacant for many years. I his has now been acquired by a company calloil Giro’s (Fgvpt). Ltd., the building being run as a dancing club, and the gardens as an open air c:ifie I lie fegenil lias it that since one of the Kliedivin! Princes, who was killed ill a. motor accident in 1* rauco, lav in state there, a ghost wanders about the place, and always kills the head of tlie family owning this house. So far the “spook” Inis not introduced itself to or been seen by any ol the new occupants, and possibly the high rivulry within the house and the libations of alcohol and other beverages consumed in the gardens have exorcised him or her. At any rate, the dub at present is doing a roaring trade, and proving a veritable (fod-seml during tlie lint weather. CKZIRA PALACE.

Across the river the building of Gize which was the main lied Cross hospital has reverted to the Government and the pre-war work has hem resumed ot trying to knock sense into the skulls of young Egyptians, while Gezira Palace, which during the war was converted into a giganLic hospital, and towards the end became the headquarters <’i the Air Force, lias now been acquired as a private residence by a Syrian notable. The. purchaser .Emir Lutfalla Bey, whose name will he recalled hy Australians as the owner of many racehorses, amongst them Salliia. Buslira, Kofar, Sharamnn, etc., has pulled down the wing at the south end, and is understood to have reimbursed himself out of the material for practically the whuhi price lie paid tor the entire property. Thus don money beget money,‘for Futfalla’s income from his Egyptian properties alone is not lot short of half-a-niillion pdf annum. The Casino, the scene ol ninny a brilliant social gathering in pre-war days, is to Im turned into offices, and so the property which was built hy the spend thrift, pleasure-!, .ving Ismail Pasha for the festivities in honour of the Empress Eugenie, when slid attended the opening of the Suez Canal m 13118 .and which until the war broke out brilliantly carried on the tradition has fallen to more material - uses. “Sic transit gloria nuindi.” But while Gezira Palace has disappeared as a social landmark, tin* two sister hotels ,Shcpheard’s and Seiiiiiamis .and the Continental and the National continue to flourish. I he stately caravanserai on the east hank ol the Nile lias now heroine the hotel do |u X e of Cairo, and whenever any .special political mission, such as the Mil l ner Mission or Churchill’s Mid-East Conference., comes here 1 , it is housed at

the Semiramis. On the other hand, ! Shphearil’s, the traditions of which are j i wrapped up with those of Cairo, and ‘ : tho British occupation, and the two hotels are Still going strong, while Groppi’s and Sault’s continue to be , the great afternoon rendezvous, and , bring their proprietors■ consult’, able j profit, although not quite as much as , when the E.E.F. was here. j An interesting and at the same 1 time very salutary reform has been j introduced by the enlistment of a i number of Australian N.C.O.’s into the Cairo police. These men have been entrusted with the regulation ot traffic, and a vary marked improvement is now noticeable in the streets. On horseback or on motor cycle they ! are übiquitous, and Cairenes, who dur- * ing the war-had every reason to ap- ' preeiate the doggedness and thoroughI ness of the Anzaes now realise that

they are equally dependable under ponce conditions. Tbe offending Jehu or chaffeiir knows full well that be will not go long undiscovered, and that once he has caught the eye of tho traffic men, bis number is up in mine ways than one and it is useless for him to try and escape. Tho introduction of these men was merely an experiment, but its sue-ess is now admitted by the Egyptians

themselves, who realise that left to himself the average “Sliawislt” is helpless in regulating traffic. V heiner they will he retained under the new regime if British control goes remains to"be seen, but judging by the fact that during the epidemic of bombing attempts on their lives the Mini.-urns chose their escorts from amongst Die Australian motor Cyclists. 1 slum il s;,y' that they, at any rato are assured of security of tenure. A QUAINT CEREMONY. The. Nile has been causing tremeii- : dous anxiety. Egypt being an stgncultural country and rainless to boot is entirely dependent for water on ; what comes down this river from the heart of Africa, and tho Abyssinian Mountains. The Blue Nile, which supplies tbe early summer water, anil tlie White Nik, which supplies the

I food were a mouth late in Rising, j Roth have now made an almost phenj omenal jump, hut it is unfortunately too late to benefit the .summer crop, while the vast basin lands in Upper p>vpt will not he flooded in time for autumn crops. It is a. serious situation. hut the Irrigation Servicewhich has done wonders in the past will, it is I hopod lie able to cope with the period of shortage as well as 'the period m superabundance which will follow . In connection with the annual rise of the Nile a quaint ceremony takes place annually at Old Cairo jusi below the ruins of the Roman Aqueduct. This ceremony, called the “Cutting ol the Khalig,” rcvonls the completion of the Nile, i.e. the fact that the river lias reached the level of seventeen cubits at the Hoda Ni'.omi'tor. In oklcn times a young virgin was annually thrown into tho Nile to propitiate the river god. To-day only a puppet is used, nut the festival is still kept up with all the traditional ceremonial. The Governor of Cairo presides, the head of the Moslem religion draws up the “Hodie” or ctood recording the Ni.'e level, and the whole populace make merry, the following day being kept as a. public holiday to enable everyone to re: ;vcr from the ■‘execs-

' ~,r iJ.p previous evening. This year the ceremony should liavi taken place at the beginning of August .hut the Nile was so slow that Ft had to be postponed. Even now it has been only as the result of much manipulation that the level in the Did Cairo Canal, which is taken as the nlord, lias been brought up to the seventeenth cubit. The important.e of having this eu.-emony before tin* end of August lies in the fact that me land tax is usually collected from September onwards, and that it is not legally payable until the “Hodjo,” has I,ei’n signed. The land tax totals a little over live millions, of which tlie major portion is usually collected in September, October and November. Tho Government is at present, very hard up for money and any delay in the collection of the land tax would seriously affect it. Htiiice the anxiety to <>et the liver levels up before the end of August! THE NEW REGIME IN EGYPT. Since Egypt received her independence and was recognised as a sovereign state, tilings have not gone at all satisfactorily, particularly as regards public security. Ihe recognition of the country’s independence had naturally for corollary the withdrawal of all British control anti the appointment of Egyptians as the head of every administration. The result lias been n very marked falling off in o'lliijiene.v. an extraordinary amount of favouritism, a general slackening in the administration and an alarming increase in crime throughout the country. In the provinces hands of brigands reign supreme in many districts and the provincial authorities appear to have lost sdl mihii'iiii and control, while Cairo lias during the last three months been the scene ol some most daring outrages oil Englishmen, which the Egyptian public security authorities have lv. an entirely powerless to prevent, nor have they liken able to find the assassins.

Tlie -state of affairs is indeed becoming serious, for there are very large foreign colonies in the country nncl tlie mambers are very much exercised in their minds since, although so lar only Englishmen have been attacked, the outrages might quite easily, as past experience proves, acquire a generally zonophobc character. —Sydney Paper. __________