EGYPT.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 June 1923, Page 4

EGYPT.

AN INDEPENDENT KINGDOM. CAIRO, March Jo. To-day is the anniversary of the declaration of Egypt as an independent kingdom. Although the Hritisn .statement removing lice protectorate ml recognising the independence of tincountry was established on Tebruarv gsili, p>22, il was not until 13 days Inier elect the Royal rescript was promulgated announcing the transformation of the Sultanate into a kingdom and i hat too first ( ahinet unite! ilie new regime look office. Immediaiely after tin- declaration of March loth a special commission Wits loiniel lo elaborate the new Constitution, which was to bestow on the Egyptian people' a democratic regime, and steps were at once taken to start the erection of a building, which should be ready within a year, to accommodate ihe members of the Senate and House

of Deputies, whose election was confidently expected to take place Hot later than the end of 1922. In short, a new- era full of promise was opened tip before the Egypt ion people, but unfortunately the first rear of the new regime' has been a hitter el’sappeiinmont. Personal jealousies have operated to create a current of dissittisfiicti.nl with the very generous com essinii- w hich Great Britain made to Egypt ill the statement issued !i\ ill-- British Gowninieut. on February 2Slh, 1922. Daily the demands for greater concessions leave grown. The inv'-t impossible claims we're put forward. amongst litem a claim to the control oi the Sudan, iplite oblivion- to lie- met that it had been ivcottquoivd mainly by British blood alter iis abandonmi-i'l b\ Egypt in ISS2. and that the Sudanese had iu.-t as nmi'li right to a say in the government of their country a- the Eg\ ptiaus lead in regard to their ow n. Oil tin- top of this came intrigues by tin- King, h.ii had no desire to give up his prcrngal ive>. He move-el heaven and earth e > prevent the ('oust itntion giving the Egyptian nation control over their affairs, which, according to ‘modern ideas, is their right, and lie provoked more than' one .Ministerial crisis. And. finally, t hroii.gliottt the whole v ear l here Inis been an uninterrupted series of .inti-BriGs'ii outrages . arricil out by an organisation which the Egyptian Administration has been I'-.twc-r!— u> run to earth. a"-l eldmiiini.iit:: in l.i'iiih outrages ttgains; the British troops, including an aticmpi on Pritish Army hcadqimtois. A SCRATCH CABINET. As a result of all this internal striio and of t!iis campaign oi violence no ('ahinet can he foiitid to-day ready kn .■oe.pt the ta-l; of executing the impurtaiil political work widen lies before tin* e-mnli v li.-fol'e il - p ptvs -liiatives can enter upon tin- te liiiii. ti “ for a treaty with Great Biitain, which Ini' !c -'ii tlti- iniiin object of our policy during the past three years. All Mini il has been uo-sibie tfi do is lo got together a scratch Cabin-t. e .itiipos.'U of men possessing no real political weight, to carry on I lie purely administrative work of 1 1 to coiimry. The ( nil- 1 iuil ionlie- elect ii ni - and the assembly of the new Parliament have had' to be indefinitely postponed, while the' Brili-h authorities have been compelled to take a more active part in the control of public security them was contemplate! would be the case when the protect oral e was abolished. ft is indeed a sad record for the first year ol Egyptia n independence, and il does not augur well lor Ihe future. In this we uiilort unately must In-ar some blame, due iiu inlv to our sincere desire lo see our hopes of a self-govern-ing Egypt realised al an early date. AW are really nt; fault because we have not been firm. Time rend time again eve have consented to di-ctis Ihe possibility of an attenuation of the conditions outlined by ns as a necessary precedent for the negotiation or the trentv foreshadowed in our

dcclnrat it.-n of February 2-fih, 1922. AW- ought to have realised that our intention- would l>e misunderstood and that our sympathetic and conciliatory attitude would merely act us till incentive to the opposition to a - k for more. We should have seized the abundant oppnUmitics which presented themselves for realeasing Zaghlul Pasha. whose detention at Gibraltar isrecognised a- a mistake, instead of listening to the counsels of certain Egyptians, who misled us into thinking that by keeping the Nationalist leader there under control lhey would bo able to deliver ihe goods we wanted. AA'e should have brought pressure to bear on the King, who, alter all. owed bis throne to us. and have com pel led him to rea-c his intrigues, which merely encouraged the extremist- in tlit-ir mad tactics. AA'e have made all these mi-take- because we wore actuated bv our -inci-re de-ire to leave the Egyptian- in-c to carry "til the important work that lav before them, and beeau-e wo thought that by refraining front interfering we should more quickly attain the end so desirable in both their and our own interest-. AA'e have at last, if one may so interpret the statement- made in the House of Commons, reali-ed the c-rro,-I of our ways, and there is every indication that from now onwards we shall, in our relations with the Egyptians, show that firmness to which they, as history has shown, s ; , readily re-ppnd, and the absence of which, as we have seen in our dealings with the Turks, invariably creates for us much unnecessary trouble. AN INCENIOFS INSTRUMENT. At an exhibition organised by the Cairo Scientific Society, a most wonderful water-level recorder was shown the other day. This recorder consists of an ordinary float arrangement for recording the water level, to which a gramophone is connected up. The gramophone record is specially made for use with the particular instrument for which it is required. For instance, supposing the level recorder registers variations in level between fifty and seventy-five centimetres above a cer-

tain point, the record, which is originally made, of Course, by a man’s voice, will when played call out the numbers between fifty and seventy-five. The float and the tone arm of the gramophone are connected up, so that, when the tloal is showing sixty the needle of the gramaphone is exactly over the part of the record which, as soon as it is brought into contact with the needle will call out, "Sixty, sixty, sixty, For as long as the contact is maintained. The machine is connected up in the o>dinary way to the telephone circuit, and litis a number like a human sub■"(•riber.

Anyone wanting to know the water level at any point, equipped with one i of those recorders, c-alls up the maeli- ] itie’s number mi the telephone. Asoon as the exchange lias made the nuuiieetion the gramophone record begins to revolve. Ihe needle automatiettlly descends on it when a sufficient -peed has been obtained, and directly contact has been made the inquirer hears the level-number called out to hint down the telephone by the mac ino. It is a wonderfully ingenious machine, and has given mtieli satisfaction at the Delta Barrage, just 21) milenorth of Cairo on the Nile, where considerable saving in labour lias been ell'eeted bv it. EGYPTOLOGY AND THE E.MPTRI-. The discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamen at l.itxor has amused considerable interest in the history of the period to which he belonged. Mis dynasty, the eighteenth, reigned hot!) at Thebes I,uxor) and nt Tel El Almira (one hundred ami fifty milenorth of I,uxor) between the years B.C. 13*0 and The founder ol the dynasty, Amenhoteb 17., wlm held swav at Thebes, got tired of the wor-

ship of Aiin ,ll and embraced the faith of Atoll (the Mill's disc), lie changed his name to Akhenaton, and seeking somewhere where this new religion could he practised free from iiitcricrenee liy the priest - of Am-m lie ftiunned a new city <w 1 >i> 1 1 in- called \khetatnn) on the site which is 'Sow known as Tel El Amarna. Subsequently his successor. King Tutankhamen, reverti-d lo ihe wer-iiip of Auimi and ret timed to Tltehes. Ills tomb fi.ts thrown ten amount ol fresh light on (In-hiila-rto obscure period of tin! l*th dviia-ty, ptirt icidarly ill regard lo art and industry, bill a great deal more remain- to he learnt ami I’lirthei excavations at Tltehes and Tel El Amarna should produce much valuable infor'iiation with regard lo this wonderful period of Ancient Egypt ian history, when art, industry, and general knowledge were al their zenith.

*• While I.onl Carnarvon In-Id the concession for excavation in the Valley of the Kings at Tltehes. Tel El Amarna was conceded to the Egypt Exploration Society, which in the pa-l hits done an enormous atnonni of valuable wmk. but owing to lark of fluids evils i-iiiii-P'-lh-d to suspend operations two years ago. There is now a hope ilea* il will he able to resume work next -easott. lor. a- a result of the intere-t awakened ill Egyptologist matter- by the linding o! the tomb of King Tutankhamen several -iih-tanlia! emit rilml nuts to in lUihK have been received.