EGYPT’S NEW OUTLOOK

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 751, 26 August 1929, Page 14

EGYPT’S NEW OUTLOOK

MAHMOUD’S SUCCESS MARCH OF DEMOCRACY It is just over a year since Mohammed Mahmoud Pasha took up the reins of government in Egypt, and the Egyptian Prime Minister has just completed negotiations in London for a new treaty with Britain. He has a remarkable year’s work to his credit. Although Egypt nominally enjoyed Parliamentary government prior to June, 1925, the country was in reality under the control of a small group of irresponsible politicians who called themselves the “Executive Committee of the Wafd.” Political life, to which the administration had become subordinated, had become thoroughly corrupt, and political agitation had become the undoing of politicians and students alike. Indeed, the whole machinery of government was so hopelessly out of order that it was necessary to contemplate a complete reconstruction with entirely new material, writes Major-General Polsou Newman in the “Sunday Times.” Mahmoud Pasha has several main objects in view', which he has described to me in a conversation on his present policy. First, he is determined to crush the class of professional politicians who enter political life solely in order to line their pockets. Secondly, he is concentrating his attention on the interests of the fellaheen and the w’orkers in the towns; and, thirdly, he intends to prepare the way for a return to constitutional government as soon as the country is fit for it. The Prime Minister is not a dictator in the ordinary sense of the word, and is, in fact, far less autocratic than the Wafd leaders who preceded him. He is a strong believer in democracy, and he is there to guide Egypt to an enlightened form of government on sound democratic lines, free from the serious shortcomings that have characterised previous Egyptian Governments. ORDERLY ADMINISTRATION The Wafd is no longer allowed to interfere in public affairs, while Governors of Provinces and Police Commandants have been warned that they are responsible only to the Government, to whom they will have to account for the use made of their extended powers. The student class has been dissociated from politics, w r ith the result that Egyptian youths are already showing more application to their studies. Laws have been passed for the discipline of lawyers, crime has decreased, and public security is on a better footing. Mahmoud Pasha is of opinion that the majority of Egyptians have had enough of the disordered conditions which have prevailed for several years, and he knows the Wafd well enough to foresee the result of a strong policy carried out by one who is not deterred by threats. He, therefore, has aimed at the return of Egyptian national life to its normal course, and the re-establishment of Government prestige, without which it would be impossible to carry out his programme of reforms. Already a great deal has been done to root out the existing evils, and the authority of the Government has been established without resort to severe measures or restriction on personal liberty. Even the strongest opponents of the Government are free to hold their meetings and to attack the present regime, while the Government can only be charged with the suppression of two newspapers after a threefold warning in each case. The Government will devote special efforts to the question of water, which, from two points of view, is of special importance to Egypt; first, on account of the necessity for extending irrigation in accordance with the increase of the population; and seconly, because provision must be made for a wide distribution of drinking water to reduce as far as possible the diseases caused by water pollution. This latter question is being dealt with by a commission, which is also studying the best means of drying up swamps and the improvement of workmen’s dwellings. The plan is to introduce drinking water into country districts near towns which already possess a system of distribution and modern filtration, and it is calculated that with the present plant water can be provided for nearly a million villagers at a comparatively moderate cost. By this means it is hoped that the greater part of the contagious diseases and epidemics of Egypt will be eradicated. HOSPITAL BUILDING For workmen’s dwellings the commission has chosen three quarters in Cairo with poor populations where there is empty space for modern houses; and here it is intended to erect accommodation for the poorer classes on up-to-date lines, at the rate of so many houses each year. In the matter of hospitals the Government has undertaken to rectify what has for many years been one of the most backward departments in Egypt, and has arranged for the immediate building of 150 hospitals, of which 50 will be in the more important centres of the districts and 100 in the villages. The latter will be provided with motor ambulances to facilitate the transport of patients and to ensure rapid treatment for those unable to walk. By this means it is hoped to avert the dangers resulting from diseases requiring immediate attention, such as ophthalmia and diphtheria, and to provide an opportunity for the patients to learn the principles of hygiene. The total cost of this project is estimated at £ E 1,047,500, while the Council of Ministers has approved the expenditure of £E176,000 for the building of thirty hospitals during the current year. As the small peasant proprietor forms the foundation of Egypt’s wealth, the Government has considered itself bound to consolidate that position by dividing up the State domains among small proprietors. It has, therefore, allotted the domain of Fayoum, an area of about 2,000 acres, in small parcels of acres each for distribution to the inhabitants of the district who have no property at all, or possess ten acres or less. The peasants will purchase these parcels of land by paying one-tenth of the price in cash, the balance being extended over a period of not less than lo years. This system will be made general in all other localities where the Egyptian Government owns land its policy being to develop the pros perity of the people by coming to the aid of those who possess little or no land. But perhaps the most significant feature of Manmoud Pasha’s policy is that he has behind him the great mass of the Egyptian people, and is bringing enlightenment as well as material prosperity to those who have hitherto been the victims of misrepresentation and political imposture.