EGYPT'S CRY FOR FREEDOM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 28 May 1907, Page 4

EGYPT'S CRY FOR FREEDOM.

The disquieting intelligence report m 1 from Cairo L>y Ule "Express' correspondent that there is a growing popni ir movement in tile land of the l'luraolis against Briti-h rule makes it worth while to consider the immense bencl'ts that England and on? or two great Englishmen have succeeded in bringing to Egypt and the Egyptians. British influence in the country of the

Xil? may be said to have boon predominant since the overthrow of Arabi I h:i in 1882. For inany years the woi-J; of regeneration, undertaken by Lord Cromer and his associates, was made dillicult by the obstruction of the French; Jiut, happily, the entente eordiale has come, and since 1!)04 the French have been by international d ed as well as by tacit goodwill our cooperative friends. Uefore the arrival of the Engisb the Egyptian peasant, 'or "fellah." sull'ered in a very full degree from the usual incidents of Oriental ruie. He was crushed by many ma-ters, and the land of Egypt fainted by reason of Hi-.- oppressor. Mr U. D. Traill tells us: Xew taxes, sometimes of a quite «b surd character, were iu,p::-ed. they imported, "at discretion." When a bridge Wils built the charge was defrayed by taxation, not of the passengers t'j whom it was an obstruction. All Egyptian* who were lint landowners iiad to

pay the tax on professions, whether they practised one or not. becuise they might adopt a profession if thev liked. . . . Egyptians, again, were for-

bidden to own scale=, lest they should evade tile weighing-tax; while the salttax, which was nominally levied according to population, was, in f.ict, collected on a system which in England would have resulted in "Old Sarum" paying a salt-tax on the consumption of live, hundred houses. Finally . . . . all their taxes were levied by "moral pressure," a form of suasion which they ascertained from other evidence, to mean the threat of torture. CRUEL SYSTEM.

With, this picture of the tax-farmer ridden population conies a companion viguette by Lord Milner: It was not the amount of taxation, crushing as in many cases it was, which did the mischief. It was, above all, the irregular, cruel, and arbitrary manner in which the taxes were collected. The fellah was seldom sure of the amount which would be demanded of him. lie was never sure of the moment when the demand would be made. That moment might, as likely as not, be the very one at which he was least able to pay. Called upon to find ready money while his crops were still in the ground, lie was simply driven into the arms of the money-len-der. His choice lay between so many blows of the kurbash and the acceptance of the usurer's terms, however onerous. Under these circumstances, money was borrowed at as much as 00 per cent, per annum. Worse than that, it was often obtained by the sale of the growing crops, which were estimated for the purpose of the advance at half or less than half their value. This state of things was bad enough, and it was pretty general, but the ruin'of the cultivator was consummated in many instances by positive collusion with the usurer oil the part of corrupt officials. Of the native ruling classes Lord Milner savs:

The native ruling class was vicious and incapable. The country teemed with oflicials, hut few, very few, of them were men. Tyrannous to the weak, they quailed before the slightest threat of lawlessness on the part of the strong. And from strong and weak alike they readily accepted bribes to pervert justice or neglect duty. (.HUSHING THE OPPRESSOR.

The work of regeneration, begun bv LOrd Dutrerin, has been carried through mainly by Lord Cromer, working at one time and another with Lord Milner, Sir Eldon Oorst, and others. Their taskwas slow and disagreeable. It was to reform t' e details of administration, to evolve order out of chaos, to teach native ollicials honesty and efficiency. la other words, England began twenty-fiv:' years ago to break the rod of the oppressor and to bring prosperity to the hind. And the success i>as been extraordinary The annual reporis issued by Lord Cromer arc an amazing record of gojri work.

I The overthrow of the llahdi by Lord Kitchenei destroyed the one outsiilmenace to the safely of the country, and at the siime time opened up a possible field for the immigration of the surplus population of Ihe Lower Xile. Jt me ;• lie incidentally icmiruecl that what Kng lish-directed rule menus for a country may he gathered fro* the fact that shortly after the lapture of Khartoum the leveuue ot th. l Soudan was estimate.' at .18.1)110. and that with a svstem of ei y taxation the revenue was raised (" over ii;i:i a million in s ix years. iMurning to K-.vpt proper, in twcut\• live year-, in spite of the enormous r'dnetions 1:1 taxation the revenue is half as much as again, the imports aud e.i port-* | mi , nif,,.., i;ln iinnijij,,! , Ull | ( j, area of cultivated land has increased Inover a million aires.

BENEFITS achieved. _ It was the peasant, who sude-ed mosr m (he 01.l days, and it is the peas;.'] who has been the subject of Lord Cromer s most assiduous care. With what result ?. Three years ago this was said

The large reductions in the land-tax; the increase 01 productivity arising from the improved system of irrigation--the establishment of the Agricultural Bank and of Post Office Savings Hanks; the' partition of (Government lands, when sold, into small lots; tlie adoption of the system of paying ihe purchase price by annuities; the leniency with wmoh the land-tax has been collected on lands only partially irrigated; the abolition of the octroi duties, which has increased the demand for agricultural produce; the abolition of the dues on thi! navigation of the Nile, ami the reduction of the railway tariff which have enabled the produce to he transported at relatively low rates to the nearest markets; the abolition of the sheep and goat tax, and several other measures which might lie mentioned in special connection with their effect on the agricultural classy, have all tended hi (his direction That these efforts have 1 hcen attended with a certain amount of success I do not doubt. So far as can j be judg.,l. the peasant proprietary class IS not only holding its own. but is ah,, possibly showing a slight tendency to increase.

I'llt, l!Csj)i(p (I,;, |)|'rts|)('|'iiy „f jj |( . country. siikl ile.-pite Hi- suMiUilioii of justice for oppression, the E-yijlim is dissatisfied. He accepts the ' benefits, Mid hates the benefactor. Ami the reason is the uucoii(|ucfalile irritation which the Oriental feels under Occidenta! rule. for the l^ypiians' th< ' bottle cry of Am'lii p as ] m . "Ktf.vpt for tiie Egyptian.." is the motto nf prcsent-d-iy Nationally party, lieferriii;,' in his remarkable book Ihe Crescent, Versus the Cross," " ,st s " < ', ll „ a -itnation, Mr llalil Italia says: "J hey (the people t |„. ti-y), must always resent the injiisiiee <>f the intrusion.'' The resentment in ,)f the r-vptians appears curioi'Kly unjnst and reasonless. hut it Ins am .n s existed. and if is claiiL'erouslr increasing.