MODERN EGYPT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 47, 13 July 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

MODERN EGYPT

KITCHENER'S FIRST REPORT.

London, June 1. Lord Kitchener's first report on the finances, administration and condition of Egypt and the Soudan is the more interesting because he is able from persona] knowledge to compare the present conditions with those of two decades ago. The report records steady progress and prosperity.

The 1911 accounts are not finally closed, but a surplus of £E145,000 is anticipated on the ordinary revenue. This sum will be added to the reserve fund. The external commerce of the country, including specie, increased last year by no less than 41 per cent., from 771 to £E3,280,549. How security has been brought about in the Soudan by the British occupation is well shown by Lord Kitchener, who writes:— "When we conquered the Soudan there was hardly a single inhabitant who possessed any money, and, with the exception of the fighting men, the whole population was practically starving. Nothing, I think, strikes one more in revisiting the Soudan to-day than the great increase which has taken place in the individual prosperity of its inhabitants. This increased prosperity, which is the result of careful administration, has been so equally divided throughout the entire population that it is not too much to say that there is now hardly a poor man in the Soudan. ... "The development of the rich products of the country has been carefully fostered, and a golden harvest has thus been brought in, which has remained in the country. It is therefore not surprising that the people are contented, happy and loyal. When expressions of this happiness and contentment are heard, it is satisfactory to feel that they are not merely word painting for the benefit of the rulers of the country, but .are based as the people themselves maintain, on solid facts." Reference is made in the report to the excitement caused by the Italian invasion of Tripoli among the Mohammedan population. "Notwithstanding the mischievous efforts of some of the more irresponsible native newspapers, the people of Egypt have displayed the most praiseworthy self-restraint, and have devoted themselves to quite justifiable and generous efforts to relieve the distress and the suffering caused by the war, ana to the equipment and despatch of Red Crescent hospitals to succour the wounded." Lord Kitchener finds that political feeling in either respects has lately been much calmer, and he proceeds to remark that the future development of the vast mass of the inhabitants of Egypt depends on improved conditions of agriculture. The fellah, he remarks, remains the same as he has always been, "on? of the best and most hard-worked types of humanity." The Assouan dam will be complet- / ed in May (the report is dated April 6),: and Lord Kitchener estimates that the benefits accruing by the increased irrigation of the country will repay the expenditure many times over. The indebtedness of the fellah has always been a source of grave economic anxiety, but the spread of education may teach him to be more careful in his monetary transactions. The Provincial Councils have at present 45,173 boys and 5500 girls in the elementary schools, and 10,000 boys in higher schools. Tn reporting on the affairs of the Soudan, Lord Kitchener deals with the vast field which exists for agricultural development and with its sequel—the question of population. Prior to the Dervish conquest of the country the number of inhabitants amounted to about nine millions, but the fanatical rule of the Malmi and his successor, with the' wars, disease and starvation which it ' brought in its train, reduced this number to considerably under two millions. To-day the population may be estimated at well over three millions. "A rapid and satisfactory increase due to the peaceful conditions now prevailing and the resulting increase in the prosperity of the people. The children born under our rule will themselves shortly become parents. Moreover, from all the surrounding parts of Africa a constant stream of immigrants, attracted by the peaceful and prosperous condition of the Soudan, is entering the country. It appears to me, therefore, justifiable to expect that in the next five years the population will have attained some six millions, and have thus doubled the present total." Tn the section devoted to education the report states that there is probably nothing more remarkable in the social history of Egypt during the last dozen years than the growth of opinion among all classes of Egyptians in favor of the education of their daughters: "The girls' schools belonging to the Ministry of Education are crowded, and to meet the growing demand sites have been acquired and fresh schools are to be constructed, one at Alexandria and two at Cairo. Very many applications for admission have, however, to be refused."