the assigned revenues were insufficient. The surplus of the revenues assigned to the debt was to go to the redemption of the Unified by purchase of stock in the market. In September 1884 a portion of this surplus was appropriated by the Government.

Their estimate of the liabilities of Egypt was :

Government:

Tribute

Moukabalah annuity

150,000

The total floating debt at the end of 1884 was about £E8,000,000. In March 1885 the representatives of Great Britain, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Russia, and Turkey signed a convention according to which they agreed to guarantee a new loan of 9,000,000l. This sum was to provide for the settlement of the floating debt and the Alexandria Indemnities, with a surplus of 1,000,000l. to be applied to irrigation works. The principal stipulations of the convention were:-Rate of interest on the guaranteed loan not to exceed 3 per cent.; its service to be a fixed annuity of 315,000l., which is a first charge on the assigned revenues, and the surplus of the annuity after payment of interest to be used for redemption. The coupons of the other Egyptian loans to be taxed in 1885-86 to the extent of 5 per cent.; this tax to be continued in future years only after inquiry by an international commission; certificates to be given to the holders of the coupons, establishing their right to repayment of the tax should the Government at any future period be in a position to do so; the surplus of revenue over expenditure to be divided between the Government and the sinking fund.

The tax on the coupons was repaid in 1887, and so great had been the improvement in the financial position under the present administration, that not only was it found unnecessary to continue the tax, but it was found possible to establish a reserve fund, which at the present time amounts to nearly £E1,000,000. In the early part of 1888-an arrangement having been come to with the ex-Khedive Ismaïl Pasha and certain members of his family for the commutation of their allocations on the civil list for Domains, and it being considered desirable to redeem pensions in a similar manner-a loan of £E2,300,000 was issued in May 1888 to provide for these commutations by paying off the mortgages on the Domains lands required. A fixed annuity of £E130,000 was assigned for the service of the new 4 per cent. loan, but, as an equivalent sum was economised through the reduction of the civil list and of the pension budget, and the considerable diminution in the interest on the Domains Loan, the annual burden on Egypt was not increased by the new issue; while, as a large sinking fund provides for the rapid extinction of the 4 per cent. loan, a temporary charge has been substituted for a permanent one.

The total debt of Egypt at the end of 1889 stood as follows:

The budgets fixed upon for 1889 and 1890 are set forth in the table below:

The charges upon the Egyptian revenue on account of debts of all descriptions in 1889 are estimated at

The services of the Domains and Daïra are guaranteed by the Domains and Daira estates, which are administered for the bondholders by commissioners; should the revenue of these lands prove insufficient to cover the interest of the loans, the Government has to make good the deficits. The financial results for 1881 and 1883-89 have been as follows:

On September 19, 1882, the whole of the Egyptian army was disbanded by Khedivial decree. In December of the same year the organisation of a new army was entrusted to a British general officer, who was given the title of Sirdar. There are about 60 English officers serving at present in the Egyptian army. The army has a total strength of 9,400.

Since the rebellion in 1882 an English army of occupation has remained in Egypt. Its strength on January 1, 1890, was 3,300, under the command of Major-General the Hon. Sir James Dormer.

Production and Industry.

The total area, land and water, of Egypt is about 8,000,000 feddans (1 feddan= 1.03 acre), and of this 4,963,460 feddans are cultivated. The agricultural population form 61 per cent. of the total.

The Egyptian agricultural year includes three seasons or crops. The leading winter crops, sown in November and harvested in May and June,

are cereal produce of all kinds; the principal summer crops, sown in March and harvested in October and November, are cotton, sugar, and rice; the autumn crops, sown in July and gathered in September and October, are rice, sorgho (a sort of maize), and vegetables generally. In Lower Egypt the irrigation of the land is effected by means of a network of canals tapping the Nile and traversing the Delta in every direction; while in Upper Egypt the basin system of irrigation, i.e. the submersion at high Nile of the land to be cultivated, is adhered to.

The following table refers to the cultivation of cotton :

In 1886, 2,444 villages were occupied in the culture of cotton out of a total of 3,781; in 1889 the number was 2,685.

In the following table the agricultural condition of each of the provinces in Lower and Upper Egypt is indicated:

The total number of date trees which yield fruit or seed is about

3,452,674. Cattle and farm animals, including horses and camels, number 1,668,860.

The following table shows (in feddans) the area of the several crops in 1887 and 1888:

In Lower Egypt the soil yields four crops in three years; in Upper Egypt seven crops in six years.

Commerce.

The exterior commerce of Egypt, comprising imports and exports of all kinds of merchandise, is given at the following figures for five years:

Imports

The movement of specie during the same period has been

Year

The following table shows the value of the commercial intercourse of Egypt with different foreign countries in 1886, 1887, and 1888:-