Debt:-Privileged Stock, 1,157,7187.; Unified, 2,263,6867.; total,

3,421,4047

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, 0007. 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 315,0007., 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. ; 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, the tax discontinued, and a reserve fund established, which at the present time amounts to nearly £E3,040,997. 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 43 per cent. loan, but, as an equivalent sum was economized 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. A Khedivial decree was issued on June 6, 1890, with the consent of the Powers, authorizing the conversion of the 5 per cent. Privileged Loan, of the Daira Sanieh Loan, and of the Domains Loan, and the reimbursement of the 4 per cent. Loan of 1888. A new privileged loan was issued in which was included the 5 per cent. Privileged Loan, the 4 per cent. Loan, and a sum of 1,333,3337. to be employed on irrigation works, and in the exchange of pensions for land. This new privileged loan bears interest at 3 per cent., and was issued at 917. per 1007. of capital. A new 4 per cent. Daira Sanieh Loan was issued at par. The capital of the old loan was calculated at 857. for 100. of nominal capital in accordance with the decree of June 6, 1890. The new Domains Loan converted at par, 25th March, 1893, bears interest at 4 per cent. The new loans issued enjoy the same privileges and guarantees as the loans for which they were substituted.

Table showing the amount of the Egyptian debt and the debt charge in January, 1898 :

The budgets fixed upon for 1898- and 1899 are set forth in the table below:

The charges on account of debts of all kinds (including tribute), as shewn in the estimates for 1899, amount to £E4,723,031 or 4,845,8007. sterling.

The final accounts for the year 1897 showed the financial result of the year to be as follows:

At the beginning of the year 1898 the Reserve Funds stood as follows:

The whole of the extraordinary expenditure necessitated by the reconquest of the Sudan was charged against the Special Reserve Fund. In December, 1898, the fund showed a deficit of £E336,000, with outstanding charges amounting to £E330,000.

Defence.

ARMY.

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. The present Sirdar is Major-General Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, K.C.B., K.C.M.G. There are about 100 English officers serving at present in the Egyptian army. The army has a total strength of

18,000.

Since the rebellion in 1882 an English army of occupation has remained in Egypt. Its strength is 5,553. To meet the cost of this army, the Egyptian Government contributes 87,000%, annually.

Egypt has now no efficient warships,

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 5,022,000 was cultivated in 1891. Of the total area cultivated, nearly three-fourths, called Kharaji lands, are, theoretically, held in life tenancy, the State being the ultimate proprietor. The tax (in reality rent) on these lands is unequally imposed, but averages about 22 sh. per feddan. Other lands, nearly one-fourth of the whole are called Ushuri, or tithe-paying. These lands, otherwise called "privileged," were originally granted in fee and are subject to an impost or quit-rent averaging about 7 sh. per feddan. The Wakf lands, originally assigned to mosques for religious or charitable purposes, are let by the mosques at moderate rent; the lease may descend to heirs or be sold, but, on failure of successors, it passes again to the mosque to be again let. In addition to tax or rent, holders of land are subject to charges of about 4 sh. per feddan for the materials necessary for keeping up the irrigation system, and although the corvée, or forced labour, has for other purposes been abolished, the inhabitants are still called out to guard or repair the Nile banks in flood time, and are also liable in any sudden emergency. The agricultural population (Fellaheen) forms about 61 per cent. of the whole. A large proportion of them are small land-holders with about 50 feddans, while others, almost or altogether landless, are labourers, the relation between the employers and the employed being mostly hereditary. A considerable proportion of the land is under mortgage. The following table shows, for 1894, the number of land-holders, the areas mortgaged, and the amount of the debt. Besides the debt here stated there is a certain amount unregistered, due notably by small proprietors :

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 where perennial irrigation is effected by means of a network of canals tapping the Nile and traversing the Delta in every direction, the chief crops are cotton, sugar-cane, rice, Indian corn, wheat, barley, clover, cucumber; in Upper Egypt where

the basin system of irrigation, i.c, submersion at high Nile is generally adhered to, cereals and vegetables are produced, but in summer cotton and sugar-cane are grown in the Fayûm and Ibrahimia canal tracts. Where there is perennial irrigation two or three crops are secured annually; lands irrigated in flood only are under millet, or if low-lying are drained when the flood goes off, and then produce the winter crop of wheat, beans, or clover.

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 1896 the cotton crop amounted to 5,879,479 kantars. In 1897 the sugar crop amounted to 72,918,250 kantars (kantar=99 lbs.).

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