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The present Khedive of Egypt has an annual allowance of 90,0007; his father of 40,000l., with 175,000l. more for other indirect members of the family.

Constitution, Government, and Army.

The administration of Egypt is now (January 1885), carried on by native Ministers, subject to the ruling of the Khedive, and under the supervision of England. From 1879 to 1883 two Controllers-General, appointed by France and England, had considerable powers in the direction of the affairs of the country (Khedivial Decree, November 10, 1879). In the summer of 1882, in consequence of a military rebellion—the object of which was supposed to be the abolition by violent means of the Control, and the removal of foreigners generally from positions of influence held by them in Egypt-England intervened, subdued the rising, and restored the authority of the Khedive. In this intervention England was not joined by France, and as a result, on January 18, 1883, the Khedive signed a Decree abolishing the joint control of England and France. In the place of the Control the Khedive, on the recommendation of England, appointed a single European financial adviser, with a consultative voice in the Council of Ministers, and with no power to interfere in matters of internal administration.

The Egyptian Ministry is at present composed of five members, among whom the departmental work is distributed as follows:-1, President Foreign Affairs and Justice; 2, Finance; 3, War, Marine, and Interior; 4, Public Works; 5, Education.

On May 1, 1883, an Organic Law was promulgated by the Khedive creating provincial councils, consisting of members chosen on the principle of universal suffrage by indirect election, to vote extraordinary contributions for local purposes and give advice on local matters; and a Legislative Council of 30 members, 16 of whom are to be chosen on the same principle, and 14 appointed by the Khedive. The function of this Council, whose meetings are not public, are to consider petitions addressed to the Khedive, and to give their views on the budget and other matters, these views being accepted or rejected on the advice of the Council of Ministers, who must give reasons for rejection. It is to be summoned on the 1st of February, April, June, August, October, and December, or at other times, if the Khedive desires it. The delegated members are elected for six years. The Organic Law also creates a General Assembly, consisting of the Ministers, the members of the Legislative Council, and 46 delegate notables chosen by indirect election for certain towns and districts for six years. The Assembly must be convoked every two years at least. Its functions are to vote

new taxes, to give its opinion on any new loan, on public works, on land-taxes, on matters submitted by Government, and to give of its own accord its views on all matters, economic, administrative, or financial. The qualification for a provincial or legislative councillor is to be able to read and write, pay 501. land-tax, and be neither a functionary nor a soldier; for a legislative councillor the tax is reduced to 201. for Alexandria and Cairo, and abolished for the rest of the country. The total number of direct electors out of a population of about 6,800,000 is 903,420, of whom 797,571 form village constituencies, and 105,849 belong to the eight largest

towns.

Egypt Proper is administratively divided into 8 governorships of principal towns, and 14 moudiriehs, or provinces. The governors and the moudirs possess very extensive powers. The moudiriehs are divided into kisms, governed by mamours.

Subsequent to 1882 a body of gendarmerie was formed for the provinces, and a corps of police for the towns of Alexandria and Cairo. On January 1, 1884, a new organisation of police came into force, placing both them and the gaols-hitherto in the hands of the moudirs-under the control of a Director-General attached to the Ministry of the Interior. Also at the end of February 1884 new criminal codes came into operation, taking away all magisterial power from the hands of the moudirs, and placing it in the hands of delegates appointed by a Procureur-General, working under the Minister of Justice. Since that date the authority of the moudirs has been slightly extended, and they are now charged to investigate all complaints, and bring forward the result to the Parquet of the Native Courts. The gendarmerie was reduced at the beginning of 1883 to 5,600 men, but it is proposed to increase it to 7,000 men. Litigation between natives and foreigners is conducted before mixed tribunals, established under the auspices of the European Powers, and possessing very extensive jurisdiction. On January 19, 1884, the Khedive issued a decree prolonging the powers of these mixed courts for a period of five years.

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 Major-General Sir Evelyn Wood, who was given the title of Sirdar. He was assisted by about 20 English officers supplied by the English War Office. The new army consists of two brigades of infantry, each of four battalions; one cavalry regiment, of four squadrons; and four batteries of field artillery, two of six and two of four guns. The total strength, officers and men, is about 5,800. It was proposed to organise a battery of coast artillery and a company of engineers, but this has not yet (January, 1885) been done. In the course of

1883 a camel corps was added, and in 1884 the formation of two new battalions was undertaken, one of Turks and one of Negroes.

Since the rebellion in 1882 an English Army of Occupation has remained in Egypt. Its strength on September 30, 1883, was 6,226, and on the same date in 1884, 10,877, exclusive of the special expeditionary force.

After the war of 1882 a series of reforms were inaugurated under English supervision, and they have resulted in the partial abolition of the courbash, the establishment of new Native tribunals, the reform of the prison system, and an improvement in the administration of Public Works.

Revenue and Expenditure.

On the 5th of April, 1880, the Khedive issued a decree appointing an International Commission of liquidation to examine the financial situation of Egypt, and to draft a law regulating the relations between Egypt and her creditors, and also between the Daira Sanieh and the Daira Khassa and their creditors. That Commission, in concert with the Egyptian Government, estimated the annual income of the country as follows:

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Their estimate of the liabilities of Egypt was:—

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The Commissioners assigned (1) to the service of the Privileged Debt the Railway and Telegraph income and the Port dues of

1 £E. equals £1 Os. 6d.

Alexandria; and (2) to the service of the Unified Stock the Customs Revenues and the taxes of four provinces. The charge for the privileged debt is a fixed annuity, providing interest at 5 per cent., and sinking fund calculated to extinguish the debt by 1941. Should the revenues assigned to Privileged prove insufficient to meet the annuity, the deficit becomes first charged on the revenues assigned to the Unified. The latter debt carries an interest at the rate of 4 per cent. guaranteed by the Government in case the assigned revenues are insufficient. The surplus of the revenues assigned to the Debt goes 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. The financial results since 1880 have been as follows::

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The amount of Debt redeemed in these three years was:

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making a total of £stg. 1,969,000, and reducing the capital thus :

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It will be seen that the net result of the three years is a deficit of about two millions on the Budget assigned to the Government, and a surplus of over a million and a quarter on the Revenues assigned to the Debt. The estimates for 1884 show a deficit on the Govern

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