- 8 -The two issues, after reforming the discussion in each separately, I will turn my attention to the chapter "Provincial Councils" in this report, where I have explained the other reasons that make me believe that the Copts' complaint of this kind has no solid basis.

Therefore, I will move immediately to the charge of inequality and injustice in government jobs.

The Coptic newspapers shouted and accused the Egyptian government of injustice and favoritism in appointing employees to its positions. This is evident from the resolutions of the Coptic Conference, where it was requested that competence alone be the basis for appointing government employees or for their promotion. I agree with them that competence or qualification should be the sole criterion and that there should be no discrimination in appointing or promoting government employees based on their religion. However, if other considerations have influenced these appointments in the past, it will appear from what follows that this was not by favoring Muslim candidates, as the statistics indicate that Copts have received far more government jobs than they are entitled to in proportion to the number of Muslim and Coptic employees in the government now, and the proportion of this number to one hundred is shown in the following table.

| Department or Ministry | Muslims | Copts | |---|---|---| | | Number | % | Number | % | | Interior* | 3260 | ... | 3878 | ... | | Public Works | 4346 | ... | 604 | ... | | Justice | 1361 | 22 | 8565 | ... | | Education | 995 | 66 | 93086 | ... | | Finance | 1301 | ... | 5576 | 1034 | | Railways and Telegraphs | 1300 | ... | 48208 | ... | | War | 2700 | ... | 5192 | ... | | Justice | 307 | ... | 69445 | ... | | Total | 9514 | ... | 5468 | 8082 | * The figures include clerks employed in the provinces in financial, administrative, and land affairs, etc. This includes construction, numbering 1877, of whom 1846 are Copts.