In my report for last year, I stated that the Government is aware of the necessity of improving the drainage system in the country, especially in the low-lying lands in the north of the Delta. The Cotton Committee has also directed its attention, in particular, to the importance of this question in cotton cultivation.

Although it is not possible to carry out a general and free improvement of the existing drainage system, this subject still receives ample attention and care from the Irrigation Department. It has devoted its efforts to improving the present system by developing and modifying the existing canals in a systematic manner. However, it is not expected that a complete solution to a problem that everyone admits to be one of the most complex and difficult will be reached except gradually.

This simple improvement will absorb all the money that the country can spare for this purpose for many years, and there is nothing in the work itself to prevent the adoption of drainage pumping machines if they prove suitable for the purpose.

Here, I should repeat what has been mentioned more than once, which is that landowners can improve their situation by relying on pumping machines for drainage, either individually or by cooperating together, in the same way as is practiced for irrigation in the Lower Egypt.

- Irrigation Works No important work is being undertaken at present, with the exception of the raising of the Aswan Dam, on which work is still in progress, as the available funds for new works have been diverted to the improvement of the drainage system and the many small projects that are urgently needed and are more profitable for the country than large projects, considering their cost. Therefore, it is likely that the Government will not undertake any new large projects in the next few years.

Progress in raising the Aswan Dam has been steady. The original dam has been widened along its entire length, the sluices have been reorganized, their walls have been widened, and the new gates have been installed. Navigation in the sluices was resumed on December 1st, after being stopped for a year, and it is expected that the gap between the old and new dams will be filled with cement.

The project of the protected canals from Qena to Esna has been completed. The benefit of this project was evident during the flood, when it was deemed advisable to keep the regulators of these canals open for 43 days.