98 population, while they had enough to eat, were short of ready money. The settlement of arrears consequent on the previous bad years and the payment of current taxes constituted a heavy strain upon their resources.

Nevertheless, in spite of all these adverse conditions and the cessation of the pajTinent of any subvention by Egypt, it was possible, through the adoption of stringent measures for the reduction of expenditure, to close the accounts without a deficit, and in fact with small surpluses, as shown in the following table :— Year.

1913 19M 1915 Revenue. Expenditure. Surplus.

£E. 1,5(58,352 1,543,549 1,495,227 £E. 1,533,065 1,531,346 1,463,934 £E. 35,2«7 12,203 31,293 It should be mentioned, in connection with these figures, that the expenditure of the Government, which had been growing steadily with the development of the country, and rose from £E. 230,000 in 1899 to £E. 1,533,000 in 1913, had to be curtailed in 1914 and in 1915 to a greater extent than would appear from the above figures. The great rise in the price of labour, coal, and all necessary material constituted a heavy and unavoidable strain on the Budget, and curtailment could only be effected by reductions amongst the staff, the suspension of all promotions and increases of pay in 1915, the cessation of all new works and the retrenchment of ex]5enditure in all directions possibles In 1916 a period of comparative prosperity set in. The rains of the previous, autumn were again abundant, the flood was good and the country practically immune from insect pests. Moreover, the influence of the war, which had such a depressing effect on trade in 1914 and 1915, began to operate in the reverse direction, and a great impetus was given to the export trade of the country through an unprecedented demand for Soudan products. The presence of a large body of British troops in Egypt requiring grain and livestock, the demand created on the Arabian coast for Soudan millet, and in England and Allied and neutral countries for cotton and gum, enabled all these commodities to be disposed of freely to the great advantage of the country as a whole.

These favourable factors continued to operate in 1917 and 1918, and although the rains in 1918 were indifferent and the Nile low, the economic conditions of the country did not suffer any real setbaok in 1919, and the people have been able to dra\v on the wealth accumulated during the p>revious three years.

The following table* of the value of the external trade of the country, exclusive of specie, since 1915 shows the extent of the revival which took place after 1915.

1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 £E. 3,388,617 2,999,740 3,412.556 5,176,983 6,83r,298 8,234,966 7,835;314 The falling off in 1919 is due, as already mentioned, to the decline in the export trade consequent upon the low Nile and the poor rains of the previous autumn, and also the dislocation of communications with Egypt during the disturbances in the spring.

* Ti.e table at the beginning of the section on trade shows how these figures are made up-House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.