16 the latter will co-ordinate the purchase of Government supplies; all supplies of a similar nature will be bought through the department which is most competent, and it is hoped that considea'able economies will thus be effected. The duties of the Controller of Printing have been extended to include control over all Government printing executed in Egypt, an arrangement which will economise labour and material.

The previously divided control of fisheries has been amalgamated under the Coastguards Administration, with satisfactory results.

A new departure, which ought to prove of material benefit to the country, has been the recent creation of a Bureau of Commerce and Industry. The formation of such a bureau was recommended in 1918 by a commission appointed to inquire into the development of Egyptian commerce and industry, and it will be the means of carrying out other useful recommendations of the commission. The more important attributions of the bureau will be the collection of information and statistics concerning Egyptian trade and industries, the exhibition of samples of Egyptian products and manufactures, the registration of imporrs and exporters, the encouragement of Egyptian industries, the collection of trade catalogues for public reference, and probably the organisation of exhibitions in Cairo and Alexandria and of Egyptian sections in exhimtions abroad.

7. Direct Taxes.

The varyino' prosperity of Egypt during the war was reflected in the experience of the Direct Taxes Department. Owing principally to the fall in the price of cotton to under 10 dollars a kantar, great difficulties were encountered in collecting the land tax in 1914-15. The difficulties were increased by the fact that there was a tendency on the part of the Mudiria authorities to have quick recourse to seizure in default of payment: the number of seizures rose from 16,707 in 1913 to 41,996 in 1914-15, and 51,146 in 1915-16, The land tax collected in 1914-15 amounted to £E. 4,896,130, or £E, 83,870 less than the budgetary estimate. From the financial year 1916-17 the situation rapidly changed; collections became comparatively easy, and in 1918-19 the land tax collected amounted to £E. 5,253,268, or £E. 9,368 in excess of the budgetary estimate. The number of seizures effected in the same year was 9,422. It is worthy of mention, as evidence of the increased prosperity of the small fellaheen, that the instalment of debt due to the Agricultural Bank amounted in 1918-19 to £E. 576,500 only, as against £E. 1,392,000 in 1913.

In addition to the collection of the land and house taxes and the rents of Government lands, the Direct Taxes Department has been charged since 1915 with the collection of the purchase money for cotton seed supplied to cultivators by the Ministry of Agriculture for sowing, and since 1917 with the collection of the Ghafir Cess, which had hitherto been effected by the Ministry of the Interior.

In 1914, as a result of the low flood of the previous year, £E. 251,000 of land tax were remitted on an area of some 432,000 feddans. The measuring and assessment of this large area in a limited time was a work of considerable magnitude. The department has also successfully accomplished, with a reduced staff, a variety of additional work arising out of war conditions and the demands of the military authorities.

The following table shows the collection returns of the Direct Taxes Department for the financial year 1918-19 :— Land and date tax— Budget estimate Actual revenue to be collected Collected Arrears Excess over Budget House tax— Budget estimate Actual revenue to IDO collected Collected Arrears Excess over Budget £E. 5,573 £E. 9,368 £E. 32,483 £E. 11,475 £E. 5,243,900 5,258,841 5,253,268 336,000 379,958 347,475 House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.