24 fore, throughout the prellnilnary negotiations insisted on this point. A draft agreement has been prepared and approved by the Ministry of Finance.

Whether the new arrangement is destined to stimulate the transit ti'ade at Port Said, or whether traders have not already been enjoying a sufficiently large measure of freedom from Customs control at that port is perhaps open to doubt, but should the free zone prove an unquestionable success it inight be. advisable to consider the question of isolating a portion of Alexandria harbour for the same purpose.

Statistics.

Beginning with January 1919, the monthly statement of Egyptian foreign trade has been presented in much greater detail than formerly. The classification of the various kinds of merchandise has been, especially as concerns manufactured articles, almost entirely recast and the number of headings increased from 320 to 650. The gj-eat increase in the sub-division has naturally made it difficult in many cases to compare the figures for 1919 with those for preceding years, and to mitigate this inconvenience there has been inserted in the monthly statements for 1919 a reference table to facilitate comparison.

The annual statement for 1919 has not yet appeared, but it will be based on the classification adopted in the monthly statements, with additional tables showing the trade of each port, and other information which, it is hoped, will increase its usefulness both to traders and to statisticians.

9. State Domains.

It will be remembered that this Administration was formed in 1913 at the time of the extinction of the Domains Debt of £E. 8,500,000, raised in 1878 on the security of the estates ceded under pressure by the Khedive Ismail Pasha. By gradual sales the area of those estates, which originally consisted of nearly 426,000 feddans, had iDeeii reduced by 1913 to a little over 142,000 feddans, which then reverted to the Government. The management of these properties, together with that of about 1 million feddans of unmoi’tgaged state properties scattered through the country, was vested in the new State Domains Administration, of which Mr. J. Langley was appointed Director-General. On his appointment as Under-Secretary of State for Agriculture in November 1916 Mr. Langley was succeeded by Mr. H. M. Anthony, the present Director-General.

The area of rural properties in charge of this Administration on the 31st March, 1920, was 1,570,232 feddans. This figure does not include unsurveyed desert lands, alluvial islands in the Nile channel, the large coastal lakes used as fishing zones or land applied to purposes of public utility of any kind. In addition to these extensive rural properties the Administration had on its books at the same date 46,305,000 square metres of urban property, of which 8,030,400 are situated in the city of Cairo, 9J44,000 in Alexandria and 28,305,000 in other towns. Of the 1,570,232 feddans of rural property, 33,270 feddans (including estate labourers allotments) are farmed by the Administration, while 264,760 feddans are given on lease. No less than 1,272,202 feddans remain unexploited.

At first sight this seems an excessive proportion, but it should not be forgotten that by far the greater portion of this area consists either of high-lying land on the edge of the desert, the irrigation of which is not at present economically possible, or of low-lying deltaic salt lands, often waterlogged during part of the year, and requiring both drainage and irrigation works. The reclamation and development of these extensive areas of derelict land on sound economic lines in such a manner as to provide an outlet for the rapidly-increasing surplus population and to extend the cotton-growing area of Egypt, is one of the most interesting and important problems confronting the Government, and is at present engaging its careful attention.

The receipts and expenditure of the Administration since the publication of the last report have been as follows :— House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.