33 787 The military proclamations of 1915, prohibiting the sale of spurious alcoholic liquors, remained in force, and further contraventions were bronght to light by means of chemical analysis. Other work, which also had as its object the suppression of this illicit trade, consisted in the examination of essences and' extracts imported with a view to the manufacture of spurious liquors by compounding them with plain spirits. .

The technical consultations, in which the advice of the Government Analytical Laboratory was sought, were largely connected with questions arising in the Public Security Department of the Ministry of the Interior, and in many cases the work involved was of a nature similar to the inspection of factories where chemical processes were conducted, and stores of chemical products. Thus an extended enquiry was made at Suez into the origin of a serious fire at the Petroleum Eefinery of thoAnglo-Egyptian Oilfields Company (Limited), and several reports were presented relating to the question of fire risks arising from the loading and discharging of petroleum spirit, kerosene and crude petroleum at Suez Basin.

Several private firms submitted questions regarding their processes of manufacture, and the desired assistance was usually given, especially where encouragement appeared desirable, as in tlie case of small Egyptian industries with limited technical resources.

ximong experimental researches a high degree of development has been reached in petroleum research. Under the direction of a chemist with highly specialised knowledge and experience, the crude petroleum oils of the fields at Hurghada and Gemsa on the Red Sea have been systematically studied with a view to determining the best methods of producing from them petroleum spirit, kerosene, fuel oil, “ mazout,” and pitch. In spite of the unpromising nature of the oil, the research carried out at the Government Analytical Laboratory has resulted- in the evolution of a process for making excellent qualities of all these products, and, if necessary, lubricating oil and paraffin wax in addition.

The work has reached such a stage that trials of the refining process arc being made on a semi-manufacturing scale, and it is believed that the time is in sight when the Egyptian Government will be able, without outside assistance, to produce from indigenous crude oil all the petroleum products of which it requires supplies.

At the Assay Office in Cairo, and the provincial offices in Alexandria, Tanta, and Beiii-Souef, the amount of gold and silver wares submitted for assay and hallmarking during the financial year ending the 31st March, 1919, was the largest yet recorded. Taking the standard values as a basis (instead of the inflated values actually obtaining, it is found that the gold and silver handled was worth £E. 2,200,000. In view of the habit of the Egyptians of investing a great portion of their savings in the purchase of jewellery, this figure provides a fair indication of national prosperity. The gross revenue from assay dues during the last financial year was £E. 31,719. The number of inspections of establishments of goldsmiths and silversmiths was 420, and out of 50 prosecutions brought to a conclusion 46 resulted in conviction.

14. Statistical Department.

Apart from the preparation of the Statistical year-Book, the Monthly Agricultural Statistics and the Weekly and Annual Returns of Births and Deaths, the Statistical Department has been chiefly engaged in the collection of a great variety of statistics demanded by various Government departments and commissions, and by the compilation of the results of the general census taken in March 1917.

The tabulation of the results of the census is now practically complete; a preliminary report is now in the press and will be issued in 1920. It is expected that the final report will be issued to me public during the first half of 1921.

It is gratifying to record that the population showed on the occasion of this census greater confidence than before, and greater willingness to reply to the enumerator’s questions.

The total population of the country amounted to 12,750,918 persons against 11,287,359 in 1907, with an increase of 12-9 per cent, as compared to 14-9 per cent, for the decade 1897-1907.

Out of the above total population in 1917 238,661 were foreigners, but owing to war conditions this figure does not represent the normal foreign population. This does not, however, seriously affect the value of the general results, for the foreign [3437 y—2] - E House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.