34 population represented in 1907 only 2-5 per cent, of the total pppulation of the country.

The most important feature of the last census was the adoption of the Hollerith system for the tabulation of the results. This system has already been applied to the compilation of vital statistics, and has produced quicker and more detailed returns. Its employment for other statistical purposes is under consideration.

The natural expansion of statistical enquiries, the transfer of the vital statistics from the Public Health Department, the constitution of the Hollerith Machine Section, and of a permanent Census Office to prepare the ground for the next census have caused the increase of the Department’s staff from fifteen officials of the lower grades in 1914 to fifty-five in 1919, the senior staff having been reduced during this interval from four to two.

II.—AGRICULTURE.

15. General. The development of the Ministry of Agriculture, the creation of which was recorded in the last report on Egypt by His Majesty’s agent and consul-general, was interrupted at an early stage by the outbreak of war. Not only did it become impossible to increase the somewhat scanty staff, but a number of trie existing officials of the Ministry joined the army, and work has consequently been confined to narrower limits than had been foreseen. But notwithstanding the shortage of personnel, and the diversion during the years 1916 to 1918 of a part of the Ministry’s activities to the procuring of large supplies of dried clover, barley, onions and potatoes for the army, a creditle amount of useful work has been accomplished.

The period under review has been remarkable for an extreme variation in the price of cotton. This commodity, which in the autumn of 1914 became for a time almost unsaleable, had reached an unprecedented price by 1916, and had again considerably more than doubled its value by the end of 1919. Very great wealth has flowed into the hands of landowners, both large and small, and ordinary cottongrowing land has reached a price as high as £E. 700 an acre. The cultivation of cereals has consequently diminished, and in many instances wheat sown for the 1920 crop was rooted up or allowed to be grazed by cattle, and cotton planted in its place; the coming crops of wheat and other cereals will be dangerously small.

The following table shows the area under the principal crops during the past six years with the approximate yields. It should be noted that in order to increase the local production of cereals the land placed under cotton in the years 1915 and 1918 was restricted to 33 per cent, of the perennially cultivated areas. In 1915 the restrictions were effectively enforced, but in 1918, under the incentive of the high price of cotton, they were to some extent evaded:— 1914.

Crop.

Cotton Wheat Barley Rice Maize Millet Sugar cane Area in Feddans.

Total Yield in Thousands.

Average Yield per Feddan.

1,755,270 1,253,221 383,342 42,540 1,819,811 284,926 48,209 Kantars.

6,450 31,184 Ardebs.

5,960 2,010 152 13,026 2,300 Kantars.

67 47 Ardebs.

4-5-3-59 7-10 8*07 1915.

Cotton Wheat Barley Rice Maize Millet Sugar cane 1,186,004 1,533,801 445,643 319,573 1,776,528 274,570 52,181 4,774 33,568 7,102 2,482 1,385 13,162 2,268 4*03 6-43 ■63 ■57 ■34 ■41 8-26 6-43 House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.