44 Abbassia, Zagazig, Port Said, Suez and Damanhur. Preparations were also made to extend the lunatic asylum at Khanka, and I am glad to be able to record that preliminary work has at last been begun for the construction of a new hospital in Cairo to replace the old Kasr-el-Aini Hospital, which is structurally in a bad condition, no longer provides sufficient accommodation, and has been the object of criticism by successive delegates of the Poyal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons.

24. Main Drainage Department.

The principal works of the Cairo main drainage system were practically completed in 1914; they included the main collector, the ]3urification yorks, the sewage farm, the main pumping station, the compressed air station and sixty-three ejectors. The sewer reticulation remained to be done. The system was opened by tile Minister of Public Works in March 1915, and sewer reticulation was actively proceeded with during this and the succeeding years in .spite of difficulties caused by infiltration from the high Nile of 1916. In 1917 thirty-eight ejector stations were in operation, disposing of some 14,000 cubic metres of sewage a day, and of approximately double this amount during the period of the flood. Plouse connection with the sewers proceeded steadily under the supervision of the Department. At the sewage farm the hydrolitic tanks were by this time in constant operation, and were found to give a very satisfactory eflluent for final purification on the farm, but the high cost of fuel has considerably limited the working of the filters. The crops produced on the sewage farm, which are largely vegetables, have increased rapidly from year to year, until in 1919 the farm yielded the excellent profit of £E. 22,000. In this year 22 kilom. of new sewers were laid, and house connection continued to progress.

The Port Said drainage works were completed in 1916. Begun under contract, these worlds were taken over in April 1915, and carried on thereafter, by the Main Drainage Department. It is satisfactory to note that they were accomplished with a considerable saving upon the estimated contract price.

Designs were prepared in 1914 for the drainage of Mansura, and works at Tanta had already been partially completed, but it was found necessary to suspend both schemes in the following year. In 1919, however, the Mansura scheme was revived, and a project was also prepared for the drainage of Suez.

The Department has carried out various works with a view to combating the recent increase of malaria in Egypt, according to the recommendations of a committee appointed to advise on this important subject: two experimental flood drainage systems were installed in the Gezira suburbs of Cairo, the low-lying quarters of the town itself were drained into the main system, and a method was devised of drawing off the subsoil water in gullies before it reached the surface; certain marshes in the Suez Canal zone were drained with the same object.

25. Cairo City Service.

With no very large undertakings in active progress, there is little in the record of this Department to distinguish one year of the war from another. All larger town-planning and other schemes for the amelioration of the City of Cairo and the , extension of its amenities were abandoned, tire construction of new roads was reduced to a minimum, street lighting curtailed, and road maintenance limited to what was possible when the greater number of steam-rollers w-ere absent, and materials, laboui* and transport scarce. Road surfaces, owing to enforced neglect, have greatly deteriorated, and several years must elapse before they can be brought up to their pre-war standard. The new and extensive use of motor-lorries has hastened the wear of the roads very considerably, and in future it will be necessary to lay the foundations of main roads more deeply.

The sudden decay of vast number's of lebbekh trees in Cairo and the neighbourhood led to a decision to plant other species of trees, and with the aid of the experts of the Ministry of Agriculture and a special Committee about twenty different species have been tried. Apart from the replanting of gaps in existing avenues, over 4,000 new tree-s were planted in various streets. The total garden area of the town has been increased during the war period by some 66,000 square metres, mainly by the partial construction of the Daher Mosque and Boulac Gardens. The latter is in the hpart of a congested quarter, and constitutes a valuable lung for the whole House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.