361 5. Beserve Fund.

The present situation of the Beserve Fund is as follows:— The balance on January 81,1909, was Add; Keceipts from sales of land (estimated) Eeceipts from interest on investments and miscellaneous receipts £E 7,375’,000 .. 50,000 .. . 335,000 TofcU. .. Deduct payments made in 1909 (estimated) .. • • 7.760.000 2.650.000 Total Add estimated surplus on the Budget of 1909 5,110,000 900,000 Total 6,010,000 Out of this .sum provision of some £E. 229,000 must be made for the depreciation in the value of the securities in which the Fund is invested, leaving an estimated balance unexpended on the 31st December, 1909, of £E. 5,781,000. Of this balance a sum of about £E.-2,133,000 is pledged on account of credits granted, but not yet expended.

The following observations in regard to the present state of the Fund are taken from the Financial Adviser’s note on the budget:— “ Misleading statements have recently been made as to the securities in which the Beserve Fund has been invested. The Beserve Fund has been and is invested exclusively in— “(a.) Egyptian Government securities, or securities guaranteed by the“Egyptiah Government; “(6.) British Government securities, or securities guaranteed by the British Government; “ (c.) Indian Government securities. “ Since the funds in the hands of the Caisse de la Dette were transferred to the Government in accordance with the terms of the decree of the 28th November, 1904, no Egyptian Government bonds have been sold with a view to the investment of the proceeds in other securities. When a portion of the Government’s cash balances was invested in 1906, British and Indian Government securities were bought, to avoid the disadvantages attendant on too. narrow a field of investment.

“ The credits on the Beserve Fund for 1910 are as follows :— Irrigation Drainage of Cairo Railways Ports and Lighthouses .. Soudan (extension of the railway).

* • • • Total £E. 694.000 180.000 400.000 28,000 354.000 1,656,000 “In 1908 the total of the credits granted on the Beserve Fund amounted to £E. 3,680,000 and in 1909 to £E. 3,080,000. As will be seen above, the total of the credits for 1910 is largely reduced. As the unpledged balance of the Fund becomes smaller, the scope of the new works to be undertaken must necessarily be diminished,, however regrettable this may be from the point of view of the country’s development. Irrigation works continue to receive the chief share in the credits granted, but the situation of the Fund has made it necessary to cut down the grants wherever possible.”

In regard to the credit granted for the Soudan, the Financial Adviser makes in his note the following observations, in which I entirely concur :— “ A sum of £E. 354,000 is allotted to the Soudan for the extension of the railway ' south of Khartoum. This railway is being pushed forward for economic and strategic reasons. It is an essential factor in the scheme of development of the country whereby its resources may be so increased as to enable it at an early date * to dispense with the Egyptian subsidy. It is necessary as a measure of insurance against possible disturbances which, if not promptly quelled, might involve very heavy military expenditure.

“ The broad grounds of the financial policy of the Government in the matter of the Soudan were set forth in the Financial Adviser’s note last year. It is satisfactory to observe that this policy is steadily bearing fruit. The revenue of the Soudan for 1910 House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.