11 363 7. Domains Administration.

The value of bonds in circulation on the 1st January, 1909, was £E. 797,000 and on the 31st December, 1909, £E. 618,000, £E. 179,000 having been paid off in the course of the year out of surplus revenue and sale of land. The bonds are guaranteed as follows: (l) Annuities due from sales of land already effected £B. 227,000; (2) the excess of revenue over expenditure in 1909, which will be approximately £E. 114,000, as compared with a surplus of £E. 118,000 in 1908 ; and (3) 145,540 feddans of land officially valued at about 2E. 3,157,000.

The following table gives the results of soles of land by auction during the past five vears:— Put up for Sale.

1905 3906 1907 1903 1909 • • « • 4 * Sold.

Feddans.

2,979 1,912 1,560 21 100 Price.

£E. 117,746 93,200 88.668 1,662 7,901 The smallnegS of the amount sold during the last two years is of course due to the financial crisis of 1907.

The Administration cultivates directly 29,000 feddans, and leases the remainder of its land. With a better drainage sj'stem a large proportion of the poorer lands might be made more productive; and new pumping stations for drainage purposes, which should be at work by the end of 1910, are now being erected. In the northern part of the Delta there are some 40,000 feddans of practically uncultivated land, at present only used for pasture, wliich could gradually be brought under cultivation by the execution of suitable irrigation and drainage works. The land is scattered in small plots over a large area and the population is very scanty, but these difficultly could be overcome and in other respects a scheme of this nature would appear financially sound.

The Administration also helps the Government and the Khedivial Agricultural Society by carrying out agricultural experiments on a large scale. A farm of some 15,000 feddans has been devoted to this purpose, and in addition it assies the Society to provide a large supply of selected cotton seed for distribution to cultivators throughout the country. Further, to counteract the recent deterioration of Indian wheat, which had been imported into Egypt in 1897, arrangements are now being made for the purchase of a fresh supply of superior quality which will be available for distribution by the sowing season of 1911. Special attention will ly given to investigating, on a more extended scale than is possible within the limited area administered by the Agricultural Society, new methods of combating the ravages of the cotton and boll worms, and any scheme which promises success will be given a practical trial. The question of the results obtained by employing chemical and other manures in the cultivation of cotton will also be the subject of special study. Exjjeriments for tlie purpose of throwing light on. the effect on the cotton ])lant of subsoil water at varying levels have already been undertaken, and, in connection with the enquiry now proceeaing on the subject of cotton cultivation in Egypt, useful ioformation with I’egard to atmospheric conditions, shedding of bolls, etc., is being obtained.

The following table gives statistics for the last fifteen years of the cotton grown by the Administration:— tm House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.