20 14. Animals and Cattle Plague.

It is A’ery satisfactory to note that there has been a great diminution in cattle plague during the past year as compared with 1908. In the latter year 8,355 deaths were recorded,.a figure which has now fallen to 1,998. This result is largely due to the greater interest displayed by the provincial authorities in enforcing the application of restrictive measures, though it is unfortunately still the case that in some districts the law is evaded by cattle dealers and butchers who can make considerable profit out of the sale of infected cattle and meat. During the last two 3ears the loss from cattle plague throughout the whole country was about *56 per cent, and *14 per cent, respectively of the total number of animals.

The yearl)’’ census of farm animals gave the following result in 1908 and 1909 Cattle. Buffaloes 1908 ‘ 737,732 750,.548 1903 725,116 728,284 The fallinor oft of 12,000 cattle and 22,000 buffaloes in 1909 is due to the fact that the import of cattle from abroad diminished during that year and consequently more animals were slaughtered locally.

Efforts are now being made by the Egyptian and Soudanese authorities to lay the foundations of a cattle and sheep trade between the two countries. In the spring of last year, owing to the scarcity of forage, cattle were very cheap in Egypt, and it hardly paid to bring animals from the Soudan, but during the last six months tlmre was a considerable increase in the import both of sheep and cattle compared with the two preceding half-yearly periods. Soudan sheep seem now to have found a market in Cairo, and 36,QUO were imported during the year as against 28,000 in 1908. The importance of fostering this trade and thus providing an outlet for one of the chief products of the Soudan is clearly recognized on both sides, and measures are under consideration for its future development.

IV. IRRIGATION.

15: The Nile Levels.

Following on the high flood of 1908 the water supply was well maintained throughout the winter and spring, and heavy rain in Abyssinia caused a marked rise of the river in Egypt as early as May. Consequently, for the first time for ten years the available summer supply Avas abundant, and though light rotations were enforced in order to ensure fair distribution, there was at no time a real deficiency of water. Moreover, the real flood began earl}’-, so that the usual difficulty of satisfying the demands of the cultivators in July and early August was entirely absent. The flood itself was well above the average throughout, abundant but not dangerous, and there is at the time of writing every pi’ospect of a good summer supply in 1910. In addition to the good natural flow of the river, the Assouan reservoir contributed its share and enabled a steady level to be maintained throughout the weeks of lowest supply. The filling of the reservoir began at the end of November 1908 and was completed in the last days of the following January; the emptying was carried out during the month of June.

The high flood again necessitated calling out a large number of men on Nile corvee, as will be seen from the following table, which gives the figures for the last three years reduced to the usual hundred days standard 1907. 1908. 1909.

Upper Egypt Lower Egypt,.

Total ..

11,383 769 9,900 18,000 12,273 8,564 12,152 27,900 20,837 House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.