24 and the tombs of Kalauu Beibars al Haat and Khalil al Ashraf; £E. 1,80Q on the restoration of the White and Red Convents ; and £E. 3,000 oh the mosque of Sultan Hassan.

It is anticipated that the works in connection with the mausoleum of Kalaun will he concluded in the course of the current year, when some £E. 9,500 will have been spent on the restoration of this magnificent monument.

23. Zoological Gardens.

The menagerie contained at the end of 1909, 1,382 specimens, representing 387 species, tlie largest, stock of animals that has so far been maintained at Ghizeli at one time. The most important species exhibited here for the first time are the African buffalo and the Arabian oryx. The collection has also been increased by a large number of specimens from tlie Blue Nile district. The general health of the animals was unusually good last year.

VI. INTERIOR.

24. Public Security.

In recent annual reports, attention has been drawn to the unsatisfactory state of public security in the provinces and to the great difficulties which lie in the way of finding an effectual remedy ; and in my last report I mentioned that measures were under the consideration of the Government for dealing with specially dangerous characters who terrorize the districts in which they reside.

After investigations lasting over many months and consultations het\veen the Ministry of the Interior and the various elements, official and non-official, wdiich could help in throwing light on this difiicult problem, a law dealing with the subject was promulgated in July last. This law was very thoroughly discussed by the Legislat’-e Council, and practically all important amendments which they suggested were accepted by the Government. In view of the exceptional character of this measure, I annex (Annex II, p. 56) an extract from the Judicial Adviser’s report for 1909 summarizing the provisions of the law and giving in detail the reasons for its adoption. Its main feature, and the only part to which attention need be called here, is that, under certain circumstances and with guarantees which are sufficient to prevent abuses being committed in practice, measures, to a certain extent restrictive of liberty, can be applied to professional blackmailers and other dangerous characters without their having necessarily been convicted by a regular tribunal of a definite offence under the Penal Code. The principal justification of this step is the diflSiculty, amounting sometimes to an impossibility, of obtaining convictions in such cases. The European judicial system which has been introduced into t.his countiy depends for its success on the co-opeiation of law-abiding citizens in the repression of crime. In Egypt, as has frequently been pointed out, the mass of the population, partly from fear of vengeance if the accused are acquitted, and partly from a hereditary disinclination to be involved in judicial proceedings, even in the comparatively harmless character of Avitness, are unwilling to give evidence, especially in cases Avhere Avell-known dangerous characters are implicated.

Under these circumstances, the most notorious malefactors frequently escape punishment and are encouraged by this immunity to persevere in their criminal practices.

In vicAV of these considerations, the authorities, both English and Egyptian, Avere of opinion that special measures Avere required to cope with the special difficulties of the situation. At the same time, eA’ery care has been taken that the restrictions necessary for insuring a proper degree of protection to the community in general, do not inAmlve the commission of injustice in individual cases, and that all humanly possible guarantees are afforded against the inclusion of innocent people in the category of “ notoriously dangerous persons.” The commissions Avhich hear these cases, though not judicial tribunals in the strict sense of the term, have, a considerable judicial element in their composition, and this feature equally applies to the revising committee, consisting of the Minister of the Interior as- president, and the President of the Native Court of Appeal and the Procureur-Gdndral as members, before which appeals are heard.

Further, the regulations applied to those AAdio come under the category in question are in themselves as little punitive in character as possible, and are solely directed to House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.