30 40. Mosquitoes and Malaria.

The antirinosquito movement in Cairo was first started in 1902, the measures adopted consisting in oiling cesspools, wiring ventilators, putting fish into ornamental waters, and removing stagnant water. These measures have met with a certain amount of success, though not sufficient to permit the disuse of mosquito curtains; in fact, so long as excaA'ations and low-l\ ing spots e.'cist which contain infiltration water during high Nile, mosquitoes will continue to breed in Cairo. No doubt the steps now taken are efficacious within certain limited areas, but a much more effective cure will be the completion of the drainage scheme. In Port Said the anti-mosquito campaign has been carried on in more favourable circumstances, and has, owing to the compact area of the town and the absence of infiltration, resulted in a distinct improvement in the conditions of life.

There has been some misunderstanding as to the object of the measures taken in these two towns, and it appears to have been supposed that they were intended to combat malaria. This is an error. The anopheles mosquito, the species which carries malaria, breeds in fresh and slightly saline water, and is but rarely found in Cairo and Port Said. Indeed, the destruction of the urban mosquito has about as much to do with the suppression of malaria as with the suppression of tuberculosis. In Suez and Ismailieh, on the other hand, true malaria existed, and the measures taken in those towns to stamp out the anopheles mosquito have, as is \vell known, produced great improvement in the public hecdth.

VIII. JUSTICE.

41. Native Tribunals.

(a.) Criminal Jurisdiction.—The number of offences in those in 1908, is given in the following table:— Crimes Misdemeanours— Parquet .. Markaz Contraventions— Parquet Markaz Total 1909, as compared with 1908. 1809.

3,655 3,828 32,905 33,230 33,230 37,253 9,968 8,632 69,405 74,264 149,163 157,207 It will be observed that in 1909 minor offences, w'hich comprise contraventions dealt with by the Parquet as well as all Markaz cases, show an increase of 7,546 over the corresponding total in 1908. It is probable that, as regards misdemeanours dealt with in the Markaz, the increase is due. to greater activity on the part of Markaz officers in availing themselves of the extended jurisdiction in such cases. However that may be, the increase is in no way serious, and the total of minor offences last year is still far below that of 1905, when, -without the e.xtended jurisdiction, it reached 161,845.

Serious misdemeanours, namely those dealt Avith by the Pai’quet, rose in 1908 to .32,905, and again in 1909 to 33,230, being an increase of 325. The following are the figures for the more important offences during the last three years :— .■Tbeft.(Article 274) „ (Article 275) _ Forj?ery (Article 183) Obtaining by false pretences (Article 293) Misappropriation (Articles 294-299) Cattle poisoning (Articles 310, 312) Destruction of crops (Article 321) 1909;-12.642 3,058 ' 430 598 1,458 305 3,172 House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.