Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/373

 1899.] Africa, — Egypt — Finances. [365

diture. A saving of 93,000/. was effected by reducing the authorised railway expenditure and by the abolition of the salt monopoly, which had been transferred to a private company with promising results for the revenue in future. The receipts from the Ministry of Justice were estimated to increase by 84,000/., and the increasing yield of the cotton crop and the new assessment of the land held out hopes of substantial profit. The total estimated revenue for 1900 was 10,640,000/., as com- pared with an actual revenue of 11,632,000/. in 1898, and a revenue of something like 11,500,000 in 1899. The Soudan Budget, which estimated its receipts at 162,000/. only, and which of course had a heavy expenditure both civil and mili- tary to face, came out with a deficit of 427,000/. But, on the other hand, the General Reserve Fund showed a balance of 1,700,000/., even after deducting all the advances granted to the Government by the Caisse de la Dette ; and the fund in the hands of the Caisse de la Dette arising from economies realised by the conversion of the Privileged Debt and of the Daira and Domain Loans amounted at the end of the year to well over 4,000,000/. Mr. J. L. Gorst, the Financial Adviser, was there- fore justified in speaking hopefully of the resources of the country, and in pointing out the increasing opportunities of its industrial development in future.

At the same time judicial reform made steady if slow progress during the year. The experiment of conferring on the village authorities a civil jurisdiction in petty disputes remained, no doubt, an experiment still, but it tended to diminish the heavy arrears of the summary tribunals. The reduction of legal costs in the native courts led to a considerable increase both in their work and in their receipts. The unsatisfactory condition of the religious courts and their marked disinclination to deal thoroughly with the cases brought before them, led to a deter- mined effort on the part of the Government to get these courts reformed ; and in spite of the stubborn opposition of the Grand Mufti certain changes were effected and certain inquiries set on foot, which would, it was hoped, ere long secure for these courts the reconstruction and reforms which they urgently required. The problem of the reorganisation of the Mixed Tribunals gave rise again to no little discussion, the Government showing, as before, a great desire to conciliate the opponents of reform, while urging on the Powers the desirability of modifying and enlarging the jurisdiction of the Tribunals, and, in particular, of granting them penal jurisdiction in cases of fraudulent bankruptcy. But the Powers, as usual, proved to a large extent selfishly indifferent to reform. Meanwhile a temporary additional chamber was formed of judges detached from Alexandria and Mansurah, to enable the Mixed Tribunal of Cairo to dispose of its formidable arrears. Of course in many judicial matters the end of the year found a good deal still to deprecate and to deplore. But it must not be forgotten that, though progress was difficult, progress in