THE WEEK.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XIX, Issue 3291, 2 December 1892, Page 2

THE WEEK.

The announcement that the Egyptian budget shows a surplus of half a million pounds is one more urcof of the commercial advantage to Egypt of the British occupation, and though it may be sad it is an argument that British objects have been fulfilled, and that Laving done our work it is time to retire, the need of a guarantee against a relapse into bankruptcy may very well be asked before the British Government releases its hold.

The work done by British ndrainistorsjin Egypt is very remarkable, as will be admitted by anyone who has watched the course of events or who has read a very succinct history of it given some two or three months ago by Mr Justice Scott, legal adviser to the _ Egyptian Government Mr. Justice Scott spoke not as politician, but rather as a judicial observer and the sketch he gave of what has been accomplished in ten years is certainly very instructive as well as interesting In 1882 the Arabi rebellion had destroyed all authority ; anarchy prevailed, there was no army, no police, the public debt was over one . hundred million sterling, taxation could be increased but no ! more revenue could be got, and the taxes that did exist were gathered in true Eastern style, by force of the stick and the whip, while public works were executed by the corvee or forced Jabor of the peasantry, virtually slavery. Administration was corrupt and 3ustice but a name. Jn ten years there has been created a small but efficient army, regularly

paid and contented ; the police is in fair condition ; the revenue has been increased by a million, though a million has been remitted principally to tne agricultural and producing classes, and there is half-a-million surplus; justice is rigidly and fairly administered ; the country has been irrigated magnificently, owing to which the cotton crop has been just doubled ; the corvee has been abolished ; the education of the people has been started on a sound basis, and local self-government has been instituted. Such is the work done. Great Britain has a great record to show, and it is remarkable that, though English skill and knowledge have directed, Frenchmen, Italians and Egyptians have been among the best and ablest subordinate officers. That she will leave Egypt to relapse into thb old state is not likely.

The Panama Canal Company revelations in France promise spicy reading, and already they have had the effect of killing a Government which, had escaped the legitimate consequences of timidity, not to say cowardice, in dealing with anarchists and a disorderly press.

"Why should stone-breaking be considered below the dignity of the London unemployed or the unemployed anywhere? It may be suspected that the men who scornfully rejected offers oi! such work are of the genus who prefer agitation" to work. Stone-breaking, of course, is hard work, but even in these colonies, where the working-man is expected to have easier times, numbers of excellent men make a very respectable living by ifc, and certainly do not feel, and have no reason to feel, ashamed of ifc. Men who are willing to work at any honest job io support themselves and their families, trusting to better times bringing them higher and better work, are entitled to demand assistance, and. when employment cannot be found for them, all the world is sorry and puzzled ; but there should be no trouble in dealing with the classes who will not take work when it is offered to help them in a time of difficulty. If a man will not work, neither should he eat.

An official register of 16,000 unemployed, together with 12,000 empty houses, and bread riota apprehended, is certainly an ugly picture for " marvellous Melbourne." It is Raid that the Victorian people, or rather the Melbourne people, are taking too gloomy a view of their affairs- Some of the English papers have said so, but facts such as those now officially stated certainly are very difficult to get rid of. There can be no question about Victoria coming through her troubles satisfactorily in the end, for her land is too good and her natural resources and advantages too great for her to long remain in difficulties. But the mistake hao been the notion that Melbourne was the colony, and the extravagant expenditure there, together with the fiscal policy which was followed, has led to over a third of the population of the whole colony being gathered in the one city. Now the bubble has burst, and Victoria will have to follow the example of New Zealand, and look to the country rather than to the town to give her prosperity.