EGYPT'S CRY FOR "FREEDOM."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13485, 11 May 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

EGYPT'S CRY FOR "FREEDOM."

WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE ON THE NILE. - Disquieting rumours as to unrest in Egypt are reported from time to time, and there seems to be a growing popular movement in the land of the Pharaohs against British rale. The London Express surveys the immense benefits that England and one or two great Englishmen have bestowed on Egypt and the Egyptians. In discussing the question the writer says: — British influence in the country of the Nile may be said to have been predominant since the overthrow of Arabi Pasha in 1882. For many years the work of regeneration, undertaken by Lord Cromer and his associates, was made difficult by the obstruction of the French ; but, happily, the entente cordiale has come, and since 1904 the French have been by international deed as well as by tacit goodwill our co-operative friends. Before the arrival of the English the Egyptian peasant, or "fellah," suffered in a very full degree from the usual incidents of Oriental rule. He was crushed by many masters, and the land of Egypt fainted by reason of the oppressor. Mr. H. D. Traill tells us: — "New taxes, sometimes of a quite absurd character, were imposed, they reported, 'at discretion.' When a bridge was built the charge was defrayed by taxation, not of the passengers to whom it was a convenience, but of the boatmen, to whom it was an obstruction. All Egyptians who were not landowners had to pay the tax on professions, whether they practised one or not, because they might adopt a profession if they liked. . . . Egyptians, again, were forbidden to own scales, lest they should evade the weighing-tax; while the salt-tax, which was nominally levied according to population, was, in fact, collected on a system, which in England would have resulted in ' Old Sarum' paying . a salt-tax on the consumption of five hundred houses. Finally , ... . all their taxes were levied by ' moral pressure,' a form of suasion which they ascertained from other evidence to mean the threat of torture." A CRUEL SYSTEM. With this picture of the tax-farmer ridden population comes a companion vignette by Lord Milner: — "It was not the amount of taxation, crushing as in many cases it was, which did the mischief. It was, above all, the irregular, cruel, and arbitrary manner in which the taxes • were collected. The fellah was seldom sure of the amount wffich would be demanded of him. He was never sure of the moment when the demand would be made. That moment might, as likely as not, be the very one at which he was least able to pay.' ; Called upon to find ready money while his crops were still in the ground, he was simply driven into the aims - of the money-lender. His choice ; lay % between so many blows of the kurbash and the acceptance of the usurer's terms, however onerous. Under these circumstances, money was borrowed at as much as 60 per cent, per annum. Worse than ; that, it was often obtained by the sale of the growing crops, which were estimated for the purpose of the advance at half or less than half their value. This state of things was bad enough, and it was pretty general, but the ruin of the cultivator was consummated in many instances by positive collusion with the usurer on the part of corrupt officials." " c Of the native ruling classes Lord Milner says;— v . p ••"The native ruling class was vicious and incapable. The country teemed with officials, but few, very few, of them were men. < Tyrannous to the weak, they quailed before ' the slightest threat of. lawlessness 'on the part of the strong. And from strong and 1 weak alike they readily accepted bribes to ; pervert justice or neglect duty." | CRUSHING THE - OPPRESSOR. . : V The work of regeneration, begun by.'Lord Dufferin, ' has; been ' carried through "mainly by , Lord-.Cromer," working»at one - time and another .with Lord Mirier,^Sij,Eldoft; Gorst, and • Their task waff-slow and - disagreeable. > It was to reform ;• the details of administration, to evolve order out of chaos, to teach native officials honesty and efficiency. 'v In other words, England began twenty-five years ago to break the rod of the oppressor and to ' bring prosperity to the land. And the success lias been extraordinary. The annual reports issued by Lord Cromer are an amazing record ,of good work. , * The overthrow of the Mahdi by Lord Kftctiener destroyed the one outside menace to , the safety of the country, and at the same time opened up a possible field for the immigration of the surplus population of the Lower Nile. It may be incidentally remarked that what English-directed rule means for a country may be gathered from the fact that shortly after the capture of Khartoum the revenue • of the Soudan was estimated at £8000, and that with a system of very light taxation the revenue was , raised to over half a million in six years. Returning to ' Egypt proper, in twentyfive years, in spite of the enormous reductions in taxation, the revenue is half as much again, the imports and exports have more than doubled, and the area ,of culti- 1 vated land has increased by over half a million acres. , ' . BENEFITS ACHIEVED. It was the peasant who suffered most •in the old days, and it is the peasant who has been the subject of Lord Cromer's most , assiduous care. With what result? . Three years ago this was said: — "The large reductions in the land tax; : the increase of productivity arising from 1 the improved system of irrigation; the establishment of the Agricultural Bank and ' of Post Office Savings Banks; the partition of Government lands, when sold, .into small 1 lots; the adoption of the system of paying the " purchase price by annuities; the leniency with which the land tax has been col- ; lected on lands only partially irrigated ; the i abolition of the octroi duties, which lias ; increased the demand for agricultural pro- : duce; the abolition of the dues on the navi- 1 gation of the Nile, and 1 the reduction of the railway tariff, which have enabled the ' produce to be transported at relatively low rates to the nearest markets; the abolition i of the sheep and goat tax, and several other i measures which might be mentioned in spe- i cial connection with their effect on* the agricultural classes, have all tended in this ; direction. That these efforts have been j attended with a certain amount of success < I do not doubt. - So far as can be judged, < the peasant proprietary ; class is not only ] holding its own, but is also possibly show- j ing a slight tendency to increase." , , i i But. despite the prosperity of the coun- 1 try, and despite the substitution of justice 1 for oppression, the Egyptian is dissatisfied. 1 He accepts the benefits, and hates the bene- 1 | factor. And the reason is the unconquer- ' able irritation which the Oriental feels un- ' der Occidental rule. "Egypt for the Egyp- ' tiaiis" was the battle-cry of Arabi Pasha. 1 "Egypt for the Egyptians" is the motto of 1 the present-day Nationalist party. 1 Referring in his remarkable book, "The] Crescent Versus the Cross," to just such a , situation, Mr. Halil Halid says: "They, (the people of the country) must always re- ' sent the injustice of the intrusion." The ; resentment in the case of the Egyptians ap- ' pears curiously unjust and reasonless, but it has always existed, and it is dangerously increasing. _ ... • |