PZ 5636/35 'Egypt: Annual Reports 1934 -1938' [‎17v] (41/342)

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controversy, the Egyptian ^thoriUes agreed^to ^ui^p thwnew^g^ e ^ uipped
with the British ‘ Grladmtor. A g ^ Egy p tian army, the mam
;irr.Wf=«wm—s. •>
‘TS* Marshall-Corn wall SXiSS
.“wssthSTs
“too t ” vessel four small minesweepers !nd four motor torpedo-boats. The
Fovntian Government accepted these recommendations in principle and decided
at g tL end of the year to make provision for the immediate programme in the
1939-40 budget. They also asked His Majesty’s Government for the services of a
captain in the Royal Navy to act as naval adviser, and arrangements were made
for Cap“in G T. Philip, D.S.C., R.N., to take up this post on the military
Strategic communications.
57. Progress with the treaty roads was slow and revealed the weakness of
the system by which the Roads and Bridges Department of the Ministry o
Communications arrange for the work by open contract among local contracting
firms. The Ismailia-Cairo road was more or less finished up to Bilbeis, but the
Ismailia-Alexandria road made slow progress. The contract for the Amria-Fuka
road was given to two eontracting firms, but progress left much to be desired,
despite frequent representations to the Egyptian authorities by both the embassy
and headquarters, British Troops in Egypt, as to the vital military importance of
the strategic communications with Mersa Matruh. The link road from the Suez-
Cairo road to Geneifa was completed, but the new treaty road between Port Said
and Suez remained in suspense. In addition to the treaty roads, the Egyptian
Government decided at the time of the September crisis to construct a bitumenised
road from El Bahnasa in the Nile Valley to the Oasis of Bahriya, and in October
they obtained from the Chamber of Deputies a supplementary credit of
£E. 125,000 to begin work. At the end of the year the alignment of the road was
still under discussion. In December the question of constructing a strategic road
through Sinai to the Palestine frontier was under consideration.
58. The Egyptian Government reverted early in the year to the proposal for
a modification on grounds of economy of the alignment of the Ismailia-Alexandria
road (see paragraph 89 of the 1937 annual report). This was once more rejected,
but, with the approval of His Majesty’s Government, the Egyptian Government
were offered a compromise arrangement whereby, in return for their adhering to
the treaty alignment of the Alexandria road and carrying out a long-standino-
commercial project for the completion of the Beheira relief line from Saft-el-Enab
to Alexandria (with a loop directly on to the Mersa Matruh line), His Majesty’s
Government would not insist on the doubling of the Tanta-Zagazig Railway
prescubed m the treaty and would allow the existing railway bridge at Zifta
fc A i be t ^ rned a ra J [1 an(i roa( l bridge to carry the new Treaty Ismailia-
Alexandria road over the eastern branch of the Nile. It was considered bv the
ritish military authorities that this deal would have strategic advantages to the
tetween CaTroandX 1 ^ a } tel ' n ?, tive an d less vulnerable railway communication
railwav to the west of KP Desert ^ h:le ^ding-on the basis that the new
to’aShtstentiarsaving^to Ae^E^yptfan^Governme'^ ^ T mercial Pres
to this agreement were communfeTtePtoNF h- araft notes to g ive effeot
(Hilmi Is g sa Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. ) in J^Th^ of Communications
him from pursuing the matter After Hd^Ti ll ^° v 1 ^ 1 fM 11018111 prevented
«r-i , k fL.