PZ 5636/35 'Egypt: Annual Reports 1934 -1938' [‎132v] (271/342)

tion of the Corniche Road affair) aroused no enthusiasm for the Government.
The public made no attempt to draw flattering comparisons between Abdel Fattah
Yehia Pasha’s Ministry and the predecessor whose misdeeds it unearthed, seeing
only a background and methods common to both. By July a note of cynicism
and disillusion was constant in references to an Administration in which
partiality and corruption were assumed as normal. To these factors of discontent
may be added the new motor tax, which provoked widespread criticism and
sporadic taxi strikes; and a sudden rise in the price of bread.
16. A movement in favour of renewed political activity gained impetus
with a decision approved by the Executive Committee of the Wafd on the
14th June to summon a Wafdist congress in July. Later decisions postponed the
congress until September, December and, finally, January 1935; but its
organisation kept Wafdist interest alive during the second half of the year.
17. More immediate effect was given to the Wafd’s policy of impressing the
new High Commissioner with their importance by a series of visits paid by INahas
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and Makram Obeid to Port Said, Ismailia and Zagazig, between the
29th July and the 1st August. These visits were accompanied by disturbances,
wilfully provoked by the visitors, and the police had on more than one occasion
to hre on the crowd. The results, however, were disappointing to Wafdist hopes
in their revelation of diminished popular enthusiasm. A hint was conveyed to
the Wafd that, if the object of such tours was to impress the High Commissioner,
the method was ill chosen; and, except for one later visit to Tantah, Nahas
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. made no more provincial visits.
it uecaxim apparent, irom me strengm and frequency
of rumours of a further deterioration in King Fuad’s health, that the problem
presented by His Majesty’s possible early death called for serious consideration.
rince Farouk, the Heir Apparent, is a boy of 14 and will not, under Egyptian
law, attain his majority until 1938. King Fuad, who was credibly reported to
be a very sick man, is 66 years of age. Examination of the constitutional and
other provisions for a Regency revealed a position of singular complexity.
19. The Royal rescript of the 13th April, 1922 prescribes that Dia tW*
dignitaries composing the Regency Council are nominated by the Sovereign and
he FrT S i d dencv 1 aTfh m r Upl T te AT C ° Py in! the ^ Cablet and one cTpy - d
until after the Kin^, dZb ■ ^“sters, under seal. The seals are not broken
rpi i ■ f death, and they are broken m the presence of Parliament
SSHS i~ H*™
article 55 of the Constitution tlJ o, > * Regency, it is provided, by
Council of Ministers ’ 6 KlDg S P rero gative is exercised by thi
identity remains a secret^would be antfpathetielri’P^'t'^ Fuad ’ whos *
Majesty’s known dislike for all nnliHoLia W -nyptian public opinion. His
the coup d’Etat of 1930 seemed to cvplin| tS 0 i ) P°? i( 1 1 . to the regime following
selected the Council of frof 6 aDy P 0881 ^^ ^at he might havl
of grave public dllder^Sg f uad^drorf "h 0 n' fhe rlsk
Of a generally detested regime g W as mani W I £ 0ll ° Wed ^ a Perpetuation
threatened to be dange^fy
realisation in En^laAthaf sL^Sidk^Ir 1 ar0S 1 indirec tly from the growing
been inefficient albell ^ unpopula hL' af^ 1 ^ 1 the Palace Governmfnt had
Fuad. i °P ular . had as its direct cause the illness of Kino
O
Mr. Peterson, who arrived 6 i^ AlTxandrfa^^^t P Tif eding on leave in Au gust
my leave, found the Prime Minister AbdefVff September to act during
tha^Kin 0 f H !f Ma i es ty’s. health. Confidential^fW a I c >aslla ’ anxious over
tPat Kmg Fuad was suffering from anaentlal . m edical information confirmed
cLrfed^n^r 11 as ftom g otW admSXr ^^-tandingTffS
ih *