Printed papers on the political situation and military policy in Egypt [‎53v] (106/176)

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1920. Cases of infectious disease, on the other hand, diminished from 698 to 390,
325 of which were cases of influenza. There were 2,460 births and 1,283 deaths,
as compared with 2.430 births and 1,884 deaths in 1920. The results of anti-malaria
work in the oases are remarkable, no cases having been recorded during 1921 at
Siwa or Aghourmi, and 58 at Kharga as compared with 115 in 1920. In Sinai,
however malaria seems to be somewhat increasing.
267. The Frontier Districts Administration will be placed under the Egyptian
Ministry of War in the course of the present year.
Chapter III. —Agriculture.
41. General.
268. In my 1914-19 report I mentioned that the development of the Ministry of
Agriculture had been retarded by the outbreak of war. It has now made a serious
start, and, given land for its experimental stations and seed farms, its progress
during the next few years will be accelerated.
269. The Under-Secretary of State, Mr. John Langley, C.B E., retired in May,
after thirty-six years’ service in the Egyptian Government. He had done valuable
work both in this post, to which he was appointed when the Ministry was instituted,
and previously as Director-General of the State Domains Administration. He has
been succeeded, in March 1922. by Mohammed Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Abul Fetouh, Mr. A. T.
McKillop, Chief Inspector, having acted as Under-Secretary during the interval.
270. The figures for the area under cotton, usually not available until August,
were in 1921, for the first time, issued in June.
271. The following table gives the areas of the principal crops for the year under
review, with the approximate yields :—
Crop.
Area in
Total Yield in
Average Yield
Feddans.
Thousands.
per Feddan.
Kantars.
Ardebs.
Kantars
Ardebs.
Cotton
1,291,878
3.300*
# .
2-56
. .
Wheat
1,404,798
. .
6,715
. .
4-78
Bariev
379,540
2,165
5-70
Rice
)
Maize
} Not yet ascertained.
Millet
)
Sugar cane..
63,992
42,163
659
* Estimated.
42. Cotton.
272. The Egyptian crop for 1921 has been estimated at 3,300,000 kantars
(660,000 American bales). It is the smallest crop since 1889, and its average yield,
2-56 kantars per feddan, the lowest ever recorded. Prices during the period under
review although not of such extreme variation as in 1920, were very uneven, rising
from 24 dollars in the middle of August to 54 dollars at the beginning of October,
and falling again to 26 dollars at the end of January 1922.
273. The past season was remarkable for the number of adverse conditions which
prevailed throughout its course. Both for some time before and during the normal
period of preparation and early sowing there was a continuous and heavy drop in
cotton prices. The cultivator, only recently emerging from a pleasant experience of
unexampled prosperity and lavish expenditure, found himself hampered by the
burden of additional property purchased at reckless prices. The loans which it was
customary to raise for cotton cultivation were unobtainable, and. moreover, the cost
of labour had not declined in correspondence with the cotton market. As a result, a
large proportion of the cultivators hesitated, when the ploughing season arrived, to
cultivate a crop which, at that time, promised no adequate financial return. Prices *
touched bottom at about the end of February, and the rise which followed stimulated
the efforts to get in the crop. Precious time, however, had been irrevocably lost.
When prices flattened out to rather below the 30 dollars average for Sakel, the