Printed papers on the political situation and military policy in Egypt [‎65v] (130/176)

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413. Cairo has been in an almost continuous state of political effervescence, and
the same may be said of Alexandria, In both cities the police have been severely
tried and have suffered considerable casualties at various times at the hands of
the mob. In Port Said and in the provinces the visit of the British Labour Members
of Parliament and Saad Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Zaghlul's trip to Upper Egypt threw much arduous
work upon the police, and demonstrations of a more or less serious nature have
occurred at other times, more particularly at Port Said and at Tanta, which is
usually a centre of disaffection.
414. On the whole, the police force throughout the country, and more
particularly in the cities, has done extremely well and have shown a spirit of
discipline and esprit de corps singularly uncontaminated by the powerful political
influences which have been so evident throughout the country. The Cairo police
in particular, and especially the guard company, which constitutes the only striking
force in the hands of the commandant in case of serious trouble, have come through
the ordeal with great credit.
415. The provincial police, under the Egyptian commandanks, have done well
on the whole. It must be remembered that a considerable proportion of the
population is hostile to the police, and the vast bulk of the remainder is apathetic
and at no time ready to render the slightest assistance to the guardians of law
and order.
416. The strength of the city police in Cairo and Alexandria in 1921 was as
follows :—
Cairo—
European officers
Egyptian officers
European head constables and constables
Egyptian n.c.o’s., constables and men
Alexandria—
European officers
Egyptian officers
European head constables and constables
Egyptian n.c.o’s., constables and men
Artisans
71. Police School.
417. In January 1921 there were forty-nine second-year cadets and forty-eight
first-year cadets in the school. Work lias progressed much more satisfactorily since
only candidates in possession of secondary certificates were admitted as cadets.
418. At the end of the school year in June all the second-year cadets passed
out satisfactorily and all except two of the first-year cadets qualified for admission
to the second year course. The new school year began in October with forty-six
second-year and fifty-nine first-year cadets. The conduct of the cadets, both in
class and on parade, has been excellent throughout the year.
419. In addition to the cadets, 245 conscripts were trained at the school during
the year, of whom 100 were posted as foot police, 70 as mounted police and 75 as
prison warders.
72. Prisons.
420. The daily average number of prisoners for the year 1921 was 17,117 (of
whom 535 were women) compared with 17,055 for 1920.
421. The number of persons confined in the adult reformatory at the end of
the year was 639, while the number of inmates of the juvenile reformatory amounted
to 745, of whom 637 were boys and 108 girls. Enquiries made about habitual and
juvenile offenders released from the respective reformatories during one year from
July 1920 to June 1921 showed that 73 habitual offenders out of 87, 121 boys out of
140 and 40 girls out of 42 were leading honest lives.
422. The number of deaths amounted to 412, a rate of 23T per thousand on * *
the average daily population against 44-6 per thousand in 1920.
423. The mortality rate is lower than it has been since 1915, but still higherf
than before the war. The prisons continue to be seriously overcrowded, and the
results of the low diet of the poorer classes during the latter years of the war are t *
still seen in the bad state of health of new prisoners.
424. The annual cost per prisoner on the daily average population was
£E. 12-993 milliemes (£E. 19-611 milliemes in 1920 and £E. 12 922 milliemes in 1919).
31
102
131
2.926
29
60
199
1,337
26