The Egyptian Budget for 1903, summarised in Monday's Times, is
a highly satisfactory document. In proof of the financial stability of the country, Sir Eldon Gorst notes that neither the epidemic of cholera nor the low Nile in 1902 has adversely affected the Revenue. The Estimates for 1903 have to allow for a reduction of Revenue of £E364,000—owing to the abolition of the octroi and remission of Land-tax—and for a new item of expenditure in the annuity for the repayment of the sum originally advanced for the reservoir works. Still, the Estimates provide for a surplus of £E25,000—the receipts are 2E11,000,000 and the expenditure 2E10,975,000—to be added to the special reserve fund, exclusive of the payment of £E68,000 for redemption of Debt, of £E265,000 to the con- version economies fund, and £E296,000 to the general reserve fund, the unpledged balance of which stands at £E2,094,000. —The Egyptian pound, it may be noted, is slightly more in value than the pound sterling,—i.e., LE –21 Os. 31d.-- Under the head of expenditure it is noted that, while the total cost of administering the Soudan remains the same, the Revenue is slowly advancing, though it is not anticipated that any con- siderable progress in material prosperity will be made until the valley of the Upper Nile is connected by railway with the Red Sea, a project already under Government consideration. Finally, in view of the fact that no substantial increase in the Revenue is anticipated before 1905, the introduction of large and ex- pensive reforms is deprecated in the interval.
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