DEFENCE 1118
The charges on account of debts of all kinds (including tribute), as shewn in the estimates for 1899, amount to i:E4, 723,031 or 4,845,800/. sterling.
The linal accounts for the yeai 1897 showed the financial result of the year to be as follows : —
£E
Receipts 11,092,564
Expenditure 10,659,257
Surplus .... 433,307
At the beginning of the year 1898 the Reserve Funds .stood as follows : —
£E Economies from Conversions ....... 2,767,262
General Reserve Fund 3,831,749
Special Reserve ?'und ........ —
Total Reserves . . . 6,599,011
The whole of the extraordinary expenditure necessitated by the recon- t[uest uf the Sudan was charged against the Special Reserve Fund. In l)e<eml)er, 1898, the fund showed a deficit of £E336,000, with outstanding charcres amountiiiij to ;f E330.000.
Defence.
• Army.
On September 19, 1882, the whole of the Egyptian army was disbanded by Khedivial decree. In December of the same year the organisation of a new army^ was entrusted to a British general officer, who was given the title of Sirdar. The present Sirdar is Major-General Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, K.C.B., K.C.M.G. There are about 100 English officers serving at present in the Egyptian army. The army has a total strength of 18,000.
Since the rebellion in 1882 an English army of occupation has remained in Egypt. Its strength is 5,553. To meet the cost of this army, the Egyptian Government contributes 87,000/. annually.
Egypt has now no efficient warships.
