Report of the Special Mission to Egypt under Lord Milner, and related papers [‎5r] (9/473)

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ot them to war work, has had unfortunate results. As long as we remain in any
degree responsible for the good government of Egypt, the constant presence of a
certain number of highly-qualified Englishmen in the provinces cannot possibly be
dispensed with.
(C .)—Local Government.
The Government of Egypt is still too exclusively in the hands of the official
class. To check the growth of a centralised bureaucracy, increasingly out of touch
with the people, it is desirable to foster local self-governing institutions, such as the
provincial councils, the municipalities and the local commissions now established in
a number of towns and even in some villages. The number of the latter should be
increased, and the spirit of interest in local affairs, of which there are hopeful
indications, should be in every way encouraged.
The development of local self-governing institutions cannot, however, make much
progress so long as an equitable system of local taxation is rendered impossible by the
Capitulations. This is an additional reason for relieving Egypt from these international
fetters.
But while the removal of these fetters will facilitate the development of self-
governing institutions in the towns and larger villages, the administration of the
villages of small or moderate size, in which the bulk of the country people live,
must still for many years to come be mainly in the hands of the Omdehs, or village
headmen.
The power of the Omdeh in an Egyptian village is very great and is frequently
abused. 'The petty tyranny and corruption of which the Omdehs are often guilty,
results in much suffering and discontent among the people, and is one of the causes
of the great prevalence of crime.
The present method of appointing Omdehs by district committees under the
presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of a Government official is unsatisfactory. There is a strong feeling in
favour of the election of the Omdeh in each village by the inhabitants themselves.
Although, owing to the illiteracy of the people, it is difficult to carry out a system of
secret voting, this should not prove insurmountable. It would be desirable to try
the experiment of electing the Omdeh by ballot in a certain number of villages, and,
if successful to extend it to the whole country.
V.— The Capitulations and the Administration of Justice.
The removal of the obstacles which the Capitulations present to the good govern
ment of the country can only be effected by closing the foreign Consular Courts and
by finding an effective method of applying local legislation to foreigners and subjecting
them to a fair share of taxation.
The time is not ripe for unifying all the competing jurisdictions in Egypt (native,
mixed, consular and religious). All that should be attempted at present is the fusion
of the Mixed Courts and the Consular Courts, the Native and Religious Courts being
left untouched. In carrying through this amalgamation, the Mixed Courts should be
relieved as far as possible of purely administrative services, such as the registry of
land deeds and mortgages.
The special position which Great Britain occupies, and must continue to occupy,
in Egypt is now generally recognised by the foreign Powers. That special position
imposes upon her responsibility for safeguarding the rights of foreigners, and therefore
entitles her to claim that foreign Powers should enable her to discharge that
responsibility and should confide to her that protection of the interests of their nationals
in Egypt which is now assured by the Capitulations. Egypt will then, in matters
affecting foreigners, be in a position to deal with Great Britain alone instead of having
to approach each individual Power.
Great Britain must accordingly be the Power entitled to express any consent which,
up till now, the Egyptian Government has been obliged to obtain from a foreign
Government or from an international authority in Egypt. All privileges hitherto
enjoyed in connection with the appointment of judges, the commutation of sentences,
the application to foreigners of Egyptian legislation, or the payment by foreigners of
Egyptian taxation, should be vested in Great Britain and exercised through the High
Commissioner.
Foreign litigants should, so far as possible, enjoy in the reconstituted Mixed
Courts the same privileges as those they enjoy in the existing Mixed Courts. For the