Printed papers on the political situation and military policy in Egypt [‎53r] (105/176)

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257. The general fall in food prices has affected the prosperity of various
co operative and benevolent societies. But as their aim was to combat the high
cost of living, the withdrawal from business in consequence of the fall in food prices
can cause no surprise. In every case, these institutions have been controlled bv local
• committees, working with capital subscribed locally; and on the whole their finance
has been managed admirably. Profits have been made, and devoted generously in
many instances to some object of public utility.
40. F rontier Districts Administration.
*
258. The Frontier Districts Administration was established in May 1917 after
the expulsion of the lurks and the Senoussi from the Eastern and Western deserts,
where during the earlier part of the war the previously existing civil administration
had been withdrawn. The new administration drew its authority from an order of
the Commander-in-chief issued with the approval of the High Commissioner : it
was, however, attached to the Ministry of Finance for budgetary purposes.
259. Justice is administered under a special law drawing its sanction from the
military authority. This law, though it gives power to the military administrator,
as head of the Frontier Districts Administration, to make orders the contravention
of which is visited with certain strictly limited punishments, provides in the main
for the administration of justice in accordance with Bedouin usage and custom.
260. The constitution of the courts of justice provides for the presence of
assessors to assist the judicial officers of the administration. These assessors are
chosen from among the sheikhs to whom the Bedouin have been accustomed to look
for the settlement of legal questions. Their opinions on points of local usage are in
practice binding upon the presiding officer and their opinions on matters of fact
always show great acumen. The knowledge of the weight which their opinions carry
is a great inducement to the Bedouin to bring their disputes before the tribunals of
fhe administration. These tribunals have the advantage over the old tribal courts
of sheikhs alone, that their judgments are enforceable, and many cases have been
brought before them which had been heard by the tribal courts before the Frontier
Districts Administration was created, but the judgments in which had never been
enforced.
261. Among the settled populations of the Siwa, Kharga, and Dakhla Oases the
Egyptian codes are applied; and their limited application in cases of serious crime,
and in cases where Bedouin are not exclusively concerned, has begun to inculcate the
idea of the existence of a central authority having an interest in maintaining peace
and security. On the other hand the general dependence on local custom is of great
value in dealing with a race to whom that idea is foreign, whose customary law is
founded upon the family as a unit, whose highest recognised authority is the tribe,
and among whom any wrong done is done to the family and not to the individual.
262. The administration maintains a considerable police-force and camel-corps
for the protection of the frontiers and the preservation of public security; thev are
subject to a special disciplinary code which is in general modelled upon the Egvptian
Military Code. Public security in the deserts is at present in a most satisfactory
condition.
263. Except in the oases the inhabitants depend for their prosperity upon
rainfall, which in the winter of 1921 was most deficient, resulting in the complete
ruin of the important barley crop of the Mariut district and a grave lack of grazing
for animals. The tithe receipt of the administration amounted only to £E. 5,480 as
compared with £E. 24,000 in the previous year.
264. Communications were steadily improved, motor roads being opened between
El Burg (a new town constructed by the administration as the headquarters of the
Mariut District) and Baharia Oasis, and between Kena and Kosseir, Kosseir and
Safaga, and Safaga and Hurghada.
265. The Bedouin are in general quite indifferent to education, but a school
founded at El Arish in 1920 has grown considerably : at the end of 1921 it contained
ninety-four pupils, some of whom come from as far away as Gaza. In the oases the
schools have been well attended, and a new school has been opened in Kharga Oasis
on the request of the inhabitants.
266. The administration has devoted much attention to the health of the
inhabitants of the deserts and oases, and during 1921 hospitals were opened at
El Arish, Solium. Sidi Barrani and Kharga; 46,859 out-patients and 1,352
in-patients were treated during 1921, as against 17,445 and 1,013 respectively in
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