§ MR. MOLLOYasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, in the event of a sale of any part of the Daira lands in Egypt, these lands will be offered direct to the Egyptian peasants, from whom they were originally taken, upon terms of payment extending over a period of years?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICESir, as the hon. Member is aware, Lord Dufferin states, in his Report on Reorganization in Egypt (Egypt, No. VI., 1883, page 55), that the necessity for disposing of the Domain lands does not exist to the same extent in the case of the Daira. The question, therefore, does not call for immediate action; and I may remind the hon. Member that his Excellency points out that, as capital and skilled labour are required to work these lands, difficulties are placed in the way of their sale to private individuals.