HC Deb 20 July 1893 vol 15 c80
MR. S. SMITH (Flintshire)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in the scheme in which he had referred on June 20 for the abolition in certain districts of the corvée labour, annually employed in watching and repairing the Kilo banks, the labourers would be requisitioned, and forced to work; whether the wages paid for this forced labour would be the current market rate (about P. T. 4, ten pence), and whether rations and tools would be supplied by the Government; whether it is now proposed to pay the peasants throughout Egypt for the cotton and dhurra stalks laid on the Nile banks to protect them from the action of the waves; and, if so, whether this material would be paid for at the market rate; and whether it was correctly stated in The Egyptian Gazette, of June 20, that a special tax would probably have to be levied upon the laud, so that the poor villager might receive payment for his labour which is at present utilised, without any remuneration, for the benefit of his richer neighbour?

* THE UNDER SECRETARY OP STATE FOE FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir E. GREY,) Northumberland, Berwick

The reply to which the hon. Member refers was given on the 15th, and not on the 20th ultimo. Forced labour, as a means of guarding against accidents during the Nile flood, still exists in Egypt, and it has not been possible yet to devise any other system. According to a scheme submitted by the Egyptian Ministry of Public Works to the Egyptian Government, and still under consideration, the wages would be at a lower rate than the current market rate, and would be fixed at a sum sufficient to enable the men to support themselves. There does not appear to be any question of the Government supplying tools at present. The material is now partly supplied by the Government and partly by the labourers. It is not proposed to alter this system at present. I have not seen The Egyptian Gazette referred to; but although the additional costs which the proposed changes must entail can be met this year from funds in the hands of the Public Works Department, it is possible that in the future a fresh tax of some kind may have to be levied to cover the increased expenditure.