§ MR. SCOTT (Lancashire, Leigh)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether the Soudan Budget for 1899 shows an estimated deficit of upwards of £317,000, the whole of which sum is to be defrayed out of the revenues of Egypt; and, if so, on what ground Egypt, which has only a share of the sovereignty of the new territory, is to be charged with the whole of the cost of its administration?
MR. BRODKICKThe estimated deficit of the Soudan expenditure in 1899 is as stated. The present arrangements for the financial administration of the Province have been approved by the Egyptian Council of Ministers. The military and financial assistance given by this country in past years for the protection of the Frontier of Egypt and recently for the reconquest of the Soudan, have given substantial relief to the Egyptian Exchequer, and the estimated deficit in the Soudan provinces is held to be fairly chargeable to the Egyptian Exchequer.