§ MR. J. M. ROBERTSONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he can yet state the total amount of provision made by the Egyptian Government for sending students to Europe; and what prospect there is of increase in the number of qualified Egyptian teachers.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYThe Budget of the Egyptian Ministry of Education for 1908 has not yet been considered by the Council of Ministers, and will not be finally settled till October. It is, therefore, impossible to say what the special credit allotted for any particular purpose will be. I may state, however, that the Egyptian Ministry of Education is making arrangements with a view to sending this autumn nineteen Egyptian students—a number not previously equalled—for 399 training and further study in England, in addition to those who are already in this country undergoing special courses of instruction. It is hoped that all these Egyptian students, on the completion of their training, will enter the service of the Egyptian Government as teachers.
§ MR. J. M. ROBERTSONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will obtain for the information of the House a classified list of professors who were employed by the Egyptian Government in teaching the sciences in Arabic at the date of the British occupation.
I beg further to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will obtain for the information of the House a classified list of works, written in or translated into Arabic, upon scientific and technical subjects, and published in Arabic by the National Printing Press of Egypt, between the date of Mohamed Ali's accession, 1806, and that of the British occupation, 1882.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYIn answer to these Questions I must point out that I have already caused a great deal of extra, and in some cases laborious, work on the part of officials in Egypt, by asking for detailed information in reply to Questions. In this case, I do not think it would be reasonable to ask them to make inquiries dating back to 1806. I do not know whether the information could be obtained; I do not suppose it could be obtained without much trouble; and when obtained a list of persons and books could not be a guide to the value of the instruction given by them.
§ MR. J. M. ROBERTSONMay I ask if such a list could not be easily obtained in London, and would it not be better to proceed on it rather than on mere guesswork?
§ SIR EDWARD GREYI do not think the list of books would be of any value without a knowledge of their contents, and the knowledge of Members in Arabic would need to be much more extensive than it is for the information to be of any good.