§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that a number of inferior functionaries of the Egyptian Government have petitioned Sir Eldon Gorst to the effect that the cost of living in Egypt is constantly and rapidly increasing; that their salaries were fixed on the basis of the much lower costs of former years and are no longer sufficient for maintenance; and that the Commission appointed by Lord Cromer in 1904, by making the maximum of wages in the highest class from £5 to £9 per month, the maximum of which cannot be reached in less than fourteen years, has rendered their condition worse than formerly; and whether he will recommend the Egyptian Government to revise the scale.
§ SIR E. GREYI am aware that this subject has been occupying the attention of the Egyptian Government. But I do not consider it advisable for his Majesty's Government to interfere in a matter 1356 which obviously depends upon detailed information of local conditions, with which the Egyptian Government are qualified to deal.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLAnd while a money grant is being made to Lord Cromer these men are to be kept on starvation wages.