Customs dues.-There are custom-houses at Alexandria and Damietta and a customs post at Rosetta in this Consular district.

An 8 per cent. ad valorem duty is charged on all goods of which the importation is allowed, with the exception of timber, coal, petroleum, liquid fuel, firewood, charcoal, cattle, sheep and goats and the fresh meat of those animals, which pay 4 per cent. At Alexandria an additional per cent. is charged for quay and paving dues; the same charge is made on goods sent in bond to Cairo viâ Alexandria.

The export duty is 1 per cent. ad valorem on all products of Egypt and the Soudan. At Alexandria an additional per cent. is charged for quay and paving dues.

No export duty is charged on foreign goods re-exported, and a re-fund of the duty paid on the importation less 1 per cent. is made in the case of articles reexported within six months, provided that their identification can be proved. The duties on tobacco are as follows:

Tariff Piastres

per Kilo.

25

30

10 pias. tariff per kilo. is re-funded on cigarettes rolled in Egypt and exported. An extra duty of 2 pias. tariff per kilo. is charged on leaf and manufactured tobacco when not coming from a country having a special arrangement with Egypt

There is a bonded warehouse at Alexandria.

(545)

A 2

4

POPULATION of Principal Towns in the Consular District of Alexandria.

Industries and products.-At Alexandria cotton pressing, seed crushing for oil, beer brewing and tanning are carried on. Cigarettes, common soap, artificial stone and sand bricks are made. Salt is found near the suburb of Mex.

At Damietta seed crushing for oil, rice husking, fish salting and curing are carried on. Damietta exports rice, fish and cotton seed; and imports in small quantities wood, tobacco, cereals, oil and charcoal. The foreign trade of this port is mainly carried on with Turkey, Syria, Greece and Cyprus.

Tanta is a great railway junction and a very important cotton centre. Cotton ginning is carried on there.

At Mahalla Kubra cotton ginning is carried on, and silk goods are woven by

hand.

Damanhur does a large trade in cotton and rice. There are numerous ginning mills.

LIST of Egyptian Weights, Measures and Moneys referred to in this Report, with their Approximate British Equivalents.

By a decree dated April 28, 1891, the metric system was adopted in all Egyptian Government Departments for their dealings with the public. The following table shows the principal metric units in use:

NOTE. The commercial languages of the country are French and Italian; Arabic and English are less used.