Agency
and Consulate-General of the United States in
Egypt,
Cairo,
April 5, 1880. (Received April 28.)
No. 381.]
It will be noticed that by the decree this commission is to take as a
basis of its action the conclusions of the commission of inquest, but
that the conditions of the Rothschilds’ loan are not to be in any way
modified.
[Inclosure in No.
381.—Translation.]
decree.
We, Khedive of Egypt:
Considering the report of the superior commission of inquiry dated
April 8, 1879—
Whereas the decree of April 6, 1876, extending the time of the
payment of the debts of the Egyptian Government, diminished the
interest thereon, and declared the necessity of coming to a
financial arrangement with the design of settling the Egyptian
debt;
Whereas the commission of inquiry, in its report dated April 8, 1879,
recognized the
[Page 1005]
impossibility of meeting at once all the amounts falling due of the
consolidated debt, and of paying in full and immediately the
non-consolidated debt;
Whereas the commission equally recognized that, in order to be able
to proceed to an equitable distribution of available resources among
the creditors of the government, it was necessary that the law of
liquidation should be binding upon all creditors and be so
recognized by the tribunals of the reform;
Whereas Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Great Britain, and Italy
have declared that they accept in advance the law that shall be
prepared by the commission constituted by virtue of the present
decree, and have engaged to bring collectively such law to the
knowledge of the other powers who have taken part in the
establishment of the mixed tribunals in Egypt and invite them to
adhere thereto;
The favorable opinion of our council of ministers being taken;
We decree:
- Article 1. A commission of
liquidation is instituted. After having examined, in its
entirety, the financial situation, and after having heard
the observations of the parties interested, this commission
shall prepare, taking as a starting point the conclusions of
the superior commission of inquiry, and without modifying
the conditions of the domanial loan, a draft of a law
regulating the relations of the government as well as those
of the Daïrns Sanieh and Khassa with their creditors, and
determining the condition and the forms under which the
liquidation of the non-consolidated debt is to be brought
about.
- Art. 2. The commission shall
determine the resouces that can be placed at the disposal of
the creditors of either the consolidated or non-consolidated
debt, but it must first of all take into account, with the
assent of the council of ministers and controllers, the
necessity of reserving to the government the free disposal
of the sums indispensable for ensuring the regular working
of the public service. To this end communication shall be
made to it (the commission) of the budget for the year
during which it shall exercise its functions, and also of
the budgets for the preceding years that shall be needed by
it for taking into exact account the needs of the Egyptian
treasury.
- Art. 3. The controllers-general
shall furnish to the commission such documents and
supplementary explanations as shall be of a character to
give it information in the accomplishment of its task. It
shall transmit through them, either to Us or to Our
ministers, the observations that it shall have to make to
the government.
- Art. 4. The commission shall
have the right to superintend, together with the
controllers-general, the enforcement of the provisions that
shall have been fixed upon by it; and the duration of its
powers, after the publication of the decree of liquidation,
may be prolonged, to this end, for a space that shall not
exceed three months. At the expiration of this space of time
the commission shall, in any event, be by rights
dissolved.
- Art. 5. The law that shall be
prepared by the commission shall be clothed with Our
sanction and published by Us. From the time of its
publication, this law shall be binding and without appeal,
notwithstanding the provisions of the “Règlement d’Organisation judiciaire” and the codes
of the reform (tribunals).
- Art. 6 This commission shall be
appointed by decree. It shall be composed of two
commissioners designated by each of the Governments of
France and of Great Britain, and of one commissioner
designated by each of the Governments of Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The Egyptain Government shall
cause itself to be represented by a delegate in this
commission.
- Art. 7. The credit necessary for
the labors of this commission shall be opened by Us, in
conformity with the report that shall be presented to Us for
this end by the president of the commission.
- Art. 8. Our ministers are
intrusted, each in so far as concerns him, with the
execution of the present decree.
Done at the palace of Abdin, the 31st March, 1880 (20
Rabi-el-Akker, 1297).
MEHEMET TEWFIK.
By the Khedive:
The President of the Council of
Ministers:
Riaz.
