The increase in the cotton crop, due mainly to extended irrigation, has been from 2,846,237 kantars[181] in 1882, to 5,954,000 kantars in 1898.
The improvement in the Foreign Trade is shown by the fact that the value of the exports of merchandise increased from £E.10,418,213 in 1888 to £E.11,706,258 in 1898, and the value of the imports during the same period from £E.7,738,343 to £E.10,811,151. The Customs Revenue (which amounted in 1882 to only £E.624,312) was more than doubled between the dates above given, the returns in 1888 being £E.959,939, and in 1898; £E.2,040,000.[182]
The progress made by the railways, post office, and telegraph administrations since the commencement of the Occupation is shown by the following figures:—
RECEIPTS.
| Railways. | Post Office. | Telegraphs. | |
| £E. | £E. | £E. | |
| 1883 | 1,213,000 | 102,000 | 67,000 |
| 1898 | 2,031,569 | 122,867 | 60,685[183] |
According to Sir Elwin Palmer, 212 miles of new railways were opened between 1881 and 1897.
The advance made in regard to Education appears from the fact that the expenditure on Public Instruction in the fifteen years ending in 1897 increased by over 37 per cent., the number of Government schools rose from 29 to 51, and the number of pupils from 2,000 to over 11,000.
The increase in the population, before referred to, is the more remarkable when the drain occasioned by the repeated wars in the Soudan is taken into account. In 1882 the inhabitants of Egypt numbered 6,813,919, and in 1897, when the last census was taken, the population had risen to 9,734,405, showing an augmentation of no less than 2,920,486, or 43 per cent., in the space of 15 years.
It may be observed that Lane gives the population of Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs as between six and seven millions. A French historian, M. Mengin, puts the population in the time of Mehemet Ali as only 2,900,000.
Hitherto, mention has only been made of the advantages actually accrued to Egypt under British guidance. But if the gigantic irrigation works recently undertaken in Upper Egypt, known as "The Reservoir Scheme," fulfil only partially the expectations formed with regard to them, the benefits which the country will receive in the future will far exceed anything in the past.