OCR Text |
Show Egyptian Government, no irrigation or power works or measures are to "be constructed or taken on the River Nile and its branches, or on the lakes from which it flows, so far as all these are in the Sudan or in countries under British administration, which would in such a manner as to entail any prejudice to the interests of Egypt, either reduce the quantity of water arriving in Egypt, or modify the date of its arrival, or lower its level." In the reply of the British High Commissioner (Lord Lloyd) of the same date, it was stated% n2. In confirming the arrangements mutually agreed upon as recited in your Excellency's note, I am to express the gratification of His Britannic Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great •Britain and Northern Ireland that these discussions have led to a settlement which cannot fail to facil- itate development and to promote prosperity in Egypt and the Sudan* nh* In conclusion, I would remind your Excel- lency that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom have already,acknowledged the natural and historical rights of Egypt in the waters of the Nile. I am to state that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom regard the safeguarding of those rights as a fundamental principle of British policy . . .'? It was stated in the Nile Commission's Report, dated March 21, 1926 and enclosed with the Egyptian note, which according to the latter was "consider- ed an integral part of the present agreement", that - "21, Precedents in this, matter of water allo- cation are rare and practice varied; and the Com- mission is aware of no generally adopted code or standard practice upon which" the settlement of a question of interrcommunal water allocation might "be based. Moreover, there are in the present case special factors, historical, political and tech- nical, which might render inappropriate too strict an application of principles adopted elsewhere. The Commission, having regard to the previous history of the question, the present position as regards de- velopment, and the circumstances attending its own .appointment, decided to approach its task with the object of devising a practical working arrangement which would respeot the needs of established irri- gation, while permitting such programme of extension -37- |