The principles of taxation are not new. Many of the taxes are the same in kind as those which were formerly in force not only under Egyptian rule, but also under the Khalifa’s. It was wisely decided that no innovations should be introduced based on Western notions, unless they were unavoidable. The taxes are of a kind to which the people have long been accustomed, but, of course, great care is taken that they shall be fixed at a moderate rate, and that no one shall pay more than is actually required by law. It was the uncertainty of the amount to be paid, the illegal imposts levied by the collector on his own account, and the dates at which they were collected, that made the old taxes so often cruel and ruinous. The uncertainty of the amount to be paid had, however, an attraction for the Oriental. It varied with the circumstances of the year. The Government wished to get all they could, and in a good year they exacted a most excessive amount; but in a bad year they took little or nothing at all. According to the Western system a fixed moderate amount has to be paid every year, and a whole or partial failure of the crop is not considered any excuse. The latter system is, of course, far the most just and economically sound, but it lacks the elasticity of the other. It is the constant endeavour of European administrators in Oriental countries to endeavour to combine the advantages of both systems. In the Soudan the system of petitions direct to the Governor-General is a means to secure this result. When adequate cause is shown, he is able to remit taxation wholly or partly, and there have been several cases in which he has done so, notably in Berber and Dongola Provinces in 1900, when the low Nile caused a great deal of land to be thrown out of cultivation. Of course, such remissions are inclined to play havoc with a Budget framed on careful estimates. It cannot be helped, and at any rate it is only one of many difficulties which have to be encountered in balancing a Soudan Budget. Unforeseen expenditure often becomes necessary, but happily during the last two or three years the receipts have been increasing unexpectedly also.