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CHAPTER 2
Basic Cost Management Concepts
FOCUS ON ETHICS (Located before the Chapter Summary in the text.)
Was WorldCom’s controller just following orders?
The WorldCom controller allegedly did not perform his professional duties in accordance
with relevant laws, regulations, and ethical standards for practitioners of managerial
accounting and financial management. The justification that the controller makes for this
alleged unethical duping of investors, that he was ordered to do so by senior
management, is an insufficient defense of his actions. He was legally and ethically
obliged to find and correct accounting errors, and to make an accurate representation of
the firm’s financial position to his fellow managers, the board of directors, and the
investing public. Sometimes, because of negligence or conflicts of interest, senior
management may accidentally or purposely give unethical instructions. The controller is
obliged under these circumstances to uphold his professional integrity and insist on an
appropriate treatment of the accounting information.
ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
2-1 Product costs are costs that are associated with manufactured goods until the time
period during which the products are sold, when the product costs become expenses.
Period costs are expensed during the time period in which they are incurred.
2-2 Product costs are also called inventoriable costs because they are assigned to
manufactured goods that are inventoried until a later period, when the products are
sold. The product costs remain in the Work-in-Process or Finished-Goods Inventory
account until the time period when the goods are sold.
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2-3 The most important difference between a manufacturing firm and a service industry
firm, with regard to the classification of costs, is that the goods produced by a
manufacturing firm are inventoried, whereas the services produced by a service
industry firm are consumed as they are produced. Thus, the costs incurred in
manufacturing products are treated as product costs until the period during which the
goods are sold. Most of the costs incurred in a service industry firm to produce
services are operating expenses that are treated as period costs.
2-4 Product costs include the backpack’s direct material (e.g., fabric, stitching, zippers
and pulls), direct labor involved in production, and various manufacturing overhead
costs (e.g., electricity, insurance on the plant, and depreciation on plant and
equipment).
Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-1
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2-5 The four types of production processes are as follows:
▪ Job shop: Low production volume; little standardization; one-of-a-kind
products. Examples include custom home construction, feature film
production, and ship building.
▪ Batch: Multiple products; low volume. Examples include construction
equipment, tractor trailers, and cabin cruisers.
▪ Assembly: A few major products; higher volume. Examples include kitchen
appliances and automobile assembly.
▪ Continuous flow: High production volume; highly standardized commodity
products. Examples include food processing, textiles, lumber, and chemicals.
2-6 The cost of idle time is treated as manufacturing overhead because it is a normal cost
of the manufacturing operation that should be spread out among all of the
manufactured products. The alternative to this treatment would be to charge the cost
of idle time to a particular job that happens to be in process when the idle time occurs.
Idle time often results from a random event, such as a power outage. Charging the
cost of the idle time resulting from such a random event to only the job that happened
to be in process at the time would overstate the cost of that job.
2-7 Overtime premium is included in manufacturing overhead in order to spread the extra
cost of the overtime over all of the products produced, since overtime often is a normal
cost of the manufacturing operation. The alternative would be to charge the overtime
premium to the particular job in process during overtime. In most cases, such
treatment would overstate the cost of that job, since it is only coincidental that a
particular job happened to be done on overtime. The need for overtime to complete a
particular job results from the fact that other jobs were completed during regular
hours.
2-8 The phrase “different costs for different purposes” refers to the fact that the word
“cost” can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. Cost
data that are classified and recorded in a particular way for one purpose may be
inappropriate for another use.
2-9 The city of Tampa would use cost information for planning when it developed a budget
for its operations during the next year. Included in that budget would be projected
costs for police and fire protection, street maintenance, and city administration. At the
end of the year this budget would be used for cost control. The actual costs incurred
would be compared to projected costs in the budget. City administrators would also
use cost data in making decisions, such as where to locate a new fire station.
2-10 A fixed cost remains constant in total across changes in activity, whereas the total
variable cost changes in proportion to the level of activity.
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2-2 Solutions Manual
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2-11 The fixed cost per unit declines as the level of activity (or cost driver) increases.
Specifically, it declines at a decreasing rate: going from one unit produced to two
divides the fixed cost per unit in half; going from two units to three divides it into
thirds; three to four into fourths, etc. The cost per unit is reduced because the total
fixed cost, which does not change as activity changes, is spread over a larger number
of activity units.
2-12 The variable cost per unit remains constant as the level of activity (or cost driver)
changes. Total variable costs change in proportion to activity, and the additional
variable cost when one unit of activity is added is the variable cost per unit.
2-13 A volume-based cost driver, such as the number of passengers, causes costs to be
incurred because of the quantity of service offered by the airline. An operations-based
cost driver, such as hub domination, affects costs because of the basic way in which
the airline conducts its operations. Greater control over a hub airport's facilities and
services gives an airline greater ability to control its operating costs.
2-14 a. Number of students: volume-based cost driver. This characteristic of the college
relates to the quantity of services provided.
b. Number of disciplines offered for study: operations-based cost driver. The greater
the diversity in a college's course offerings, the greater will be the costs incurred,
regardless of the overall size of the student body.
c. Urban versus rural location: operations-based cost driver. A college's location will
affect the type of housing and food facilities required, the cost of obtaining
services, and the cost of transportation for college employees acting on behalf of
the college.
2-15 Examples of direct costs of the food and beverage department in a hotel include the
money spent on the food and beverages served, the wages of table service personnel,
and the costs of entertainment in the dining room and lounge. Examples of indirect
costs of the food and beverage department include allocations of the costs of
advertising for the entire hotel, of the costs of the grounds and maintenance
department, and of the hotel general manager's salary.
2-16 Costs that are likely to be controllable by a city's airport manager include the wages
of personnel hired by the airport manager, the cost of heat and light in the airport
manager's administrative offices, and the cost of some materials consumed in the
process of operating the airport, such as cleaning, painting, and maintenance
materials. Costs that are likely to be uncontrollable by the city's airport manager
include depreciation of the airport facilities, fees paid by the airport to the federal
government for air traffic control services, and insurance for the airport employees
and patrons.
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Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-3
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2-17 a. Uncontrollable cost
b. Controllable cost
c. Uncontrollable cost
2-18 Out-of-pocket costs are paid in cash at or near the time they are incurred. An
opportunity cost is the potential benefit given up when the choice of one action
precludes the selection of a different action.
2-19 A sunk cost is a cost that was incurred in the past and cannot be altered by any current
or future decision. A differential cost is the difference in a cost item under two decision
alternatives.
2-20 A marginal cost is the extra cost incurred in producing one additional unit of output.
The average cost is the total cost of producing a particular quantity of product or
service, divided by the number of units of product or service produced.
2-21 The process of registering for classes varies widely among colleges and universities,
and the responses to this question will vary as well. Examples of information that
might be useful include the credit requirements and course requirements to obtain a
particular degree, and a list of the prerequisites for each of the elective courses in a
particular major. Such information could help the student plan an academic program
over several semesters or quarters. An example of information that might create
information overload is a comprehensive listing of every course offered by the college
in the past five years.
2-22 The purchase cost of the old bar code scanners is a sunk cost, since it occurred in the
past and cannot be changed by any future course of action. The manager is exhibiting
a common behavioral tendency to pay too much attention to sunk costs.
2-23 a. Direct cost
b. Direct cost
c. Indirect cost
d. Indirect cost
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2-4 Solutions Manual
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SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES
EXERCISE 2-24 (10 MINUTES)
The general formula for solving all three cases is as follows:
Beginning Cost of goods Ending Cost-of-
inventory of
finished goods
+ manufactured
during period
– inventory of
finished goods
= goods sold
expense
Using this formula, we can find the missing amounts as follows:
Case
I II III
Beginning inventory of finished goods............... $ 84,000* $12,000 7,000
Add: Cost of goods manufactured...................... 419,000 95,000 318,000*
Subtract: Ending inventory of finished goods ... 98,000 8,000 21,000
Cost of goods sold ............................................... $405,000 $99,000* $304,000
*Amount missing in exercise.
EXERCISE 2-25 (10 MINUTES)
1. Hours worked .....................................................................................................
Wage rate............................................................................................................
Total compensation ...........................................................................................
40
 $ 18
$720
2. Classification:
Direct labor (36 hours  $18) ....................................................................... $648
Overhead (idle time: 4 hours  $18)............................................................ 72
Total compensation...................................................................................... $720
EXERCISE 2-26 (10 MINUTES)
1. Regular wages (40 hours  $16) ....................................................................... $ 640
Overtime wages (5 hours  $24) ....................................................................... 120
Total compensation ........................................................................................... $ 760
2. Overtime hours................................................................................................... 5 hrs.
Overtime premium per hour ($24 − $16)...........................................................
Total overtime premium.....................................................................................
 $ 8
$ 40
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Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-5
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EXERCISE 2-26 (CONTINUED)
3. Classification:
Direct labor (45 hours  $16) ....................................................................... $ 720
Overhead (overtime premium: 5 hours  $8).............................................. 40
Total compensation...................................................................................... $ 760
EXERCISE 2-27 (30 MINUTES)
Mass customization is a production process that allows set modifications to a standardized
product in order to better match the product to customer needs. As a production process, it
combines the standardization of mass production with a limited form of the customization of
a job shop.
The technique seems well suited to Falcon Northwest’s computer-manufacturing
operation for high-end gaming computers because of the company’s direct-selling approach,
in which most customers order customized computer systems on-line. This allows Falcon to
order limited quantities of the components necessary to assemble the customized computer
systems that have been ordered, and delivery is made in a relatively short period of time.
Under this approach, raw-materials and finished-goods inventory levels would be lower.
Manufacturing overhead costs would likely be somewhat higher in order to support the
process of specifying, ordering, receiving and transporting smaller lots of production
components. Direct materials costs should be comparable to other manufacturing
techniques, as long as care is taken to negotiate supply contracts that cover the needs of a
long period of time (so that renegotiations do not have to take place frequently for small
quantities for components), but with slightly higher delivery costs because requirements are
spread over more deliveries. Direct labor cost would likely be higher because the
customization work would be less routinized.
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2-6 Solutions Manual
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EXERCISE 2-28 (20 MINUTES)
1. Tire costs: Product cost, variable, direct material
2. Sales commissions: Period cost, variable
3. Wood glue: Product cost, variable, either direct material or manufacturing overhead
(indirect material) depending on how significant the cost is
4. Wages of security guards: Product cost, fixed (with respect to amount produced) or
variable (with respect to hours worked) [either answer is acceptable], manufacturing
overhead
5. Salary of financial vice-president: Period cost, fixed
6. Advertising costs: Period cost, fixed
7. Straight-line depreciation: Product cost, fixed, manufacturing overhead
8. Wages of assembly-line personnel: Product cost, variable, direct labor
9. Delivery costs on customer shipments: Period cost, variable
10. Newsprint consumed: Product cost, variable, direct material
11. Plant insurance: Product cost, fixed, manufacturing overhead
12. LED costs: Product cost, variable, direct material
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Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-7
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EXERCISE 2-29 (25 MINUTES)
1. ALEXANDRIA ALUMINUM COMPANY
SCHEDULE OF COST OF GOODS MANUFACTURED
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20X1
Direct material:
Raw-material inventory, January 1........................................ $ 60,000
Add: Purchases of raw material............................................. 250,000
Raw material available for use............................................... $310,000
Deduct: Raw-material inventory, December 31 .................... 70,000
Raw material used................................................................... $240,000
Direct labor ................................................................................... 400,000
Manufacturing overhead:
Indirect material ...................................................................... $ 10,000
Indirect labor........................................................................... 25,000
Depreciation on plant and equipment ................................... 100,000
Utilities..................................................................................... 25,000
Other ........................................................................................ 30,000
Total manufacturing overhead............................................... 190,000
Total manufacturing costs........................................................... $830,000
Add: Work-in-process inventory, January 1 .............................. 120,000
Subtotal......................................................................................... $950,000
Deduct: Work-in-process inventory, December 31.................... 115,000
Cost of goods manufactured....................................................... $835,000
2. ALEXANDRIA ALUMINUM COMPANY
SCHEDULE OF COST OF GOODS SOLD
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20X1
Finished-goods inventory, January 1 ........................................................... $150,000
Add: Cost of goods manufactured................................................................ 835,000
Cost of goods available for sale.................................................................... $985,000
Deduct: Finished-goods inventory, December 31 ....................................... 165,000
Cost of goods sold......................................................................................... $820,000
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EXERCISE 2-30 (25 MINUTES)
2-8 Solutions Manual
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EXERCISE 2-29 (CONTINUED)
3. ALEXANDRIA ALUMINUM COMPANY
INCOME STATEMENT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20X1
Sales revenue................................................................................................ . $1,105,000
Less: Cost of goods sold............................................................................... 820,000
Gross margin.................................................................................................. $ 285,000
Selling and administrative expenses............................................................ 110,000
Income before taxes....................................................................................... $ 175,000
Income tax expense ....................................................................................... 70,000
Net income...................................................................................................... $ 105,000
4. In the electronic version of the solutions manual, press the CTRL key and click on
the following link: Build a Spreadsheet 02-29.xls
EXERCISE 2-30 (15 MINUTES)
Total costs:
Number of Muffler Replacements
500 600 700
Fixed costs.................................................................. (a) $42,000 $42,000 (b) $42,000
Variable costs.............................................................. (c) 25,000 30,000 (d) 35,000
Total costs............................................................. (e) $67,000 $72,000 (f) $77,000
Cost per muffler replacement:
Fixed cost .................................................................... (g) $ 84 (h) $ 70 (i) $ 60
Variable cost................................................................ (j) 50 (k) 50 (l) 50
Total cost per muffler replacement ..................... (m) $134 (n) $120 (o) $110
Explanatory Notes:
(a) Total fixed costs do not vary with activity.
(c) Variable cost per replacement = $30,000/600 = $50
Total variable cost for 500 replacements = $50  500 = $25,000
(g) Fixed cost per replacement = $42,000/500 = $84
(j ) Variable cost per replacement = $25,000/500 = $50
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Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-9
EXERCISE 2-31 (15 MINUTES)
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1. Phone bill, January: $100 + ($.25  6,000) ........................................ $1,600
Phone bill, February: $100 + ($.25  5,000)....................................... $1,350
2. Cost per call, January: $1,600/6,000..................................................
Cost per call, February: $1,350/5,000................................................
$ .267 (rounded)
$ .27
3. Fixed component, January ................................................................ $ 100
Variable component, January: $.25  6,000...................................... 1,500
Total..................................................................................................... $1,600
4. Since each phone call costs $.25, the marginal cost of making the 6,001st call is $.25.
5. The average cost of a phone call in January (rounded) is $.267 ($1,600/6,000).
EXERCISE 2-32 (5 MINUTES)
Martin Shrood's expenditure is a sunk cost. It is irrelevant to any future decision Martin may
make about the land.
EXERCISE 2-33 (5 MINUTES)
Annual cost using European component: $8,900  10............................................ $89,000
Annual cost using Part A200: ($5,100 + $500)  10.................................................. 56,000
Annual differential cost .............................................................................................. $33,000
EXERCISE 2-34 (5 MINUTES)
1. The $14,000 is the opportunity cost associated with using the computer in the
Department of Education for work in the governor's office.
2. The $14,000 leasing cost should be assigned to the governor's office. It was incurred
as a result of activity in that office.
EXERCISE 2-32 (15 MINUTES)
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2-10 Solutions Manual
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of the Nile force in his absence as follows:—
"On 1st June, troops at Merawi start for Dongola,
at which place and Abu Fatmeh I propose to
concentrate force now up the Nile. This movement will
be completed by 1st July.
"In the meantime, railway to Ferket will be in a
forward state, and able to assist greatly in the
movement of troops and Civil Government officers on
Wady Halfa. At present nearly all the troops are in
huts; to move them in this present hot weather will be
very trying to their health.
"When troops are concentrated at Dongola and
Abu Fatmeh I shall expect orders before I move them
to Wady Halfa."
On the 27th April Wolseley was informed that he was to act in
accordance with the proposals contained in his telegram of the 24th.
The concentration, he was instructed, should be deliberate, but the
movement from Merawi was to begin at once.
Wolseley and his staff left Cairo on April 29th and immediately
embarked for Souakim.
General Buller and Sir Charles Wilson being asked their opinions,
both reported strongly against a withdrawal from Dongola, and their
views were supported by Sir Evelyn Baring.
All argument, however, was in vain. The Government remained
unconvinced.
In the beginning of May the Merawi detachment moved down to
Dongola, and on the 13th the evacuation of the latter place
commenced.
The Soudan having to be abandoned, the Government evinced
some desire to consider how far some sort of government could be
set on foot for the province of Dongola.
Sir E. Baring, to whom a question was addressed on the subject,
referred to Wolseley and General Buller. The former, regarding the
matter from a military point of view, replied that a railway ought to
be made to Hannek (just below the town of New Dongola), and the
end of the line held by a British battalion, and Dongola itself should
be garrisoned by 2,000 black troops. The present "Wekil," according
to Wolseley, should be appointed Mudir. "It was safer," added his
Lordship, "to attempt this than to hand Dongola over to the Mahdi
and anarchy."
Buller replied that he did not think it possible to establish a
government as proposed, and that the first thing to be considered
was who was to take charge of it. His opinion was that no force of
blacks that could be got together would be sufficient to hold the
province. He added that he did not believe the railway to Hannek to
be anything but a waste of money; it would besides require all the
present force as a covering party; he believed the British were
withdrawing just as the fruit was falling into their hands; concluding
with the sentence, "I do not believe that when we leave Dongola
any one else will keep the Mahdi out."
Sir E. Baring, in forwarding the above opinions, said that "in view
of the decision of the Government he thought that instructions
should be given to send down all troops, and as many of the civil
population as wished to leave, to Wady Halfa," and concluded in the
following words:—
"Your Lordship will understand that we make this
recommendation only because we consider it to be the
necessary consequence of the decision of Her
Majesty's Government to abandon the province of
Dongola at once, but that it must in no way be taken
to imply our agreement with that decision.
"Nubar Pasha, on behalf of the Egyptian
Government, requests me to make a final and most
earnest appeal to the Government of Her Majesty to
postpone the departure of the British troops from
Dongola for, say, six months, in order that there may
be at least a chance of establishing a government
there.
"Nubar Pasha fears that the retreat of the British
from Dongola will react on Egypt, and especially on the
southern provinces, to such an extent as will render it
impossible for the Khedive's Government to maintain
order, and that they will be forced to appeal to Her
Majesty's Government for help to preserve order in the
country, and that thus the present system of
government which Her Majesty's Government have
been at so much trouble to maintain will be found no
longer possible."
Nubar's appeal had no effect, and the question of the future
government of Dongola occupied the British Cabinet no more. On
the 14th May, Sir E. Baring was informed that it was the intention to
withdraw the whole force to Wady Halfa.
On the 16th Wolseley telegraphed his idea as to the British force
which should remain at Korosko and Wady Halfa.
This was approved by the Government, and the troops continued
their journey down the Nile.
The departure of the soldiers from Dongola was accompanied by
the exodus of a large portion of the native population, who feared to
be left exposed to the vengeance of the Mahdi.
Mr. Gladstone's Ministry retired from office on 12th June, and on
the Conservative Cabinet coming into power, one of the first
questions with which it occupied itself was that of Egypt.
It was impossible for the Ministry of Lord Salisbury to at once
reverse the Egyptian policy of their predecessors, but the new
Premier declared that "England had a mission in Egypt, and that
until it was accomplished it was idle to talk of withdrawal."
The evacuation of the Soudan, however, stood on a different
footing. The steps taken by Mr. Gladstone's Government were so far
advanced that the measure was already practically a fait accompli.
As Lord Salisbury stated, "the whole of the Soudan down to Dongola
had been already evacuated, and the whole of the province of
Dongola, with the exception of a rear-guard left at Debbeh, had
been evacuated also; and 12,000 of the luckless population, to avoid
the vengeance of the Mahdi, had fled from their houses and taken
refuge in Upper Egypt."
It was not, however, without inquiry that Lord Salisbury's
Cabinet determined to proceed with the evacuation. Wolseley was
again consulted, and in a despatch of 27th June he wrote:—
"You cannot get out of Egypt for many years to
come. If the present policy of retreat be persisted in
the Mahdi will become stronger and stronger, and you
will have to increase your garrisons and submit to the
indignity of being threatened by him. Eventually you
will have to fight him to hold your position in Egypt,
which you will then do with the population round you
ready on any reverse to rise against you. No frontier
force can keep Mahdism out of Egypt, and the Mahdi
sooner or later must be smashed, or he will smash
you.
"To advance in the autumn on Khartoum and
discredit the Mahdi by a serious defeat on his own
ground would certainly finish him. The operation, if
done deliberately, would be a simple one; and, as far
as anything can be a certainty in war, it would be a
certainty. Until this is done there will be no peace in
Egypt, and your military expenditure will be large and
increasing. My advice, therefore, is, carry out autumn
campaign up the Nile, as originally intended. I would
leave Souakim as it is."
On the 2nd July the Government telegraphed that—
"Her Majesty's Government, after a full
consideration of all the circumstances, were not
prepared to reverse the orders given by their
predecessors by countermanding the retreat of the
force from Dongola."
Thus the policy of evacuation was affirmed.
General Brackenbury with the last of the rear-guard left Dongola
on the 5th, and followed the rest of the troops down to Cairo.
On the 6th July Wolseley handed over the command of the
British troops to General Stephenson, and in a few weeks the
greater part of the officers and men forming the expedition had left
Egypt.
The services of the officers and men forming the Gordon Relief
Expedition were referred to by Lord Salisbury on the 12th August in
moving in the House of Lords a vote of thanks in the following
words:—
"In considering their merits you must keep out of
sight altogether the precise results and outcome of the
labours they have gone through and the dangers they
have incurred. Of course this is not the moment at
which to broach controversial topics, and I only wish to
say that you must look upon this fact—that they failed
to fulfil the main purpose for which they were sent out
through no fault of their own. The prize of success was
taken from them, as it were by an overmastering
destiny, by the action of causes, whatever their nature,
over which they themselves had no more control than
they would have over a tempest or earthquake."138
There can be no doubt that Lord Salisbury's eulogium was well
deserved.
The merits of the officers and men were unquestionable. That
they did not succeed was owing to the incapacity of those who sent
them, at the wrong time, by the wrong route, on their fruitless
errand.
CHAPTER LII.
CONTINUATION.
The preceding chapter brings the narrative down to the summer
of 1885, at which period the First Edition of the present work was
brought to a close.
In the final chapter the errors of British policy in Egypt were
dealt with. It was pointed out how the dilatory fashion in which
England intervened to suppress the Arabi revolt led to its indefinite
prolongation; how when Alexandria had been destroyed, and
massacres had taken place all over the country, a British army was
sent too late to avert these disasters; how when the Arabi
insurrection had been put down, and that of the Mahdi took its
place, England reduced the Army of Occupation, and left Egypt to
attempt to cope single-handed with the revolt; how in 1884, when
Tokar and Sinkat were cut off, England sent an army to the relief of
those places only in time to find that they had already fallen; how
when many British lives had been sacrificed, and thousands of
Soudanese had been slaughtered in the Eastern Soudan, England,
instead of crushing Osman Digna and opening the route to Berber,
withdrew her troops only to send another expedition in the following
year, when too late to accomplish those very objects; finally, how,
having sent Gordon to bring away the garrisons in the Soudan,
England, again too late, despatched an expedition to his rescue.
The feeble manner in which the reform of Egyptian institutions
had been taken in hand was also indicated, and it was pointed out
how England, by declaring that her stay in the country was only to
be short-lived, added to the difficulty of carrying any of such reforms
into effect.
With regard to the Drummond-Wolff Convention of the 24th
October, 1885, it was foretold that the inquiry provided for into
Egyptian affairs would be illusory, and the withdrawal of the Army of
Occupation, which the Convention was to effect, was one of those
events which might safely be relegated to the remote future.
It was pointed out that, whatever the future of Egypt under
British guidance might be, it was impossible that it could be marked
by greater errors than had been witnessed in the past, and, in
conclusion, advice was given in the words following:—
"Put the Administration really, instead of nominally
and half-heartedly, under English control. Discard all
idea of going away in two years, or twenty years, or
two hundred years, if the country is not brought to
order and prosperity by that time. Declare that as long
as England remains she will be responsible for
Egyptian finances, and for the safety and property of
Europeans. Simplify as much as possible the official
staff and system, and take proper steps for securing
whatever point may be needed as the frontier."
It is satisfactory to be able to observe that since the above was
written much has been done in the way of following the Author's
recommendations. The firm attitude adopted with regard to Egypt by
Lord Salisbury's Ministry on its accession to office in 1885 has been
maintained by succeeding Governments, and with the happiest
results. One Egyptian administration after another has been taken in
hand, abuses have been suppressed, corruption reduced to a
minimum, and order and regularity introduced. The finances have
been placed on a sound footing; reforms have been everywhere
inaugurated; and tranquillity reigns throughout the country, which
has arrived at a pitch of prosperity such as in modern times it has
never before attained. In addition, as a result of the improvements
made in her military system, Egypt, with England's aid, has been
enabled to suppress a formidable insurrection, and to regain the
most valuable of her lost provinces.
The different steps by which all this has been brought about may
be gleaned, partially at least, from the following pages.
CHAPTER LIII.
THE MAHDIST INVASION.
It was not unnatural that the retirement of the Gordon Relief
Expedition, in 1885, should have inspired the Mahdi with the idea
that the moment had now arrived for the fulfilment of what he
regarded as part of his Divine mission, viz., the invasion of Egypt.
Two British armies had been sent, in two successive years, to the
Eastern Soudan, and both, after a certain amount of fighting, had
been withdrawn, whilst a third, despatched for the relief of
Khartoum, had, when almost at the gates of Khartoum, been forced
to retrace its steps, and retreat down the Nile. What ensued was
only the result foretold by Lord Wolseley when he prophetically
declared to Her Majesty's Government that "the struggle with the
Mahdi, or rather with Mahdism, must come sooner or later.
Eventually you will have to fight him to hold your position in Egypt.
No frontier force can keep Mahdism out of Egypt, and the Mahdi,
sooner or later, must be smashed, or he will smash you."139
When, as stated in another chapter, the last of the British troops
left Dongola on 5th July, 1885, an Egyptian frontier field force,
composed of British and Egyptian troops, was formed, and placed
under the command of Major-General Grenfell, Sir Evelyn Wood's
successor as Sirdar of the Egyptian army. His head-quarters were
fixed at Assouan, whilst Brigadier-General Butler commanded the
advanced brigade at Wady Halfa, with outposts at Kosheh, about
forty-two miles south of the railway terminus at Akasheh.
The Mahdi's plans for the invasion of Egypt were formed as early
as May, in fact, as soon as he was able to make sure of the break-up
of the Nile Expedition.
The idea was to make the advance in two river columns, under
the command of the Emirs Abd-el-Medjid and Mohammed-el-Kheir
respectively, who were to march on Wady Halfa, whilst a third
column was to cross the desert from Abu Hamid to Korosko, thus
cutting the communications of the defensive force at Wady Halfa.
The death of the Mahdi in the month of June by no means
interfered with the carrying out of this programme, his successor,
the Khalifa Abdullah-el-Taaishi, being almost as capable a leader as
his predecessor, and even more oppressive and unscrupulous.
Notwithstanding that Omdurman, which had become the
Khalifa's capital, was ravaged by famine and small-pox, the
preparations for the advance continued, and by the early part of
August Debbeh and Old Dongola were occupied by the forces of
Abd-el-Medjid, numbering 4,000 men. By the end of the month the
whole of the country south of Dongola was in the hands of the
Khalifa's troops. On the 24th, Wad-en-Nejumi, one of the chief
Emirs, was reported as having left Omdurman with a large force,
going north. It must not be supposed that the expedition was
popular with the Khalifa's soldiers, but unfortunately they had no
choice in the matter. They are said to have declared, "Our brothers
are dead; the English shoot well, and we have nothing to eat."
From Dongola the invaders proceeded north along the Nile, till,
on the 20th September, they had reached as far as Hafir. The
Dervish forces at that place, and at Dongola, were estimated at
7,000 by the beginning of October.
Meanwhile, another army was marching on Abu Hamid, where
3,000 men arrived in the latter part of October.
Seeing that the Dervish attack was impending, steps were taken
to meet the emergency. Two gunboats were sent to patrol the river
above Akasheh, and the post at that place was strengthened by the
sending of a force of Egyptian Mounted Infantry, and a half battalion
of black troops.
On the 26th October General Grenfell telegraphed from Assouan
to General Stephenson for another battalion to be sent him from
Cairo, adding, "We should now look upon an advance on Egypt as
merely a question of time, and be thoroughly prepared." On 4th
November, Captain Hunter (now Sir Archibald Hunter), of the
Intelligence Department, reported that 8,000 of the enemy had
crossed to Abu Fatmeh, and that everything indicated an immediate
advance. On the next day news was received that the enemy was
advancing on both banks, Mohammed-el-Kheir on the east, and Abd-
el-Medjid on the west, with the object of cutting off the
communications of the advanced force, and preventing
reinforcements reaching it.
A few days later, viz., on the 17th, it became known that 8,000
Dervishes had reached Dulgo,140 and that the advanced guard was
at Absarat, whence it was to march on Khanak, to cut the Wady
Haifa railway.
On the 27th, it was reported that 7,000 of the enemy were
occupying the heights near Ammara, a few miles south of Ginnis,
and that 4,000 more were now at Abu Hamid. Three days afterwards
a spy gave information that 1,000 mounted men had left by the
desert for the north of Akasheh, and that another thousand had
crossed the river to the west bank, the intention being to make a
simultaneous attack on Kosheh, Akasheh, and the railway.
The news of the Dervish advance now caused widespread alarm
in Cairo, as well as in Egypt generally, and, to preserve public order,
the police force had to be reinforced, more especially in the frontier
provinces. Steps were, at the same time, taken to strengthen the
Army of Occupation by sending two additional battalions from the
United Kingdom.
On the 30th November, General Butler and his staff left Wady
Halfa for the front at Akasheh, and General Grenfell moved up to
Wady Halfa. At this date the frontier force was disposed as follows:—
At Kosheh, 600 British and 300 Egyptians; at Mograkeh, 260
Egyptians; at Sarkamatto and Dal, 200 Egyptians; at Akasheh, 600
British and 350 Egyptians; and at Wady Halfa, 500 British and 350
Egyptians; total, 3,160 men. In addition to these, small detachments
were posted at Ambigol Wells, Sarras, and other places.
A skirmish, which took place at Ginnis on the 29th, showed that
the main body of the enemy was posted in front of Kosheh, where it
had arrived on the previous day.141
On the 3rd December, Captain Hunter engaged the advance
party of the enemy, with Gardner guns and rifles, with considerable
effect, several horsemen and foot-soldiers being killed.
Meanwhile an attempt had been made by the Dervishes to cut
the line of communications at Ambigol Wells, where a small post of
only thirty men of the Berkshire and West Kent Regiments was
established in a fort. The Dervish force attacked with men, mounted
and on foot, and one gun. They were driven off with some loss on
the 2nd December, but on the two following days returned to the
attack. Several sorties were made by the little garrison, until the
arrival of reinforcements on the 4th caused the besiegers to retire.
At 6.15 a.m. on the 12th, 3,000 Dervishes attacked a fort
constructed at Mograkeh, near Kosheh, and got within 100 yards of
it. The garrison of the fort, consisting of 300 men of the Egyptian
army, behaved with great steadiness, and repulsed the attack. After
the skirmish, the enemy moved to the village of Ferket, a place on
the river north of Ginnis, and occupied it, From this point they
retired to the hills. Two men killed and half a dozen wounded
represented the Egyptian loss.
This was followed, on the night of the 15th, by a further attack
on Kosheh from a battery erected on sand hills on the western bank,
which was silenced, and the attacking force driven off on the 16th.
All the posts were now rapidly reinforced. General Grenfell had
already arrived at Wady Halfa on the 4th December, and on the 19th
December General Stephenson came from Cairo and assumed the
command of the frontier force, with Grenfell as Chief of the Staff.
Arrangements were promptly made to inflict a crushing blow on
the enemy, who, encouraged by the slight resistance to their
advance hitherto made, had pushed their foremost troops north of
the village of Ginnis, where the main body was established.
At the same time, about 1,000 men, with a gun, threatened the
zeriba on the west bank, held by the Egyptian troops.
On the 29th, Generals Stephenson and Grenfell marched from
Ferket and bivouacked on the east bank below the fort of Kosheh,
where the whole of the fighting force was by this time concentrated.
The troops consisted of—Cavalry,20th Hussars; British Mounted
Infantry and Camel Corps; Egyptian Cavalry and Camel Corps:
Artillery, 1 battery Royal Artillery; 1 Egyptian camel battery and
Gardner guns: Royal Engineers, 1 company: Infantry, 1st Brigade,
under General Butler—Berkshire Regiment, West Kent Regiment, and
Durham Regiment; 2nd Brigade, under Colonel Huyshe—Cameron
Highlanders; Yorkshire Regiment; 1st and 9th Battalions (part only)
of the Egyptian army. Total, about 5,000 men.
On the morning of the 30th, Stephenson attacked and defeated
the Khalifa's forces at Kosheh and the neighbouring village of Ginnis.
On the two preceding days, artillery fire had been kept up on the
enemy's position. At 5 a.m. on the 30th, the whole force advanced.
By daylight the 2nd Brigade and the 1st Egyptian Battalion had
taken up a strong position on the heights above Kosheh, at a
distance of about 1,200 yards from, and directly opposite, the
village. At 6.10 a.m. the British battery attached to this brigade
began to shell Kosheh. A quarter of an hour later the Cameron
Highlanders and two companies of the 9th Soudanese rushed the
houses in gallant style.
The village was captured, together with a brass gun, at 6.50
a.m. The gunboat Lotus co-operated in this movement, and by her
fire inflicted considerable loss on the retreating Dervishes.
Whilst this was going on, the 1st Brigade, under Butler, had
swept round to the south end of the village of Ginnis, and by
daybreak had gained a position on the hills about a mile from the
river. Up to this time, the advance made along the flank of the
enemy's position had escaped observation, but as the eastern sky
behind the advancing troops brightened, the Dervishes, who were
completely surprised, came out from the low ground along the river,
and streamed to the front. Thence they opened an irregular fire,
which, in spite of the Martini-Henrys of the brigade, was maintained
for about forty minutes.
In the meanwhile, the Egyptian battery, attached to the 1st
Brigade, had been brought into action on the right of the position,
and was doing good service. The infantry deploying in line, the West
Kent on the right, and the Berkshire and Durham Regiments on the
left of the guns, kept up a steady fire, assisted by the Egyptian
Camel Corps. Notwithstanding the volleys of the Martini-Henrys, a
large body of spearmen managed to creep up unobserved, through
a deep ravine in front of the line of infantry, to a spot where the
dismounted camels of the Egyptian Camel Corps had been placed.
The spearmen then made so rapid a rush that the men of the
Camel Corps had not time to mount, and so were driven back
fighting hand to hand with their assailants, who pressed them
closely. The West Kent Regiment, which on the attack developing
had been moved to the left of the line, came to the assistance of the
Camel Corps, and shooting down numbers of the enemy, the rest fell
back and fled to the hills. The brigade, then swinging round to the
left, was directed upon the village of Ginnis, and, though time after
time attempts at a stand were made, the enemy were eventually all
dispersed, and at 9.15 the village was occupied, the Dervishes
fleeing south, in the direction of Atab.
The 2nd Brigade, after disposing of Kosheh, had continued its
advance in the direction of Ginnis, which it entered on the eastern
side, a quarter of an hour after the 1st Brigade had taken
possession.
The cavalry went in pursuit of the fugitives until 10 a.m., and by
that time the Dervish army had been dissolved into a mass of
disorganized and terror-stricken Arabs. Many of them crossed over
to the west bank and escaped into the desert.
The camp at Ginnis was seized, and four guns and twenty
standards captured.
The British and Egyptian loss in the fight was only seven killed
and thirty-four wounded, and if, as estimated, out of a force of 6,000
men, the Khalifa's troops had 500 killed and 300 wounded, it must
be admitted that the engagement partook more of the nature of a
battu than a battle.
After the fight, and on the same day, the 1st Brigade advanced
to Atab, five miles to the west of Giniss, whilst the cavalry continued
the pursuit to Abri, which on the following day was occupied by
Buller's brigade.
The action at Ginnis was a serious check to the Khalifa. Not only
had his emir Abd-el-Medjid with eighteen minor chiefs been killed,
but the prestige which the Mahdi's successor enjoyed amongst his
followers had also sustained a severe blow.
The remainder of his scattered-forces was now collected at
Kermeh, about 30 miles north of Dongola, where, under the
command of Mohammed-el-Kheir, they awaited reinforcements.
CHAPTER LIV.
FINANCE, THE SUEZ CANAL, AND
THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION.
In the year 1885, each of the subjects mentioned in the heading
of the present chapter came prominently to the front. In the
following pages it is proposed to deal with the different matters in
succession.
Finance. In July, 1885, Egypt, thanks to the good offices of Great
Britain, was enabled to arrange a very thorny question which had
arisen with regard to her finance. To explain what occurred, it is
necessary to refer to the events which had previously taken place.
Under the financial decrees of Ismail Pasha, certain revenues
were assigned to the Public Debt Commissioners to provide for the
interest and Sinking Fund of the debt. Although, by the Law of
Liquidation accepted by the Powers in 1880, the rate of interest was
reduced, the provision for the Sinking Fund was left untouched, and
the result was that the debt was gradually reduced by about a
million. This, however, was too good a state of things to last. The
expenses caused by the insurrection in the Soudan, the necessity of
providing for the payment of the Alexandria indemnities, and other
pressing claims, not only rendered it impossible for Egypt to
continue the reduction of her existing debt, but made it
indispensable to contract a fresh one in the shape of a new loan.
In March, 1884, at the invitation of Lord Granville, a conference
of the Great Powers was held in London to discuss the situation. To
purchase the goodwill of France, what became known as "The
Anglo-French Convention" was entered into. By this, subject to the
acceptance by the Powers of the British financial proposals, the
British troops in Egypt were to be withdrawn at a fixed date, unless
the Powers, in the meantime, should agree to their remaining. Lord
Granville pointed out the absurdity of Egypt continuing to pay off her
old debts at a moment when the funds at her disposal were
insufficient to meet her current expenditure. The British proposals,
which involved not only a suspension of the Sinking Fund, but also a
further diminution in the rate of interest, were opposed by the
French representative; and Lord Granville, in a somewhat summary
manner, dissolved the conference. Lord Northbrook was then
despatched to Egypt as High Commissioner, and in September, 1884,
no means having been discovered of relieving the financial tension,
the Egyptian Government, under his advice, adopted the strong
measure of directing the governors of the provinces, as well as the
heads of the customs and railway administrations, to pay directly to
the Treasury the balance of their receipts for the current half-year
(which closed on the 25th October), instead of to the "Caisse" of the
debt. It is worthy of remark that there was at this time sufficient
money in the "Caisse" to pay the interest on the debt, and the funds
intercepted would simply have gone to swell the Sinking Fund. The
step, nevertheless, was a clear violation of the existing
arrangements between Egypt and her creditors, and naturally raised
a storm. Protests rained in from all quarters; and some of the
Powers, notably France, Germany, and Russia, used strong
language. The Commissioners of the debt also attacked the
Khedive's Ministers in the Mixed Tribunals. The Egyptian
Government, realizing that it had got into a "tight place," again by
British advice, meekly bowed its head and directed the payments to
the "Caisse" to be resumed. The Cairo Mixed Tribunal on the 18th
December gave judgment directing the Government to refund the
money diverted. This they were absolutely unable to do, and an
appeal was lodged, partly to gain time and partly because the
negotiations with the Powers, abruptly broken off by Lord Granville,
had been in the meantime renewed. At last, on the 18th March,
1885, "The London Convention" came to the aid of Nubar Pasha and
his Cabinet. The effect of this agreement and the declarations dated
the 17th March annexed to it was that the Powers acquiesced in the
issue of a new loan of £9,000,000. Foreigners were made liable to
certain taxes, and the Law of Liquidation was modified. Further than
this, the Mixed Tribunals were declared incompetent to proceed with
the action against the Government. On 27th July, 1885, a decree
embodying these terms was signed, and a situation full of
embarrassment was happily put an end to.
The Suez Canal. It should be mentioned that in the declarations
annexed to "The London Convention" was one which provided that a
commission composed of delegates of the Great Powers should
assemble at an early date to consider the measures to be adopted to
secure the free navigation of the Suez Canal in time of war. What
possible connection there was between this question and that of
Egyptian finance it is hard to say, but, the engagement having been
made, it had to be carried out, and the negotiations were at once
taken in hand.
The International Commission for dealing with the matter held
its first sitting in Paris on the 30th March, 1885, and proceeded to
discuss the various points involved.
As stated in a previous chapter, the attention of the Powers had
been called to the matter by Lord Granville, then Foreign Secretary,
as far back as the 3rd January, 1883, though thus far no progress
had been made.
By the 13th June, 1885, the Commission had agreed on the text
of a convention by which the freedom of navigation of the Canal in
war-time was to be secured, and the Commission then concluded its
sittings.
It should be mentioned that the British delegates, in approving
the arrangement, formally declared that they did so under express
reservation against the application of any of the clauses which might
be incompatible with the existing situation in Egypt, or which might
fetter the action of Her Majesty's Government or the movements of
Her Majesty's forces during the British occupation of Egypt. From the
date last mentioned, the question was under discussion by the
respective Governments till more than three years later, when the
Convention was concluded, and finally ratified by the Powers on the
22nd December, 1888.
The principal provisions of the Convention were the following,
viz.:—
That the Canal should be open to both merchant vessels and
men-of-war both in time of war and peace; that the Canal should not
be subject to the exercise of the right of blockade; that no act of
hostility should be committed in the Canal, its ports of access, or
within a radius of three miles; that vessels of belligerents should
only take in supplies so far as they were actually necessary, and that
their stay in port should be limited to twenty-four hours; that the like
interval should elapse between the sailing of a belligerent vessel and
the departure of a vessel of a hostile Power; that no belligerent
Power should disembark or embark either troops or munitions of
war; that no vessel of war belonging to the contracting Powers
should be stationed in the Canal, and not more than two at Port Saïd
or Suez; that the restrictions imposed should not apply to measures
which the Sultan or the Khedive might take for the defence of Egypt
by their own forces or for the maintenance of public order; and that
no fortifications should be erected.
Referring to a former chapter dealing with M. de. Lesseps'
contention as to the neutrality of the Canal, it is worthy of note that
in no part of the Convention does the word "neutrality" occur, and it
is a fact that in Lord Salisbury's instructions to the British delegates
they were expressly warned to avoid using that expression and to
substitute for it the term "freedom of navigation."
The Army of Occupation. In August, 1885, the continued
presence of the Army of Occupation (then 14,000 in number) had
for some time been producing increased irritation on the part of the
Sultan, and also of the French Government. Sir H. Drummond-Wolff
was then sent to the East with the object of endeavouring to arrive
at some understanding with regard to the withdrawal of the British
troops. The British envoy was also, in combination with the Turkish
commissioner Moukhtar Pasha, to consider the steps to be taken for
tranquillizing the Soudan, and to inquire what changes might be
necessary in the civil administration of Egypt.
The British commissioner was received by the Sultan on 29th
August, and having signed a preliminary convention with the Turkish
Minister of Foreign Affairs at Constantinople, came on to Cairo two
months later, where he was joined by his colleague.
Their joint inquiry lasted till the end of 1886, and resulted in
various suggestions which were not adopted.
In January, 1887, the Sultan, backed by France, was pressing the
British Government to name a day for the evacuation, and, with a
view to meeting his views as far as possible, a definite convention on
the subject was signed by the two commissioners on the 22nd May,
1887.
According to this agreement, the British troops were to withdraw
at the end of three years, unless at the expiration of that period
external or internal danger should render the postponement of the
evacuation necessary, in which case the troops were to be
withdrawn as soon as the danger should have disappeared. Two
years after the withdrawal, the supervision exercised by Great Britain
over the Egyptian army was to cease. Thenceforward Egypt was to
enjoy territorial immunity, and, on the ratification of the Convention,
the Powers were to be invited to recognize and guarantee the
inviolability of Egyptian territory. Nevertheless, the Convention
continued, the Turkish Government was to have the right to occupy
the country militarily if there should be danger from invasion
without, or if order and security were threatened within. On the
other hand, the British Government reserved the right to send, in the
above-mentioned cases, troops which would take the measures
necessary to remove those dangers. Lastly, both the Ottoman and
British troops were to withdraw as soon as the causes calling for
their intervention should be removed.
The essential point in the agreement was the recognition, by the
Sultan, of England's right to reoccupy Egypt, on emergency, and this
at once gave rise to trouble.
As soon as the terms of the Convention were communicated to
the French Government, the French Ambassador was rampant
everywhere, and both he and his Russian colleague at
Constantinople made the most violent opposition. They lost no
opportunity of putting pressure on the Sultan, who at first was
disposed to abide by the arrangement. They went so far as to
declare that, if he ratified the Convention, France and Russia would
thereby have a right to occupy provinces of the Turkish Empire, and
to leave only after a similar convention should be concluded with
them. They also hinted that France might do this in Syria, and
Russia in Armenia. Austria, Germany, and Italy, on the other hand,
urged the ratification of the Convention, but the poor Sultan was too
much alarmed to consent, and, on the 14th July, proposed to
England to throw over the agreement which his Ministers had
signed, and to reopen negotiations for a new convention altogether.
This was a little too much for Lord Salisbury, then Foreign
Secretary and Prime Minister. Needless to say the mission of the
British envoy, upon which £25,046 in money and two years in time
had been wasted, came to an end, and Sir H. Drummond-Wolff, who
had already been waiting for a month to obtain the desired
ratification, left Constantinople on the 15th. His colleague, Moukhtar
Pasha, whose occupation was now gone, nevertheless remained in
Egypt, where he is to be found at the present date, drawing a
handsome salary, but with no defined duties.
The failure of the negotiations was probably as little regretted by
Lord Salisbury as it was by everybody else having the welfare of
Egypt at heart. Although the time may arrive when that country will
be in a position to walk alone, in 1890 (the period fixed for the
withdrawal of the Army of Occupation) that time had not been
reached. The reforms inaugurated were then only beginning to bear
fruit, and, without the supporting influence afforded by the presence
of British troops, ran the risk of being only imperfectly carried into
effect, even if they did not perish altogether.
It must be conceded that, considered merely as a military force,
the presence of the Army of Occupation has for years ceased to be
necessary. British Ministers have over and over again declared that
England's intervention in Egypt was for the purpose of suppressing
anarchy, supporting the authority of the Khedive, and restoring
public order. No one can deny that all these objects have long since
been attained, and those who attempt to justify the retention of the
British troops on the supposition that their withdrawal might be
followed by fresh troubles adopt an argument similar to that of a
person who, having extinguished a conflagration in his neighbour's
house, should persist in occupying it on the pretence that the fire
might break out again.
But regarded as a moral support to England in carrying out her
extended programme of reforming Egyptian institutions, the
presence of the Army of Occupation may be for some time to come
a necessity.
Writing on this subject, Sir Alfred Milner, in his admirable work
"England in Egypt," remarks as follows:—
"The British troops have of course no sort of status
in the country. They are not the soldiers of the
Khedive, or foreign soldiers invited by the Khedive;
they are not the soldiers of the protecting Power,
because in theory there is no protecting Power. In
theory, their presence is an accident, and their
character that of simple visitors. At the present
moment they are no longer, from the military point of
view, of vital importance, for their numbers have been
repeatedly reduced, and for several years past they
have not exceeded, and do not now (1892) exceed,
3,000 men. It is true that their presence relieves a
certain portion of the Egyptian army from duties it
would otherwise have to perform, and that, if the
British troops were altogether withdrawn, the number
of Egyptian soldiers might have to be somewhat
increased. But its value as part of the defensive forces
of the country does not, of course, constitute the real
importance and meaning of the British Army of
Occupation. It is as the outward and visible sign of the
predominance of British influence, of the special
interest taken by Great Britain in the affairs of Egypt,
that that army is such an important element in the
present situation. Its moral effect is out of all
proportion to its actual strength. The presence of a
single British regiment lends a weight they would not
otherwise possess to the counsels of the British
Consul-General. Take the troops away, and you must
either run the risk of a decline of British influence,
which would imperil the work of reform, or devise, for
a time at least, some new and equivalent support for
that influence, a problem not perhaps impossible, but
certainly difficult of solution."
CHAPTER LV.
THE EASTERN SOUDAN.
Any history of the military operations in Egypt, during the period
comprised in the accompanying chapters, would be incomplete
without a notice of the events which were in the meantime taking
place in the Eastern Soudan.
In May, 1885, when Graham's force withdrew from Souakim,
General Hudson took over the command. The troops left to protect
the town consisted of 930 Europeans, 2,405 Indians, and the
Egyptians forming the regular garrison.
Osman Digna, with the greater part of his followers, was again
at Tamaai, and had also a small force at Hasheen. The fall of Kassala
soon after, by setting free the besieging force, enabled Osman still
further to strengthen his position in the neighbourhood of
Souakim.142 Under these circumstances, General Hudson was
compelled to remain strictly on the defensive.
It would be both long and wearisome to attempt to describe the
various incidents which occurred during many of the succeeding
months.
Day after day the Dervish scouts approached the forts, and
cavalry patrols went out and fired upon them; night after night
parties of the enemy took up positions from which they fired on the
town, and remained until dislodged by the shell fired from the forts
and from the man-of-war stationed in the harbour. Thus Souakim
continued to be besieged, the enemy refraining from any serious
attack, and devoting themselves principally to raiding the friendly
tribes in the adjoining territory.
On 11th May, 1886, the remainder of the British and Indian
troops left, and Major Watson took command as Governor-General of
the Eastern Soudan. The garrison at this time consisted of 2,500
Egyptians.
In June, the prospect began to brighten. The Dervishes
withdrew their patrols round Souakim, and evacuated Hasheen and
Handoub. The friendlies then began to take courage, and made
advances upon Tamaai, which they blockaded, and eventually
occupied on 11th September, the Soudanese garrison retiring with
loss into a fort near the village.
On the 7th October the friendlies scored a further success. After
being twice repulsed, they assaulted and took the fort after an
hour's fighting, killing some 200 of the defenders and capturing
eighteen guns.
The redoubtable Osman Digna, being wanted at Omdurman, had
previously withdrawn, and no hostile force now remained in the
Eastern Soudan.
Two thousand pounds was paid to the friendlies by way of
subsidy, and trade with the interior was opened.
In November, Colonel Kitchener, who had succeeded Major
Watson, reported "the collapse of Osman Digna's power," and a
season of greater tranquillity than Souakim had known for years was
experienced.
In January, 1887, affairs at Souakim had even further settled
down, and many of the hostile tribes expressed a desire to come to
terms, but, in June, news arrived that from 2,000 to 3,000
Dervishes, mostly Baggaras, were advancing from Kassala to relieve
Tokar, at that time besieged by the friendlies. The arrival of the
Baggaras at Tokar tended to revive the fanatical spirit at that place,
but had not much influence on the surrounding tribes, who refused
to present themselves there when summoned by Osman Digna.
In July, Osman was again called to Omdurman, and in his
absence nothing particular was done in the neighbourhood of
Souakim. During the autumn, things looked so peaceful that the
garrison was reduced by the withdrawal of two battalions, and news
of this circumstance reaching Osman, who had then returned to
Kassala, he at once collected some 5,000 men and marched to
Handoub. By 18th December he was again master of the whole
country up to the walls of Souakim, which once more was in a state
of siege. On 17th December, an attack was made on the Water
Forts, and repulsed. A deserter reported that at Handoub and
Tamaai a fighting force of 5,000 men was preparing to capture
Souakim by a rush, and that the scheme would be carried out at
daybreak very shortly.
In January, 1888, frequent night attacks were made; but they
were invariably repulsed by the fire from the men-of-war in the
harbour. On the 17th, a party of friendlies attacked the Dervish camp
at daybreak. Mounted troops from Souakim went in support. The
friendlies surprised and captured the enemy's camp. Then the
Dervishes scattered in the pursuit re-entered the position from the
rear, and drove off the friendlies with considerable loss. The whole
Egyptian force then retreated to Souakim, pursued for four or five
miles by the victorious Dervishes. In this engagement Kitchener and
Lieutenant McMurdo were wounded, and eleven soldiers and
friendlies were killed. As a result of the engagement, Kitchener was
warned that in future he should not take part in similar operations
with British officers or Egyptian regulars.
The intention was to capture Osman Digna, but although seen in
the distance, he succeeded in escaping at the moment when the
fortune of war appeared to be going against him.
Emboldened by this success, the Dervishes began to display
increased activity round Souakim, the neighbourhood of which was
infested with marauding bands. On the 3rd March, a large party
established themselves by night at a disused position called Fort
Hudson, and kept up a continuous fire on the town. On the morning
of the 4th, numbers of the enemy were seen advancing, and H.M.S.
Dolphin opened fire at 10 a.m. The Egyptian forces, to the number
of 450 men, advanced to endeavour to drive the enemy from Fort
Hudson, the friendly Amarar tribe assisting. The position, however,
was too strong, and they were repulsed. To make matters worse,
just at the moment when a reinforcement of the enemy necessitated
the retirement a shell from the man-of-war, aimed at the Dervishes,
burst among the friendlies, who, suddenly scared, fell back in
disorder upon the regulars, who had nothing left to do but retreat
with all possible speed. The Dervish force maintained its position
during the remainder of the day under a heavy cross-fire. At nightfall
the Dervishes drew off and made no further attempt to reoccupy the
position. The Egyptian loss in this highly unsuccessful sortie was
Colonel Tapp and eight men killed and seventeen wounded, without
counting the poor friendlies.
After the affair of the 4th March things resumed a comparatively
quiet condition for some months. The enemy's cavalry from time to
time came within range, and a few shots were exchanged, but
nothing serious was attempted on either side. The inaction of the
blockading force was doubtless due in great measure to the
dissensions which at this period broke out amongst the hostile
tribes, some of whom were anxious to take Souakim by assault,
whilst others deemed it useless to make the attempt. The result was
a series of quarrels, which nearly led to actual fighting.
On the night of the 17th September, however, the aspect of
things changed, and without any previous warning a force of some
500 men of the Jaalin and Baggara tribes intrenched themselves at a
distance of 1,000 yards from the Water Forts, with the intention of
cutting off the water supply, and commenced firing on the town.
This was kept up continuously for some time by day and night, and
frequent casualties occurred. On the 22nd the enemy placed a gun
on the ridge between the Water Forts, and shelled the town until
compelled by the fire from the lines to withdraw.
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  • 2. Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be interested in. You can click the link to download. Managerial Accounting Creating Value in a Dynamic Business Environment Hilton 10th Edition Solutions Manual http://testbankbell.com/product/managerial-accounting-creating-value- in-a-dynamic-business-environment-hilton-10th-edition-solutions- manual/ Managerial Accounting Creating Value in a Dynamic Business Environment Hilton 10th Edition Test Bank http://testbankbell.com/product/managerial-accounting-creating-value- in-a-dynamic-business-environment-hilton-10th-edition-test-bank/ Managerial Accounting Creating Value in a Dynamic Business Environment Hilton 9th Edition Test Bank http://testbankbell.com/product/managerial-accounting-creating-value- in-a-dynamic-business-environment-hilton-9th-edition-test-bank/ Test Bank for Correctional Administration: Integrating Theory and Practice, 3rd Edition, Richard P. Seiter http://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-correctional- administration-integrating-theory-and-practice-3rd-edition-richard-p- seiter/
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  • 5. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Managerial Accounting Creating Value in a Dynamic Business Environment 11th Edition Hilton Solutions Manual Full download chapter at: https://testbankbell.com/product/managerial-accounting- creating-value-in-a-dynamic-business-environment-11th-edition-hilton-solutions- manual/ CHAPTER 2 Basic Cost Management Concepts FOCUS ON ETHICS (Located before the Chapter Summary in the text.) Was WorldCom’s controller just following orders? The WorldCom controller allegedly did not perform his professional duties in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and ethical standards for practitioners of managerial accounting and financial management. The justification that the controller makes for this alleged unethical duping of investors, that he was ordered to do so by senior management, is an insufficient defense of his actions. He was legally and ethically obliged to find and correct accounting errors, and to make an accurate representation of the firm’s financial position to his fellow managers, the board of directors, and the investing public. Sometimes, because of negligence or conflicts of interest, senior management may accidentally or purposely give unethical instructions. The controller is obliged under these circumstances to uphold his professional integrity and insist on an appropriate treatment of the accounting information. ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS 2-1 Product costs are costs that are associated with manufactured goods until the time period during which the products are sold, when the product costs become expenses. Period costs are expensed during the time period in which they are incurred. 2-2 Product costs are also called inventoriable costs because they are assigned to manufactured goods that are inventoried until a later period, when the products are sold. The product costs remain in the Work-in-Process or Finished-Goods Inventory account until the time period when the goods are sold.
  • 6. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. 2-3 The most important difference between a manufacturing firm and a service industry firm, with regard to the classification of costs, is that the goods produced by a manufacturing firm are inventoried, whereas the services produced by a service industry firm are consumed as they are produced. Thus, the costs incurred in manufacturing products are treated as product costs until the period during which the goods are sold. Most of the costs incurred in a service industry firm to produce services are operating expenses that are treated as period costs. 2-4 Product costs include the backpack’s direct material (e.g., fabric, stitching, zippers and pulls), direct labor involved in production, and various manufacturing overhead costs (e.g., electricity, insurance on the plant, and depreciation on plant and equipment). Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-1
  • 7. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. 2-5 The four types of production processes are as follows: ▪ Job shop: Low production volume; little standardization; one-of-a-kind products. Examples include custom home construction, feature film production, and ship building. ▪ Batch: Multiple products; low volume. Examples include construction equipment, tractor trailers, and cabin cruisers. ▪ Assembly: A few major products; higher volume. Examples include kitchen appliances and automobile assembly. ▪ Continuous flow: High production volume; highly standardized commodity products. Examples include food processing, textiles, lumber, and chemicals. 2-6 The cost of idle time is treated as manufacturing overhead because it is a normal cost of the manufacturing operation that should be spread out among all of the manufactured products. The alternative to this treatment would be to charge the cost of idle time to a particular job that happens to be in process when the idle time occurs. Idle time often results from a random event, such as a power outage. Charging the cost of the idle time resulting from such a random event to only the job that happened to be in process at the time would overstate the cost of that job. 2-7 Overtime premium is included in manufacturing overhead in order to spread the extra cost of the overtime over all of the products produced, since overtime often is a normal cost of the manufacturing operation. The alternative would be to charge the overtime premium to the particular job in process during overtime. In most cases, such treatment would overstate the cost of that job, since it is only coincidental that a particular job happened to be done on overtime. The need for overtime to complete a particular job results from the fact that other jobs were completed during regular hours. 2-8 The phrase “different costs for different purposes” refers to the fact that the word “cost” can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. Cost data that are classified and recorded in a particular way for one purpose may be inappropriate for another use. 2-9 The city of Tampa would use cost information for planning when it developed a budget for its operations during the next year. Included in that budget would be projected costs for police and fire protection, street maintenance, and city administration. At the end of the year this budget would be used for cost control. The actual costs incurred would be compared to projected costs in the budget. City administrators would also use cost data in making decisions, such as where to locate a new fire station. 2-10 A fixed cost remains constant in total across changes in activity, whereas the total variable cost changes in proportion to the level of activity.
  • 8. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. 2-2 Solutions Manual
  • 9. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. 2-11 The fixed cost per unit declines as the level of activity (or cost driver) increases. Specifically, it declines at a decreasing rate: going from one unit produced to two divides the fixed cost per unit in half; going from two units to three divides it into thirds; three to four into fourths, etc. The cost per unit is reduced because the total fixed cost, which does not change as activity changes, is spread over a larger number of activity units. 2-12 The variable cost per unit remains constant as the level of activity (or cost driver) changes. Total variable costs change in proportion to activity, and the additional variable cost when one unit of activity is added is the variable cost per unit. 2-13 A volume-based cost driver, such as the number of passengers, causes costs to be incurred because of the quantity of service offered by the airline. An operations-based cost driver, such as hub domination, affects costs because of the basic way in which the airline conducts its operations. Greater control over a hub airport's facilities and services gives an airline greater ability to control its operating costs. 2-14 a. Number of students: volume-based cost driver. This characteristic of the college relates to the quantity of services provided. b. Number of disciplines offered for study: operations-based cost driver. The greater the diversity in a college's course offerings, the greater will be the costs incurred, regardless of the overall size of the student body. c. Urban versus rural location: operations-based cost driver. A college's location will affect the type of housing and food facilities required, the cost of obtaining services, and the cost of transportation for college employees acting on behalf of the college. 2-15 Examples of direct costs of the food and beverage department in a hotel include the money spent on the food and beverages served, the wages of table service personnel, and the costs of entertainment in the dining room and lounge. Examples of indirect costs of the food and beverage department include allocations of the costs of advertising for the entire hotel, of the costs of the grounds and maintenance department, and of the hotel general manager's salary. 2-16 Costs that are likely to be controllable by a city's airport manager include the wages of personnel hired by the airport manager, the cost of heat and light in the airport manager's administrative offices, and the cost of some materials consumed in the process of operating the airport, such as cleaning, painting, and maintenance materials. Costs that are likely to be uncontrollable by the city's airport manager include depreciation of the airport facilities, fees paid by the airport to the federal government for air traffic control services, and insurance for the airport employees and patrons.
  • 10. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-3
  • 11. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. 2-17 a. Uncontrollable cost b. Controllable cost c. Uncontrollable cost 2-18 Out-of-pocket costs are paid in cash at or near the time they are incurred. An opportunity cost is the potential benefit given up when the choice of one action precludes the selection of a different action. 2-19 A sunk cost is a cost that was incurred in the past and cannot be altered by any current or future decision. A differential cost is the difference in a cost item under two decision alternatives. 2-20 A marginal cost is the extra cost incurred in producing one additional unit of output. The average cost is the total cost of producing a particular quantity of product or service, divided by the number of units of product or service produced. 2-21 The process of registering for classes varies widely among colleges and universities, and the responses to this question will vary as well. Examples of information that might be useful include the credit requirements and course requirements to obtain a particular degree, and a list of the prerequisites for each of the elective courses in a particular major. Such information could help the student plan an academic program over several semesters or quarters. An example of information that might create information overload is a comprehensive listing of every course offered by the college in the past five years. 2-22 The purchase cost of the old bar code scanners is a sunk cost, since it occurred in the past and cannot be changed by any future course of action. The manager is exhibiting a common behavioral tendency to pay too much attention to sunk costs. 2-23 a. Direct cost b. Direct cost c. Indirect cost d. Indirect cost
  • 12. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. 2-4 Solutions Manual
  • 13. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES EXERCISE 2-24 (10 MINUTES) The general formula for solving all three cases is as follows: Beginning Cost of goods Ending Cost-of- inventory of finished goods + manufactured during period – inventory of finished goods = goods sold expense Using this formula, we can find the missing amounts as follows: Case I II III Beginning inventory of finished goods............... $ 84,000* $12,000 7,000 Add: Cost of goods manufactured...................... 419,000 95,000 318,000* Subtract: Ending inventory of finished goods ... 98,000 8,000 21,000 Cost of goods sold ............................................... $405,000 $99,000* $304,000 *Amount missing in exercise. EXERCISE 2-25 (10 MINUTES) 1. Hours worked ..................................................................................................... Wage rate............................................................................................................ Total compensation ........................................................................................... 40  $ 18 $720 2. Classification: Direct labor (36 hours  $18) ....................................................................... $648 Overhead (idle time: 4 hours  $18)............................................................ 72 Total compensation...................................................................................... $720 EXERCISE 2-26 (10 MINUTES) 1. Regular wages (40 hours  $16) ....................................................................... $ 640 Overtime wages (5 hours  $24) ....................................................................... 120 Total compensation ........................................................................................... $ 760 2. Overtime hours................................................................................................... 5 hrs. Overtime premium per hour ($24 − $16)........................................................... Total overtime premium.....................................................................................  $ 8 $ 40
  • 14. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-5
  • 15. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. EXERCISE 2-26 (CONTINUED) 3. Classification: Direct labor (45 hours  $16) ....................................................................... $ 720 Overhead (overtime premium: 5 hours  $8).............................................. 40 Total compensation...................................................................................... $ 760 EXERCISE 2-27 (30 MINUTES) Mass customization is a production process that allows set modifications to a standardized product in order to better match the product to customer needs. As a production process, it combines the standardization of mass production with a limited form of the customization of a job shop. The technique seems well suited to Falcon Northwest’s computer-manufacturing operation for high-end gaming computers because of the company’s direct-selling approach, in which most customers order customized computer systems on-line. This allows Falcon to order limited quantities of the components necessary to assemble the customized computer systems that have been ordered, and delivery is made in a relatively short period of time. Under this approach, raw-materials and finished-goods inventory levels would be lower. Manufacturing overhead costs would likely be somewhat higher in order to support the process of specifying, ordering, receiving and transporting smaller lots of production components. Direct materials costs should be comparable to other manufacturing techniques, as long as care is taken to negotiate supply contracts that cover the needs of a long period of time (so that renegotiations do not have to take place frequently for small quantities for components), but with slightly higher delivery costs because requirements are spread over more deliveries. Direct labor cost would likely be higher because the customization work would be less routinized.
  • 16. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. 2-6 Solutions Manual
  • 17. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. EXERCISE 2-28 (20 MINUTES) 1. Tire costs: Product cost, variable, direct material 2. Sales commissions: Period cost, variable 3. Wood glue: Product cost, variable, either direct material or manufacturing overhead (indirect material) depending on how significant the cost is 4. Wages of security guards: Product cost, fixed (with respect to amount produced) or variable (with respect to hours worked) [either answer is acceptable], manufacturing overhead 5. Salary of financial vice-president: Period cost, fixed 6. Advertising costs: Period cost, fixed 7. Straight-line depreciation: Product cost, fixed, manufacturing overhead 8. Wages of assembly-line personnel: Product cost, variable, direct labor 9. Delivery costs on customer shipments: Period cost, variable 10. Newsprint consumed: Product cost, variable, direct material 11. Plant insurance: Product cost, fixed, manufacturing overhead 12. LED costs: Product cost, variable, direct material
  • 18. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-7
  • 19. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. EXERCISE 2-29 (25 MINUTES) 1. ALEXANDRIA ALUMINUM COMPANY SCHEDULE OF COST OF GOODS MANUFACTURED FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20X1 Direct material: Raw-material inventory, January 1........................................ $ 60,000 Add: Purchases of raw material............................................. 250,000 Raw material available for use............................................... $310,000 Deduct: Raw-material inventory, December 31 .................... 70,000 Raw material used................................................................... $240,000 Direct labor ................................................................................... 400,000 Manufacturing overhead: Indirect material ...................................................................... $ 10,000 Indirect labor........................................................................... 25,000 Depreciation on plant and equipment ................................... 100,000 Utilities..................................................................................... 25,000 Other ........................................................................................ 30,000 Total manufacturing overhead............................................... 190,000 Total manufacturing costs........................................................... $830,000 Add: Work-in-process inventory, January 1 .............................. 120,000 Subtotal......................................................................................... $950,000 Deduct: Work-in-process inventory, December 31.................... 115,000 Cost of goods manufactured....................................................... $835,000 2. ALEXANDRIA ALUMINUM COMPANY SCHEDULE OF COST OF GOODS SOLD FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20X1 Finished-goods inventory, January 1 ........................................................... $150,000 Add: Cost of goods manufactured................................................................ 835,000 Cost of goods available for sale.................................................................... $985,000 Deduct: Finished-goods inventory, December 31 ....................................... 165,000 Cost of goods sold......................................................................................... $820,000
  • 20. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. EXERCISE 2-30 (25 MINUTES) 2-8 Solutions Manual
  • 21. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. EXERCISE 2-29 (CONTINUED) 3. ALEXANDRIA ALUMINUM COMPANY INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20X1 Sales revenue................................................................................................ . $1,105,000 Less: Cost of goods sold............................................................................... 820,000 Gross margin.................................................................................................. $ 285,000 Selling and administrative expenses............................................................ 110,000 Income before taxes....................................................................................... $ 175,000 Income tax expense ....................................................................................... 70,000 Net income...................................................................................................... $ 105,000 4. In the electronic version of the solutions manual, press the CTRL key and click on the following link: Build a Spreadsheet 02-29.xls EXERCISE 2-30 (15 MINUTES) Total costs: Number of Muffler Replacements 500 600 700 Fixed costs.................................................................. (a) $42,000 $42,000 (b) $42,000 Variable costs.............................................................. (c) 25,000 30,000 (d) 35,000 Total costs............................................................. (e) $67,000 $72,000 (f) $77,000 Cost per muffler replacement: Fixed cost .................................................................... (g) $ 84 (h) $ 70 (i) $ 60 Variable cost................................................................ (j) 50 (k) 50 (l) 50 Total cost per muffler replacement ..................... (m) $134 (n) $120 (o) $110 Explanatory Notes: (a) Total fixed costs do not vary with activity. (c) Variable cost per replacement = $30,000/600 = $50 Total variable cost for 500 replacements = $50  500 = $25,000 (g) Fixed cost per replacement = $42,000/500 = $84 (j ) Variable cost per replacement = $25,000/500 = $50
  • 22. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Managerial Accounting, 11/e 2-9
  • 23. EXERCISE 2-31 (15 MINUTES) © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. 1. Phone bill, January: $100 + ($.25  6,000) ........................................ $1,600 Phone bill, February: $100 + ($.25  5,000)....................................... $1,350 2. Cost per call, January: $1,600/6,000.................................................. Cost per call, February: $1,350/5,000................................................ $ .267 (rounded) $ .27 3. Fixed component, January ................................................................ $ 100 Variable component, January: $.25  6,000...................................... 1,500 Total..................................................................................................... $1,600 4. Since each phone call costs $.25, the marginal cost of making the 6,001st call is $.25. 5. The average cost of a phone call in January (rounded) is $.267 ($1,600/6,000). EXERCISE 2-32 (5 MINUTES) Martin Shrood's expenditure is a sunk cost. It is irrelevant to any future decision Martin may make about the land. EXERCISE 2-33 (5 MINUTES) Annual cost using European component: $8,900  10............................................ $89,000 Annual cost using Part A200: ($5,100 + $500)  10.................................................. 56,000 Annual differential cost .............................................................................................. $33,000 EXERCISE 2-34 (5 MINUTES) 1. The $14,000 is the opportunity cost associated with using the computer in the Department of Education for work in the governor's office. 2. The $14,000 leasing cost should be assigned to the governor's office. It was incurred as a result of activity in that office.
  • 24. EXERCISE 2-32 (15 MINUTES) © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. © 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. 2-10 Solutions Manual
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  • 26. of the Nile force in his absence as follows:— "On 1st June, troops at Merawi start for Dongola, at which place and Abu Fatmeh I propose to concentrate force now up the Nile. This movement will be completed by 1st July. "In the meantime, railway to Ferket will be in a forward state, and able to assist greatly in the movement of troops and Civil Government officers on Wady Halfa. At present nearly all the troops are in huts; to move them in this present hot weather will be very trying to their health. "When troops are concentrated at Dongola and Abu Fatmeh I shall expect orders before I move them to Wady Halfa." On the 27th April Wolseley was informed that he was to act in accordance with the proposals contained in his telegram of the 24th. The concentration, he was instructed, should be deliberate, but the movement from Merawi was to begin at once. Wolseley and his staff left Cairo on April 29th and immediately embarked for Souakim. General Buller and Sir Charles Wilson being asked their opinions, both reported strongly against a withdrawal from Dongola, and their views were supported by Sir Evelyn Baring. All argument, however, was in vain. The Government remained unconvinced. In the beginning of May the Merawi detachment moved down to Dongola, and on the 13th the evacuation of the latter place commenced.
  • 27. The Soudan having to be abandoned, the Government evinced some desire to consider how far some sort of government could be set on foot for the province of Dongola. Sir E. Baring, to whom a question was addressed on the subject, referred to Wolseley and General Buller. The former, regarding the matter from a military point of view, replied that a railway ought to be made to Hannek (just below the town of New Dongola), and the end of the line held by a British battalion, and Dongola itself should be garrisoned by 2,000 black troops. The present "Wekil," according to Wolseley, should be appointed Mudir. "It was safer," added his Lordship, "to attempt this than to hand Dongola over to the Mahdi and anarchy." Buller replied that he did not think it possible to establish a government as proposed, and that the first thing to be considered was who was to take charge of it. His opinion was that no force of blacks that could be got together would be sufficient to hold the province. He added that he did not believe the railway to Hannek to be anything but a waste of money; it would besides require all the present force as a covering party; he believed the British were withdrawing just as the fruit was falling into their hands; concluding with the sentence, "I do not believe that when we leave Dongola any one else will keep the Mahdi out." Sir E. Baring, in forwarding the above opinions, said that "in view of the decision of the Government he thought that instructions should be given to send down all troops, and as many of the civil population as wished to leave, to Wady Halfa," and concluded in the following words:— "Your Lordship will understand that we make this recommendation only because we consider it to be the necessary consequence of the decision of Her Majesty's Government to abandon the province of Dongola at once, but that it must in no way be taken to imply our agreement with that decision.
  • 28. "Nubar Pasha, on behalf of the Egyptian Government, requests me to make a final and most earnest appeal to the Government of Her Majesty to postpone the departure of the British troops from Dongola for, say, six months, in order that there may be at least a chance of establishing a government there. "Nubar Pasha fears that the retreat of the British from Dongola will react on Egypt, and especially on the southern provinces, to such an extent as will render it impossible for the Khedive's Government to maintain order, and that they will be forced to appeal to Her Majesty's Government for help to preserve order in the country, and that thus the present system of government which Her Majesty's Government have been at so much trouble to maintain will be found no longer possible." Nubar's appeal had no effect, and the question of the future government of Dongola occupied the British Cabinet no more. On the 14th May, Sir E. Baring was informed that it was the intention to withdraw the whole force to Wady Halfa. On the 16th Wolseley telegraphed his idea as to the British force which should remain at Korosko and Wady Halfa. This was approved by the Government, and the troops continued their journey down the Nile. The departure of the soldiers from Dongola was accompanied by the exodus of a large portion of the native population, who feared to be left exposed to the vengeance of the Mahdi. Mr. Gladstone's Ministry retired from office on 12th June, and on the Conservative Cabinet coming into power, one of the first questions with which it occupied itself was that of Egypt.
  • 29. It was impossible for the Ministry of Lord Salisbury to at once reverse the Egyptian policy of their predecessors, but the new Premier declared that "England had a mission in Egypt, and that until it was accomplished it was idle to talk of withdrawal." The evacuation of the Soudan, however, stood on a different footing. The steps taken by Mr. Gladstone's Government were so far advanced that the measure was already practically a fait accompli. As Lord Salisbury stated, "the whole of the Soudan down to Dongola had been already evacuated, and the whole of the province of Dongola, with the exception of a rear-guard left at Debbeh, had been evacuated also; and 12,000 of the luckless population, to avoid the vengeance of the Mahdi, had fled from their houses and taken refuge in Upper Egypt." It was not, however, without inquiry that Lord Salisbury's Cabinet determined to proceed with the evacuation. Wolseley was again consulted, and in a despatch of 27th June he wrote:— "You cannot get out of Egypt for many years to come. If the present policy of retreat be persisted in the Mahdi will become stronger and stronger, and you will have to increase your garrisons and submit to the indignity of being threatened by him. Eventually you will have to fight him to hold your position in Egypt, which you will then do with the population round you ready on any reverse to rise against you. No frontier force can keep Mahdism out of Egypt, and the Mahdi sooner or later must be smashed, or he will smash you. "To advance in the autumn on Khartoum and discredit the Mahdi by a serious defeat on his own ground would certainly finish him. The operation, if done deliberately, would be a simple one; and, as far as anything can be a certainty in war, it would be a certainty. Until this is done there will be no peace in
  • 30. Egypt, and your military expenditure will be large and increasing. My advice, therefore, is, carry out autumn campaign up the Nile, as originally intended. I would leave Souakim as it is." On the 2nd July the Government telegraphed that— "Her Majesty's Government, after a full consideration of all the circumstances, were not prepared to reverse the orders given by their predecessors by countermanding the retreat of the force from Dongola." Thus the policy of evacuation was affirmed. General Brackenbury with the last of the rear-guard left Dongola on the 5th, and followed the rest of the troops down to Cairo. On the 6th July Wolseley handed over the command of the British troops to General Stephenson, and in a few weeks the greater part of the officers and men forming the expedition had left Egypt. The services of the officers and men forming the Gordon Relief Expedition were referred to by Lord Salisbury on the 12th August in moving in the House of Lords a vote of thanks in the following words:— "In considering their merits you must keep out of sight altogether the precise results and outcome of the labours they have gone through and the dangers they have incurred. Of course this is not the moment at which to broach controversial topics, and I only wish to say that you must look upon this fact—that they failed to fulfil the main purpose for which they were sent out
  • 31. through no fault of their own. The prize of success was taken from them, as it were by an overmastering destiny, by the action of causes, whatever their nature, over which they themselves had no more control than they would have over a tempest or earthquake."138 There can be no doubt that Lord Salisbury's eulogium was well deserved. The merits of the officers and men were unquestionable. That they did not succeed was owing to the incapacity of those who sent them, at the wrong time, by the wrong route, on their fruitless errand.
  • 32. CHAPTER LII. CONTINUATION. The preceding chapter brings the narrative down to the summer of 1885, at which period the First Edition of the present work was brought to a close. In the final chapter the errors of British policy in Egypt were dealt with. It was pointed out how the dilatory fashion in which England intervened to suppress the Arabi revolt led to its indefinite prolongation; how when Alexandria had been destroyed, and massacres had taken place all over the country, a British army was sent too late to avert these disasters; how when the Arabi insurrection had been put down, and that of the Mahdi took its place, England reduced the Army of Occupation, and left Egypt to attempt to cope single-handed with the revolt; how in 1884, when Tokar and Sinkat were cut off, England sent an army to the relief of those places only in time to find that they had already fallen; how when many British lives had been sacrificed, and thousands of Soudanese had been slaughtered in the Eastern Soudan, England, instead of crushing Osman Digna and opening the route to Berber, withdrew her troops only to send another expedition in the following year, when too late to accomplish those very objects; finally, how, having sent Gordon to bring away the garrisons in the Soudan, England, again too late, despatched an expedition to his rescue. The feeble manner in which the reform of Egyptian institutions had been taken in hand was also indicated, and it was pointed out
  • 33. how England, by declaring that her stay in the country was only to be short-lived, added to the difficulty of carrying any of such reforms into effect. With regard to the Drummond-Wolff Convention of the 24th October, 1885, it was foretold that the inquiry provided for into Egyptian affairs would be illusory, and the withdrawal of the Army of Occupation, which the Convention was to effect, was one of those events which might safely be relegated to the remote future. It was pointed out that, whatever the future of Egypt under British guidance might be, it was impossible that it could be marked by greater errors than had been witnessed in the past, and, in conclusion, advice was given in the words following:— "Put the Administration really, instead of nominally and half-heartedly, under English control. Discard all idea of going away in two years, or twenty years, or two hundred years, if the country is not brought to order and prosperity by that time. Declare that as long as England remains she will be responsible for Egyptian finances, and for the safety and property of Europeans. Simplify as much as possible the official staff and system, and take proper steps for securing whatever point may be needed as the frontier." It is satisfactory to be able to observe that since the above was written much has been done in the way of following the Author's recommendations. The firm attitude adopted with regard to Egypt by Lord Salisbury's Ministry on its accession to office in 1885 has been maintained by succeeding Governments, and with the happiest results. One Egyptian administration after another has been taken in hand, abuses have been suppressed, corruption reduced to a minimum, and order and regularity introduced. The finances have been placed on a sound footing; reforms have been everywhere
  • 34. inaugurated; and tranquillity reigns throughout the country, which has arrived at a pitch of prosperity such as in modern times it has never before attained. In addition, as a result of the improvements made in her military system, Egypt, with England's aid, has been enabled to suppress a formidable insurrection, and to regain the most valuable of her lost provinces. The different steps by which all this has been brought about may be gleaned, partially at least, from the following pages.
  • 35. CHAPTER LIII. THE MAHDIST INVASION. It was not unnatural that the retirement of the Gordon Relief Expedition, in 1885, should have inspired the Mahdi with the idea that the moment had now arrived for the fulfilment of what he regarded as part of his Divine mission, viz., the invasion of Egypt. Two British armies had been sent, in two successive years, to the Eastern Soudan, and both, after a certain amount of fighting, had been withdrawn, whilst a third, despatched for the relief of Khartoum, had, when almost at the gates of Khartoum, been forced to retrace its steps, and retreat down the Nile. What ensued was only the result foretold by Lord Wolseley when he prophetically declared to Her Majesty's Government that "the struggle with the Mahdi, or rather with Mahdism, must come sooner or later. Eventually you will have to fight him to hold your position in Egypt. No frontier force can keep Mahdism out of Egypt, and the Mahdi, sooner or later, must be smashed, or he will smash you."139 When, as stated in another chapter, the last of the British troops left Dongola on 5th July, 1885, an Egyptian frontier field force, composed of British and Egyptian troops, was formed, and placed under the command of Major-General Grenfell, Sir Evelyn Wood's successor as Sirdar of the Egyptian army. His head-quarters were fixed at Assouan, whilst Brigadier-General Butler commanded the advanced brigade at Wady Halfa, with outposts at Kosheh, about forty-two miles south of the railway terminus at Akasheh.
  • 36. The Mahdi's plans for the invasion of Egypt were formed as early as May, in fact, as soon as he was able to make sure of the break-up of the Nile Expedition. The idea was to make the advance in two river columns, under the command of the Emirs Abd-el-Medjid and Mohammed-el-Kheir respectively, who were to march on Wady Halfa, whilst a third column was to cross the desert from Abu Hamid to Korosko, thus cutting the communications of the defensive force at Wady Halfa. The death of the Mahdi in the month of June by no means interfered with the carrying out of this programme, his successor, the Khalifa Abdullah-el-Taaishi, being almost as capable a leader as his predecessor, and even more oppressive and unscrupulous. Notwithstanding that Omdurman, which had become the Khalifa's capital, was ravaged by famine and small-pox, the preparations for the advance continued, and by the early part of August Debbeh and Old Dongola were occupied by the forces of Abd-el-Medjid, numbering 4,000 men. By the end of the month the whole of the country south of Dongola was in the hands of the Khalifa's troops. On the 24th, Wad-en-Nejumi, one of the chief Emirs, was reported as having left Omdurman with a large force, going north. It must not be supposed that the expedition was popular with the Khalifa's soldiers, but unfortunately they had no choice in the matter. They are said to have declared, "Our brothers are dead; the English shoot well, and we have nothing to eat." From Dongola the invaders proceeded north along the Nile, till, on the 20th September, they had reached as far as Hafir. The Dervish forces at that place, and at Dongola, were estimated at 7,000 by the beginning of October. Meanwhile, another army was marching on Abu Hamid, where 3,000 men arrived in the latter part of October. Seeing that the Dervish attack was impending, steps were taken to meet the emergency. Two gunboats were sent to patrol the river above Akasheh, and the post at that place was strengthened by the
  • 37. sending of a force of Egyptian Mounted Infantry, and a half battalion of black troops. On the 26th October General Grenfell telegraphed from Assouan to General Stephenson for another battalion to be sent him from Cairo, adding, "We should now look upon an advance on Egypt as merely a question of time, and be thoroughly prepared." On 4th November, Captain Hunter (now Sir Archibald Hunter), of the Intelligence Department, reported that 8,000 of the enemy had crossed to Abu Fatmeh, and that everything indicated an immediate advance. On the next day news was received that the enemy was advancing on both banks, Mohammed-el-Kheir on the east, and Abd- el-Medjid on the west, with the object of cutting off the communications of the advanced force, and preventing reinforcements reaching it. A few days later, viz., on the 17th, it became known that 8,000 Dervishes had reached Dulgo,140 and that the advanced guard was at Absarat, whence it was to march on Khanak, to cut the Wady Haifa railway. On the 27th, it was reported that 7,000 of the enemy were occupying the heights near Ammara, a few miles south of Ginnis, and that 4,000 more were now at Abu Hamid. Three days afterwards a spy gave information that 1,000 mounted men had left by the desert for the north of Akasheh, and that another thousand had crossed the river to the west bank, the intention being to make a simultaneous attack on Kosheh, Akasheh, and the railway. The news of the Dervish advance now caused widespread alarm in Cairo, as well as in Egypt generally, and, to preserve public order, the police force had to be reinforced, more especially in the frontier provinces. Steps were, at the same time, taken to strengthen the Army of Occupation by sending two additional battalions from the United Kingdom. On the 30th November, General Butler and his staff left Wady Halfa for the front at Akasheh, and General Grenfell moved up to
  • 38. Wady Halfa. At this date the frontier force was disposed as follows:— At Kosheh, 600 British and 300 Egyptians; at Mograkeh, 260 Egyptians; at Sarkamatto and Dal, 200 Egyptians; at Akasheh, 600 British and 350 Egyptians; and at Wady Halfa, 500 British and 350 Egyptians; total, 3,160 men. In addition to these, small detachments were posted at Ambigol Wells, Sarras, and other places. A skirmish, which took place at Ginnis on the 29th, showed that the main body of the enemy was posted in front of Kosheh, where it had arrived on the previous day.141 On the 3rd December, Captain Hunter engaged the advance party of the enemy, with Gardner guns and rifles, with considerable effect, several horsemen and foot-soldiers being killed. Meanwhile an attempt had been made by the Dervishes to cut the line of communications at Ambigol Wells, where a small post of only thirty men of the Berkshire and West Kent Regiments was established in a fort. The Dervish force attacked with men, mounted and on foot, and one gun. They were driven off with some loss on the 2nd December, but on the two following days returned to the attack. Several sorties were made by the little garrison, until the arrival of reinforcements on the 4th caused the besiegers to retire. At 6.15 a.m. on the 12th, 3,000 Dervishes attacked a fort constructed at Mograkeh, near Kosheh, and got within 100 yards of it. The garrison of the fort, consisting of 300 men of the Egyptian army, behaved with great steadiness, and repulsed the attack. After the skirmish, the enemy moved to the village of Ferket, a place on the river north of Ginnis, and occupied it, From this point they retired to the hills. Two men killed and half a dozen wounded represented the Egyptian loss. This was followed, on the night of the 15th, by a further attack on Kosheh from a battery erected on sand hills on the western bank, which was silenced, and the attacking force driven off on the 16th. All the posts were now rapidly reinforced. General Grenfell had already arrived at Wady Halfa on the 4th December, and on the 19th
  • 39. December General Stephenson came from Cairo and assumed the command of the frontier force, with Grenfell as Chief of the Staff. Arrangements were promptly made to inflict a crushing blow on the enemy, who, encouraged by the slight resistance to their advance hitherto made, had pushed their foremost troops north of the village of Ginnis, where the main body was established. At the same time, about 1,000 men, with a gun, threatened the zeriba on the west bank, held by the Egyptian troops. On the 29th, Generals Stephenson and Grenfell marched from Ferket and bivouacked on the east bank below the fort of Kosheh, where the whole of the fighting force was by this time concentrated. The troops consisted of—Cavalry,20th Hussars; British Mounted Infantry and Camel Corps; Egyptian Cavalry and Camel Corps: Artillery, 1 battery Royal Artillery; 1 Egyptian camel battery and Gardner guns: Royal Engineers, 1 company: Infantry, 1st Brigade, under General Butler—Berkshire Regiment, West Kent Regiment, and Durham Regiment; 2nd Brigade, under Colonel Huyshe—Cameron Highlanders; Yorkshire Regiment; 1st and 9th Battalions (part only) of the Egyptian army. Total, about 5,000 men. On the morning of the 30th, Stephenson attacked and defeated the Khalifa's forces at Kosheh and the neighbouring village of Ginnis. On the two preceding days, artillery fire had been kept up on the enemy's position. At 5 a.m. on the 30th, the whole force advanced. By daylight the 2nd Brigade and the 1st Egyptian Battalion had taken up a strong position on the heights above Kosheh, at a distance of about 1,200 yards from, and directly opposite, the village. At 6.10 a.m. the British battery attached to this brigade began to shell Kosheh. A quarter of an hour later the Cameron Highlanders and two companies of the 9th Soudanese rushed the houses in gallant style. The village was captured, together with a brass gun, at 6.50 a.m. The gunboat Lotus co-operated in this movement, and by her
  • 40. fire inflicted considerable loss on the retreating Dervishes. Whilst this was going on, the 1st Brigade, under Butler, had swept round to the south end of the village of Ginnis, and by daybreak had gained a position on the hills about a mile from the river. Up to this time, the advance made along the flank of the enemy's position had escaped observation, but as the eastern sky behind the advancing troops brightened, the Dervishes, who were completely surprised, came out from the low ground along the river, and streamed to the front. Thence they opened an irregular fire, which, in spite of the Martini-Henrys of the brigade, was maintained for about forty minutes. In the meanwhile, the Egyptian battery, attached to the 1st Brigade, had been brought into action on the right of the position, and was doing good service. The infantry deploying in line, the West Kent on the right, and the Berkshire and Durham Regiments on the left of the guns, kept up a steady fire, assisted by the Egyptian Camel Corps. Notwithstanding the volleys of the Martini-Henrys, a large body of spearmen managed to creep up unobserved, through a deep ravine in front of the line of infantry, to a spot where the dismounted camels of the Egyptian Camel Corps had been placed. The spearmen then made so rapid a rush that the men of the Camel Corps had not time to mount, and so were driven back fighting hand to hand with their assailants, who pressed them closely. The West Kent Regiment, which on the attack developing had been moved to the left of the line, came to the assistance of the Camel Corps, and shooting down numbers of the enemy, the rest fell back and fled to the hills. The brigade, then swinging round to the left, was directed upon the village of Ginnis, and, though time after time attempts at a stand were made, the enemy were eventually all dispersed, and at 9.15 the village was occupied, the Dervishes fleeing south, in the direction of Atab. The 2nd Brigade, after disposing of Kosheh, had continued its advance in the direction of Ginnis, which it entered on the eastern
  • 41. side, a quarter of an hour after the 1st Brigade had taken possession. The cavalry went in pursuit of the fugitives until 10 a.m., and by that time the Dervish army had been dissolved into a mass of disorganized and terror-stricken Arabs. Many of them crossed over to the west bank and escaped into the desert. The camp at Ginnis was seized, and four guns and twenty standards captured. The British and Egyptian loss in the fight was only seven killed and thirty-four wounded, and if, as estimated, out of a force of 6,000 men, the Khalifa's troops had 500 killed and 300 wounded, it must be admitted that the engagement partook more of the nature of a battu than a battle. After the fight, and on the same day, the 1st Brigade advanced to Atab, five miles to the west of Giniss, whilst the cavalry continued the pursuit to Abri, which on the following day was occupied by Buller's brigade. The action at Ginnis was a serious check to the Khalifa. Not only had his emir Abd-el-Medjid with eighteen minor chiefs been killed, but the prestige which the Mahdi's successor enjoyed amongst his followers had also sustained a severe blow. The remainder of his scattered-forces was now collected at Kermeh, about 30 miles north of Dongola, where, under the command of Mohammed-el-Kheir, they awaited reinforcements.
  • 42. CHAPTER LIV. FINANCE, THE SUEZ CANAL, AND THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION. In the year 1885, each of the subjects mentioned in the heading of the present chapter came prominently to the front. In the following pages it is proposed to deal with the different matters in succession. Finance. In July, 1885, Egypt, thanks to the good offices of Great Britain, was enabled to arrange a very thorny question which had arisen with regard to her finance. To explain what occurred, it is necessary to refer to the events which had previously taken place. Under the financial decrees of Ismail Pasha, certain revenues were assigned to the Public Debt Commissioners to provide for the interest and Sinking Fund of the debt. Although, by the Law of Liquidation accepted by the Powers in 1880, the rate of interest was reduced, the provision for the Sinking Fund was left untouched, and the result was that the debt was gradually reduced by about a million. This, however, was too good a state of things to last. The expenses caused by the insurrection in the Soudan, the necessity of providing for the payment of the Alexandria indemnities, and other pressing claims, not only rendered it impossible for Egypt to continue the reduction of her existing debt, but made it indispensable to contract a fresh one in the shape of a new loan.
  • 43. In March, 1884, at the invitation of Lord Granville, a conference of the Great Powers was held in London to discuss the situation. To purchase the goodwill of France, what became known as "The Anglo-French Convention" was entered into. By this, subject to the acceptance by the Powers of the British financial proposals, the British troops in Egypt were to be withdrawn at a fixed date, unless the Powers, in the meantime, should agree to their remaining. Lord Granville pointed out the absurdity of Egypt continuing to pay off her old debts at a moment when the funds at her disposal were insufficient to meet her current expenditure. The British proposals, which involved not only a suspension of the Sinking Fund, but also a further diminution in the rate of interest, were opposed by the French representative; and Lord Granville, in a somewhat summary manner, dissolved the conference. Lord Northbrook was then despatched to Egypt as High Commissioner, and in September, 1884, no means having been discovered of relieving the financial tension, the Egyptian Government, under his advice, adopted the strong measure of directing the governors of the provinces, as well as the heads of the customs and railway administrations, to pay directly to the Treasury the balance of their receipts for the current half-year (which closed on the 25th October), instead of to the "Caisse" of the debt. It is worthy of remark that there was at this time sufficient money in the "Caisse" to pay the interest on the debt, and the funds intercepted would simply have gone to swell the Sinking Fund. The step, nevertheless, was a clear violation of the existing arrangements between Egypt and her creditors, and naturally raised a storm. Protests rained in from all quarters; and some of the Powers, notably France, Germany, and Russia, used strong language. The Commissioners of the debt also attacked the Khedive's Ministers in the Mixed Tribunals. The Egyptian Government, realizing that it had got into a "tight place," again by British advice, meekly bowed its head and directed the payments to the "Caisse" to be resumed. The Cairo Mixed Tribunal on the 18th December gave judgment directing the Government to refund the money diverted. This they were absolutely unable to do, and an appeal was lodged, partly to gain time and partly because the
  • 44. negotiations with the Powers, abruptly broken off by Lord Granville, had been in the meantime renewed. At last, on the 18th March, 1885, "The London Convention" came to the aid of Nubar Pasha and his Cabinet. The effect of this agreement and the declarations dated the 17th March annexed to it was that the Powers acquiesced in the issue of a new loan of £9,000,000. Foreigners were made liable to certain taxes, and the Law of Liquidation was modified. Further than this, the Mixed Tribunals were declared incompetent to proceed with the action against the Government. On 27th July, 1885, a decree embodying these terms was signed, and a situation full of embarrassment was happily put an end to. The Suez Canal. It should be mentioned that in the declarations annexed to "The London Convention" was one which provided that a commission composed of delegates of the Great Powers should assemble at an early date to consider the measures to be adopted to secure the free navigation of the Suez Canal in time of war. What possible connection there was between this question and that of Egyptian finance it is hard to say, but, the engagement having been made, it had to be carried out, and the negotiations were at once taken in hand. The International Commission for dealing with the matter held its first sitting in Paris on the 30th March, 1885, and proceeded to discuss the various points involved. As stated in a previous chapter, the attention of the Powers had been called to the matter by Lord Granville, then Foreign Secretary, as far back as the 3rd January, 1883, though thus far no progress had been made. By the 13th June, 1885, the Commission had agreed on the text of a convention by which the freedom of navigation of the Canal in war-time was to be secured, and the Commission then concluded its sittings. It should be mentioned that the British delegates, in approving the arrangement, formally declared that they did so under express
  • 45. reservation against the application of any of the clauses which might be incompatible with the existing situation in Egypt, or which might fetter the action of Her Majesty's Government or the movements of Her Majesty's forces during the British occupation of Egypt. From the date last mentioned, the question was under discussion by the respective Governments till more than three years later, when the Convention was concluded, and finally ratified by the Powers on the 22nd December, 1888. The principal provisions of the Convention were the following, viz.:— That the Canal should be open to both merchant vessels and men-of-war both in time of war and peace; that the Canal should not be subject to the exercise of the right of blockade; that no act of hostility should be committed in the Canal, its ports of access, or within a radius of three miles; that vessels of belligerents should only take in supplies so far as they were actually necessary, and that their stay in port should be limited to twenty-four hours; that the like interval should elapse between the sailing of a belligerent vessel and the departure of a vessel of a hostile Power; that no belligerent Power should disembark or embark either troops or munitions of war; that no vessel of war belonging to the contracting Powers should be stationed in the Canal, and not more than two at Port Saïd or Suez; that the restrictions imposed should not apply to measures which the Sultan or the Khedive might take for the defence of Egypt by their own forces or for the maintenance of public order; and that no fortifications should be erected. Referring to a former chapter dealing with M. de. Lesseps' contention as to the neutrality of the Canal, it is worthy of note that in no part of the Convention does the word "neutrality" occur, and it is a fact that in Lord Salisbury's instructions to the British delegates they were expressly warned to avoid using that expression and to substitute for it the term "freedom of navigation." The Army of Occupation. In August, 1885, the continued presence of the Army of Occupation (then 14,000 in number) had
  • 46. for some time been producing increased irritation on the part of the Sultan, and also of the French Government. Sir H. Drummond-Wolff was then sent to the East with the object of endeavouring to arrive at some understanding with regard to the withdrawal of the British troops. The British envoy was also, in combination with the Turkish commissioner Moukhtar Pasha, to consider the steps to be taken for tranquillizing the Soudan, and to inquire what changes might be necessary in the civil administration of Egypt. The British commissioner was received by the Sultan on 29th August, and having signed a preliminary convention with the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs at Constantinople, came on to Cairo two months later, where he was joined by his colleague. Their joint inquiry lasted till the end of 1886, and resulted in various suggestions which were not adopted. In January, 1887, the Sultan, backed by France, was pressing the British Government to name a day for the evacuation, and, with a view to meeting his views as far as possible, a definite convention on the subject was signed by the two commissioners on the 22nd May, 1887. According to this agreement, the British troops were to withdraw at the end of three years, unless at the expiration of that period external or internal danger should render the postponement of the evacuation necessary, in which case the troops were to be withdrawn as soon as the danger should have disappeared. Two years after the withdrawal, the supervision exercised by Great Britain over the Egyptian army was to cease. Thenceforward Egypt was to enjoy territorial immunity, and, on the ratification of the Convention, the Powers were to be invited to recognize and guarantee the inviolability of Egyptian territory. Nevertheless, the Convention continued, the Turkish Government was to have the right to occupy the country militarily if there should be danger from invasion without, or if order and security were threatened within. On the other hand, the British Government reserved the right to send, in the above-mentioned cases, troops which would take the measures
  • 47. necessary to remove those dangers. Lastly, both the Ottoman and British troops were to withdraw as soon as the causes calling for their intervention should be removed. The essential point in the agreement was the recognition, by the Sultan, of England's right to reoccupy Egypt, on emergency, and this at once gave rise to trouble. As soon as the terms of the Convention were communicated to the French Government, the French Ambassador was rampant everywhere, and both he and his Russian colleague at Constantinople made the most violent opposition. They lost no opportunity of putting pressure on the Sultan, who at first was disposed to abide by the arrangement. They went so far as to declare that, if he ratified the Convention, France and Russia would thereby have a right to occupy provinces of the Turkish Empire, and to leave only after a similar convention should be concluded with them. They also hinted that France might do this in Syria, and Russia in Armenia. Austria, Germany, and Italy, on the other hand, urged the ratification of the Convention, but the poor Sultan was too much alarmed to consent, and, on the 14th July, proposed to England to throw over the agreement which his Ministers had signed, and to reopen negotiations for a new convention altogether. This was a little too much for Lord Salisbury, then Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister. Needless to say the mission of the British envoy, upon which £25,046 in money and two years in time had been wasted, came to an end, and Sir H. Drummond-Wolff, who had already been waiting for a month to obtain the desired ratification, left Constantinople on the 15th. His colleague, Moukhtar Pasha, whose occupation was now gone, nevertheless remained in Egypt, where he is to be found at the present date, drawing a handsome salary, but with no defined duties. The failure of the negotiations was probably as little regretted by Lord Salisbury as it was by everybody else having the welfare of Egypt at heart. Although the time may arrive when that country will be in a position to walk alone, in 1890 (the period fixed for the
  • 48. withdrawal of the Army of Occupation) that time had not been reached. The reforms inaugurated were then only beginning to bear fruit, and, without the supporting influence afforded by the presence of British troops, ran the risk of being only imperfectly carried into effect, even if they did not perish altogether. It must be conceded that, considered merely as a military force, the presence of the Army of Occupation has for years ceased to be necessary. British Ministers have over and over again declared that England's intervention in Egypt was for the purpose of suppressing anarchy, supporting the authority of the Khedive, and restoring public order. No one can deny that all these objects have long since been attained, and those who attempt to justify the retention of the British troops on the supposition that their withdrawal might be followed by fresh troubles adopt an argument similar to that of a person who, having extinguished a conflagration in his neighbour's house, should persist in occupying it on the pretence that the fire might break out again. But regarded as a moral support to England in carrying out her extended programme of reforming Egyptian institutions, the presence of the Army of Occupation may be for some time to come a necessity. Writing on this subject, Sir Alfred Milner, in his admirable work "England in Egypt," remarks as follows:— "The British troops have of course no sort of status in the country. They are not the soldiers of the Khedive, or foreign soldiers invited by the Khedive; they are not the soldiers of the protecting Power, because in theory there is no protecting Power. In theory, their presence is an accident, and their character that of simple visitors. At the present moment they are no longer, from the military point of view, of vital importance, for their numbers have been repeatedly reduced, and for several years past they
  • 49. have not exceeded, and do not now (1892) exceed, 3,000 men. It is true that their presence relieves a certain portion of the Egyptian army from duties it would otherwise have to perform, and that, if the British troops were altogether withdrawn, the number of Egyptian soldiers might have to be somewhat increased. But its value as part of the defensive forces of the country does not, of course, constitute the real importance and meaning of the British Army of Occupation. It is as the outward and visible sign of the predominance of British influence, of the special interest taken by Great Britain in the affairs of Egypt, that that army is such an important element in the present situation. Its moral effect is out of all proportion to its actual strength. The presence of a single British regiment lends a weight they would not otherwise possess to the counsels of the British Consul-General. Take the troops away, and you must either run the risk of a decline of British influence, which would imperil the work of reform, or devise, for a time at least, some new and equivalent support for that influence, a problem not perhaps impossible, but certainly difficult of solution."
  • 50. CHAPTER LV. THE EASTERN SOUDAN. Any history of the military operations in Egypt, during the period comprised in the accompanying chapters, would be incomplete without a notice of the events which were in the meantime taking place in the Eastern Soudan. In May, 1885, when Graham's force withdrew from Souakim, General Hudson took over the command. The troops left to protect the town consisted of 930 Europeans, 2,405 Indians, and the Egyptians forming the regular garrison. Osman Digna, with the greater part of his followers, was again at Tamaai, and had also a small force at Hasheen. The fall of Kassala soon after, by setting free the besieging force, enabled Osman still further to strengthen his position in the neighbourhood of Souakim.142 Under these circumstances, General Hudson was compelled to remain strictly on the defensive. It would be both long and wearisome to attempt to describe the various incidents which occurred during many of the succeeding months. Day after day the Dervish scouts approached the forts, and cavalry patrols went out and fired upon them; night after night parties of the enemy took up positions from which they fired on the town, and remained until dislodged by the shell fired from the forts and from the man-of-war stationed in the harbour. Thus Souakim
  • 51. continued to be besieged, the enemy refraining from any serious attack, and devoting themselves principally to raiding the friendly tribes in the adjoining territory. On 11th May, 1886, the remainder of the British and Indian troops left, and Major Watson took command as Governor-General of the Eastern Soudan. The garrison at this time consisted of 2,500 Egyptians. In June, the prospect began to brighten. The Dervishes withdrew their patrols round Souakim, and evacuated Hasheen and Handoub. The friendlies then began to take courage, and made advances upon Tamaai, which they blockaded, and eventually occupied on 11th September, the Soudanese garrison retiring with loss into a fort near the village. On the 7th October the friendlies scored a further success. After being twice repulsed, they assaulted and took the fort after an hour's fighting, killing some 200 of the defenders and capturing eighteen guns. The redoubtable Osman Digna, being wanted at Omdurman, had previously withdrawn, and no hostile force now remained in the Eastern Soudan. Two thousand pounds was paid to the friendlies by way of subsidy, and trade with the interior was opened. In November, Colonel Kitchener, who had succeeded Major Watson, reported "the collapse of Osman Digna's power," and a season of greater tranquillity than Souakim had known for years was experienced. In January, 1887, affairs at Souakim had even further settled down, and many of the hostile tribes expressed a desire to come to terms, but, in June, news arrived that from 2,000 to 3,000 Dervishes, mostly Baggaras, were advancing from Kassala to relieve Tokar, at that time besieged by the friendlies. The arrival of the Baggaras at Tokar tended to revive the fanatical spirit at that place,
  • 52. but had not much influence on the surrounding tribes, who refused to present themselves there when summoned by Osman Digna. In July, Osman was again called to Omdurman, and in his absence nothing particular was done in the neighbourhood of Souakim. During the autumn, things looked so peaceful that the garrison was reduced by the withdrawal of two battalions, and news of this circumstance reaching Osman, who had then returned to Kassala, he at once collected some 5,000 men and marched to Handoub. By 18th December he was again master of the whole country up to the walls of Souakim, which once more was in a state of siege. On 17th December, an attack was made on the Water Forts, and repulsed. A deserter reported that at Handoub and Tamaai a fighting force of 5,000 men was preparing to capture Souakim by a rush, and that the scheme would be carried out at daybreak very shortly. In January, 1888, frequent night attacks were made; but they were invariably repulsed by the fire from the men-of-war in the harbour. On the 17th, a party of friendlies attacked the Dervish camp at daybreak. Mounted troops from Souakim went in support. The friendlies surprised and captured the enemy's camp. Then the Dervishes scattered in the pursuit re-entered the position from the rear, and drove off the friendlies with considerable loss. The whole Egyptian force then retreated to Souakim, pursued for four or five miles by the victorious Dervishes. In this engagement Kitchener and Lieutenant McMurdo were wounded, and eleven soldiers and friendlies were killed. As a result of the engagement, Kitchener was warned that in future he should not take part in similar operations with British officers or Egyptian regulars. The intention was to capture Osman Digna, but although seen in the distance, he succeeded in escaping at the moment when the fortune of war appeared to be going against him. Emboldened by this success, the Dervishes began to display increased activity round Souakim, the neighbourhood of which was infested with marauding bands. On the 3rd March, a large party
  • 53. established themselves by night at a disused position called Fort Hudson, and kept up a continuous fire on the town. On the morning of the 4th, numbers of the enemy were seen advancing, and H.M.S. Dolphin opened fire at 10 a.m. The Egyptian forces, to the number of 450 men, advanced to endeavour to drive the enemy from Fort Hudson, the friendly Amarar tribe assisting. The position, however, was too strong, and they were repulsed. To make matters worse, just at the moment when a reinforcement of the enemy necessitated the retirement a shell from the man-of-war, aimed at the Dervishes, burst among the friendlies, who, suddenly scared, fell back in disorder upon the regulars, who had nothing left to do but retreat with all possible speed. The Dervish force maintained its position during the remainder of the day under a heavy cross-fire. At nightfall the Dervishes drew off and made no further attempt to reoccupy the position. The Egyptian loss in this highly unsuccessful sortie was Colonel Tapp and eight men killed and seventeen wounded, without counting the poor friendlies. After the affair of the 4th March things resumed a comparatively quiet condition for some months. The enemy's cavalry from time to time came within range, and a few shots were exchanged, but nothing serious was attempted on either side. The inaction of the blockading force was doubtless due in great measure to the dissensions which at this period broke out amongst the hostile tribes, some of whom were anxious to take Souakim by assault, whilst others deemed it useless to make the attempt. The result was a series of quarrels, which nearly led to actual fighting. On the night of the 17th September, however, the aspect of things changed, and without any previous warning a force of some 500 men of the Jaalin and Baggara tribes intrenched themselves at a distance of 1,000 yards from the Water Forts, with the intention of cutting off the water supply, and commenced firing on the town. This was kept up continuously for some time by day and night, and frequent casualties occurred. On the 22nd the enemy placed a gun on the ridge between the Water Forts, and shelled the town until compelled by the fire from the lines to withdraw.
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