At that time Halton’s private secretary, Mr. G.D. Wallich, applied for leave of absence and Halton entrusted Simaika with Wallich’s duties in addition to his own. This meant an enormous amount of extra work, for at that time a commission composed of two railway experts, Lord Farrar and Major Marinden, had been invited by the Egyptian government to investigate the condition of the Egyptian railways. Their goal was to provide recommendations to repair both the railway line and the rolling stock, which had been much neglected in the past. This commission asked for information on all branches of the railways administration, and it fell to Simaika to obtain most of the data and collect all the necessary statistics. To do this he worked closely with Halton Pasha every day until late into the night.
Soon after, Halton appointed Simaika his secretary and asked him to propose someone to replace him as chief of the Purchasing and Contracts Office. Simaika suggested Habashi Muftah, an honest man of inflexible rectitude, and promised to help him out. This proposal was accepted, and in 1890 Simaika became secretary to the chairman of the board. In 1893, Simaika was promoted to the post of secretary of the Traffic Department under Scandar Pasha Fahmi, in addition to his position as secretary to the chairman.
Simaika’s career at the Egyptian State Railways was marked with considerable success, but his young age, diligence, and personal integrity often made him resented by those less qualified and less straightforward. In his memoirs, Simaika recounts several incidents in which he fell prey to machinations by colleagues and superiors who begrudged his accomplishments.
In 1895, Simaika was promoted to inspector general of accounts, a post previously always held by a European, and never by an Egyptian. In this position, he was provided with a service coach that could be attached to trains, enabling him to arrive unexpectedly at any destination, thus ensuring efficient inspection and supervision. During these unannounced visits, he uncovered large-scale abuse and theft, with various railway stations being supplied with large quantities of stores far exceeding their requirements. Due to lack of proper inspection and a two-year delay of the annual audit, corruption was rampant. The amount collected for a consignment of goods would be entered in full on the foil given as a receipt to the sender, and then reduced on the one sent to the Audit Department to two-thirds or half the amount, depending on the greed of the clerk.
To put an end to these abuses, Simaika introduced the use of carbon paper in the face of great opposition, especially from the traffic manager and the chief of audit. But with the full support of the members of the board, his suggestions were approved and put into practice. These measures resulted in diminution of fraud and a notable increase in revenue. As a result, the board appointed him deputy chief of audit in addition to his functions as inspector general of accounts. On assuming this office, the first order he gave was that all clerks at the Audit Department would devote the morning hours to current work and return in the afternoons to deal with the arrears. This proved very unpopular with the clerks, but Simaika made sure to set an example by arriving at work half an hour early in the morning and remaining at his desk until ten o’clock in the evening.
To mark the appreciation of the board, its Egyptian member, Boghos Pasha Nubar, son of Nubar Pasha, sent for Simaika and told him that the board had decided to promote him to the post of chief of audit in addition to that of inspector general of accounts. Simaika immediately replied,
Allow me, in thanking you for this new mark of confidence, to say that the present chief, Antoun Bey el Saheb, has to his credit thirty-nine years of service and only wants one more year to be entitled to a full pension. If dismissed now, he will only get two-thirds of his pay. I am young and not impatient for promotion, and in order not to cause prejudice to a colleague I can well afford to wait another year or two.17
Thereupon, Boghos Pasha rose from his chair and shook Simaika’s hand, saying, “These feelings do you great honour and raise you higher in our esteem.”18
Unfortunately for Simaika, just three months later the whole board was replaced. The chairman, Mr. Robertson, was replaced by Major Girouard, a young royal engineer recommended by Lord Kitchener to this high position as a reward for the zeal he had displayed in constructing the Luxor-to-Aswan railway line in the Sudan campaign. Major Girouard was a Canadian railway builder who was to become Sir Edouard Percy Cranwill Girouard, governor of Northern Nigeria and later governor of the British East Africa Protectorate (Kenya). M. Prompt, the French director, was replaced by M. Barrois, the secretary general of the Ministry of Public Works, and Scandar Pasha Fahmi replaced Boghos Pasha as the Egyptian member. When Simaika, together with his colleagues Missara Bey, director of the secretariat, Rushdi Bey, director of accounts, and Antoun Bey al-Saheb, director of audit, went to congratulate Scandar Pasha on his new post, he was shocked when, looking fixedly at him, Scandar said, “There is some one amongst you here who is intriguing to take the place of another, but he shall not have it as long as I am here.”19
Simaika was so stunned by this unjustifiable accusation that he was struck dumb, and did not repeat the conversation he had had with Boghos Pasha just three months previously. He retired to his office, and just a few moments later was sent for by Scandar Pasha, who ordered him to go immediately to Aswan and remain there until further notice to investigate alleged large-scale fraud on the Aswan line. This was in July, when Aswan was excessively hot. When Simaika asked for a few days to make his travel arrangements, Scandar Pasha refused and ordered him to leave the next day. Simaika was shocked.
I went back to my office and sat reflecting. Is this my reward for having tried to do an old colleague a good turn, depriving myself by this act of a promotion I had not solicited?20
As fate would have it, just an hour later, Major Girouard, the new chairman, summoned him, and said his predecessor, Mr. Robertson, had left him a note in which he mentioned important reforms introduced in the railway accounts on Simaika’s initiative. He asked him to help draw up a code of rules and regulations regarding station accounts and other related matters. Simaika replied that Scandar Pasha had just ordered him to go to Aswan immediately and that he was afraid to disobey. The chairman told him to forget Scandar Pasha, and gave him the room next to his as his office. Simaika notes in his memoirs that Scandar Pasha seemed to reconsider his animosity after this incident. He changed his attitude toward Simaika entirely, becoming most friendly and inviting him to his house on numerous occasions.
A few months later, while spending his holidays in Port Said, Simaika received an urgent telegram from Major Johnston, who had just succeeded Major Girouard as chairman of the board, ordering him to return to Cairo at once. Upon Simaika’s arrival, Johnston informed him that a chief examiner of accounts of the government of India had been summoned to report on reforms that might be introduced into the Egyptian system. This gentleman had arrived a week earlier, had been unable to get any assistance from Rushdi Bey or Antoun Bey, and had informed the chairman that they did not seem to know much about their own work. Simaika was introduced to the official from India, Mr. McPherson, and together they visited stations, workshops, stores, the telegraph offices, and the port of Alexandria, discussing the reforms deemed most useful.
When it was time to prepare the annual budget, Scandar Pasha proposed the promotion of Antoun Bey to a higher grade of pay. McPherson, who was by then financial adviser to the board, took this opportunity to propose raising Simaika’s grade as well, and this was unanimously approved by the board. Soon after, Major Johnston had to return to England on urgent business, and it fell to Scandar Pasha to submit the budget to the Ministry of Finance. Sir Eldon Gorst, then financial adviser to the Egyptian government and the de facto prime minister of the Cromer era, naturally asked Scandar Pasha if any of the new promotions proposed could be dispensed with for the sake of economy. Scandar Pasha, who had clearly been biding his time to exact revenge on Simaika, suggested dispensing with Simaika’s promotion, and Gorst approved. On his return from the Ministry of Finance, Scandar Pasha handed the budget to McPherson, who noticed the alteration and asked Scandar Pasha for an explanation. Scandar Pasha told him that Gorst himself had made it for reasons of economy. McPherson took the budget to M. Barrois, and asked him to see Gorst at once and explain
