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 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE
 
 CYPRUS UNDER 
 BRITISH RULE 
 
 BY 
 
 CAPTAIN C. W. J. ORR a ^ 
 
 Author of "The Making of Northern Nigeria " 
 
 LONDON: ROBERT SCOTT 
 
 ROXBURGHE HOUSE 
 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 
 
 MCMXVni 
 All rights reseri'ed
 
 O Venus, regina Cnidi Paphique, 
 Sperne dilectam Cypron, et vocantis 
 Thure te multo Glycerae decoram 
 Transfer in aedem. 
 
 Horace. Ode xxx. Lib. I. 
 
 'iKoifirju noTt rav Kvirpov 
 va<Tov Tfjs A0poStru5 
 lu 01 6t\^i4)povis vifiov — 
 rat davaTo'iaiv''Epa>Tas' 
 
 nd(f)OU 6', liu fKaT6(TT0p.0l 
 
 ^ap^dpov rroTap-oi) poat 
 Kapni(ov(riv avofi&pov 
 
 OTTOV KoXKlCTTtVOflfVa 
 
 Uitpia p,ovaeio5 eSpa 
 (Ttpva tCKiTVi 0\vfinov 
 %1 (Ktiv ayt pt, Bpopitf Bpopit, 
 
 TTpo^aKxr^lt daip,ov 
 
 tKtl XdpiTtS, IKtl TTodoS 
 
 txtl Sf ^dK)(ai(n dtpis 6pyiii(tiv 
 
 Euripides. Bacchcc 400. 
 
 75 
 
 c 
 
 y> 
 
 c« 
 
 Idalian Aphrodite beautiful. 
 Fresh as the foam, new-bathed in Paphian wells, 
 3 With rosy slender fingers backward drew 
 
 From her warm brows and bosom her deep hair 
 Ambrosial, golden round her lucid throat 
 And shoulder ; from the violets her light foot 
 Shone rosy-white, and o'er her rounded form 
 Between the shadows of the vine branches 
 Floated the glowing sunlight, as she moved. 
 
 Tennyson. Oenone. 
 
 o8o.'?65
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 NOT many years ago a newly appointed High Commis- 
 sioner of Cyprus was received by the Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies before leaving England to take up 
 his duties. " There are in Cyprus I believe," said the 
 Secretary of State, "a number of interesting and valuable 
 antiquities. I trust that you will see that they are 
 adequately preserved and cared for. I wish you a 
 successful tour of office. Good-bye." 
 
 It is in the hope that the interest in Cyprus taken by the 
 general public may be somewhat less limited than that dis- 
 played by the responsible minister in the incident just recorded 
 that I have written this book. My self-imposed task has 
 been to describe only the somewhat dull and unromantic 
 details of administration, and readers who desire to learn 
 something of the interesting and valuable antiquities, or of the 
 scenery of this beautiful island or the manners and customs 
 of its inhabitants, must look elsewhere. For information 
 about the antiquities, the delightful pages of Cesnola's monu- 
 mental work should be consulted, and some idea of the romantic 
 charm of the island and its beautiful scenery may be gleaned 
 from Mr. Mallock's well-known book, An Enchanted Island. 
 A veritable mine of information is contained in Messrs. 
 Lukach and Jardine's Handbook of Cyprus, which discourses 
 charmingly on all subjects, from the ancient history, 
 geological formation, and ornithology of the island to the 
 price of eggs, hotel charges, and the prevalence of fleas. 
 In addition to such sources of information, a report is 
 issued annually and presented to both Houses of Parhament, 
 containing much useful information regarding the finance, 
 trade, and general progress of the island. I know of no 
 pubhcation however which gives a connected account of 
 British administration in Cyprus, or describes the conditions 
 under which we have occupied it since 1878 and con- 
 tinue to hold it. 
 
 7
 
 8 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 As a nation we pride ourselves on our liberal institutions 
 and democratic form of Government. But do we sufficiently 
 realize that democracy has its responsibiUties as well as its 
 privileges ? We boast of our Empire on which the sun never 
 sets, but how many of us take the trouble to acquaint ourselves 
 with the manner in which the component parts of that Empire 
 are administered, or even where a large number of them are 
 situated ? Eminent persons who should be well-informed 
 have asked me questions about Cyprus which reveal quite 
 plainly the fact that they confuse it with Crete : others have 
 shown complete ignorance of the most elementary facts con- 
 nected with the island. When well-informed persons display 
 such lack of knowledge, how much can one expect the mass of 
 the community to know or care ? Is it right to leave the affairs 
 of an island with a quarter of a million inhabitants to the tender 
 mercies of a Government Department, busy with a couple of 
 score of other communities and their problems, and to ask no 
 questions, offer no criticisms ? 
 
 If this small book succeeds in inducing anyone to ponder over 
 the problems of Cyprus, or the system of Crown Colony adminis- 
 tration in general, it will have fulfilled its purpose. But if 
 by chance it goes further and arouses in anyone who reads it 
 a feeling that England in its treatment of Cyprus since 1878 has 
 in any way failed in the generosity and liberality expected of 
 a Great Power in dealing with its dependencies, surely there 
 is a dutj' imposed on such a person to urge that we should 
 set our house in order, and make good without delay any short- 
 coming of which we may have been guilty in the past ? We 
 are fond of representing ourselves as the champions of small 
 nationalities and peoples, and we boast of our hatred of 
 injustice, oppression, and illiberality in any form. It behoves 
 us, therefore, to take especial care that in our relations with 
 our dependencies our attitude and actions should be above 
 reproach, and that we have nothing on our conscience for which 
 we can be justly condemned in the eyes of civihzation. 
 
 C. W. J. O.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER TAGE 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION - - - - - II 
 
 II. HISTORY TO THE BRITISH OCCUPATION - - I9 
 
 III. THE CYPRUS CONVENTION - - "35 
 
 IV. THE TRIBUTE - - - - - 46 
 V. ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS AND REFORMS - 65 
 
 VI. TAXATION AND FINANCE - - - "79 
 
 VII. THE CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL - 95 
 
 VIII. THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM - - - - II4 
 
 IX. EDUCATION- - - - - - 121 
 
 X. FORESTS ------ 136 
 
 XI. AGRICULTURE - - - - - 142 
 
 XII. HARBOURS, RAILWAYS, AND COMMUNICATIONS - 152 
 
 XIII. THE HELLENIC IDEA - - - . 160 
 
 XIV. ANNEXATION IN I914 : CONCLUDING REMARKS - 1/2 
 APPENDIX I. - - - - - 184 
 APPENDIX II. - - - - - 186 
 MAP OF CYPRUS AND SURROUNDING COUNTRIES
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE island of Cyprus lies in a secluded corner of the 
 Eastern Mediterranean, stretching out a long finger 
 towards the angle where the coast of Asia Minor, running east 
 and west, meets the Syrian coast-Hne running north and south. 
 The picturesque range of hills fringing its northern shores 
 looks across at the towering heights of the Taurus mountains 
 which skirt the Cilician coast ; and on a clear day of early 
 spring, when a brilliant sun shines in a cloudless sky, and the 
 snow covered mountains stand out dazzHng white against 
 the azure background, an observer looking across the blue 
 expanse which separates him from the opposite coast might 
 well be deceived into imagining himself on the shore of some 
 beautiful lake ; yet more than forty miles of sea separates 
 Cyprus from the mainland. To the east, south, and west 
 nothing is visible but a great expanse of sea, though it is said 
 that on very clear days the Syrian coast, sixty miles away, 
 can be discerned as a faint hne on the eastern horizon. Egypt 
 lies two hundred and thirty miles to the south, whilst west- 
 ward there is no land nearer than Crete and the yEgean 
 islands, nearly two hundred miles away. 
 
 Geographically, Cyprus belongs to the Asiatic continent ; 
 ethnologically and climatically it may claim kinship with both 
 Europe and Asia. The short winter lasting from December to 
 February is not unlike the same season in Sicily and Southern 
 Europe generally. At times a fierce wind sweeps down from 
 the North, bringing with it an icy blast from the Taurus 
 snows ; and in the island itself the mountains, which rise 
 to a height of more than six thousand feet, are under snow
 
 12 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 for some months, and a keen wind is carried from them to the 
 plain below. Even during the winter months, however, though 
 the nights are cold the days are warmed by bright sunshine, 
 and fires are hardly necessary except in the evenings and early 
 mornings. By late February or early March spring has 
 already set in, and the island is carpeted with a wealth of 
 wild flowers. Fields of yellow daisies, red tuhps, purple 
 irises, scarlet gladioli, white narcissus, and many coloured 
 anemones meet the eye everywhere, and by the end of 
 March the landscape is green with young barley, dotted with 
 scarlet poppies and brought into vivid relief by stretches 
 here and there of bare, uncultivated land or brown fields 
 under plough, awaiting the sowing of later crops. The winter 
 rains which fall in November and December soften the baked 
 ground, and enable the farmer to plough and sow his fields. 
 In March and April showers fall at intervals and refresh the 
 young crops now well above ground, and fill out the grain. 
 By the end of April the fields of barley have ripened into 
 j^ellow, though the wheat is still green. Soon reaping begins 
 under a hot sun and clear sky ; the fields are full of men, 
 women, and children, whose bright coloured garments — red, 
 saffron, violet, brown, pale pink — against the background 
 of yellow corn, as they reap, form a picture of singular fas- 
 cination. By June the sun's rays have gathered force and 
 a hot wind begins to blow like a blast from a furnace. The 
 bare fields assume a dull, monotonous yellow-brown appear- 
 ance, and are baked and scorched by the pitiless sun. The 
 broad treeless plains lose any resemblance they may have 
 had to a European scene, and disclose their kinship with Asia 
 and the East. The heat is reminiscent only of the tropics — 
 of the plains of India and the broad expanse of the Soudan. 
 Fortunate are the dwellers in the hill villages, which nestle 
 in well-watered valleys on the slopes of the great Troodos 
 range, cool in their elevation of three, four, and even five 
 thousand feet above sea level. If the villagers were obliged 
 to endure the rigour of winter snow and ice, they can now
 
 INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 enjoy the cool mountain air and look down pityingly on their 
 kinsfolk in the scorched plains below, amidst vvhirhng clouds 
 of dust or the still more dreadful calm of a burning summer 
 day without even a breeze to stir the heavy atmosphere. 
 
 Through all the heat of the early summer months, the 
 farmers are threshing their corn on the open threshing floors 
 outside the villages, winnowing it in the evening breeze, 
 and, when the Government tithe has been measured and 
 removed, taking the remainder on donkeys or in carts to 
 their own houses and the merchants' stores. In autumn comes 
 the gathering of the carob bean and the olive, and in the 
 foothills the terraced vineyards are heavy with clustering 
 grapes. By mid-October, the sweltering heat of the past 
 few months in the plains has begun to abate and the nights 
 are cool once more, but the parched soil and scorched vegeta- 
 tion await the coming of the winter rains. Soon clouds 
 begin to bank up, only to disappear in tantalizing fashion 
 again and again just at the moment when they seem to be 
 on the point of bursting and drenching the thirsty earth with 
 longed-for rain. But at last it comes ; at first running off 
 the baked earth in a thousand tiny rivulets till the crust 
 is softened and the soil sucks up the moisture, and little blades 
 of grass begin to peep out and change the face of the bare 
 and colourless plain. Soon the fields are dotted with the 
 figures of peasants in their loose black breeches and coloured 
 shirts, walking behind primitive wooden ploughs drawn by 
 a pair of somewhat attenuated oxen, or perhaps an ox and an 
 ass yoked together. And so throughout the winter months 
 of December and January, amidst alternations of refreshing 
 rain and grey skies, and bright sunshine and blue skies, the 
 work of ploughing and preparing the fields and of sowing 
 for the next harvest goes on incessantly until spring comes 
 again with its wealth of fresh green and brilliant colour, and 
 Nature renews herself once more. 
 
 There is nothing of tlie vicux monde qui s'enniiie about 
 Cyprus village life, although the place of Cyprus in history
 
 14 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 belongs to a misty and romantic past rather than to the bust- 
 ling and prosaic present. There are no cities, no industrial 
 centres where man has disfigured the fair face of Nature 
 with hideous factory chimneys and polluted the air with 
 columns of black smoke. The Turkish and the Greek elements 
 of which the population is composed Uve apart, in the towns 
 in separate quarters, in the country in separate villages. 
 The vast majority of the people are peasant farmers, for agri- 
 culture is practically the sole industry ; and they are small 
 
 farmers indeed, for the average holding is but half an acre. 
 
 Each village is a little entity of its own ; it elects its own 
 Mukhtar or headman every two years, and this functionary 
 is usually somewhat of a despot, often the richest and most 
 powerful man in the community. Except in the very small 
 villages each has its own school and its own church or mosque. 
 Indeed, the first thing that strikes the traveller in the districts 
 inhabited mainly by the Orthodox Christian element is the 
 large and somewhat pretentious stone church in the centre 
 of each village, rising out of the cluster of little dull-coloured, 
 sun-baked mud houses ; for however poor a village may be — 
 and some are poor indeed — the inhabitants invariably con- 
 tribute sufficient funds to build themselves a church, giving 
 the labour themselves, fetching the stone in their own 
 carts — sometimes from a considerable distance — and taking 
 a pride in erecting a building which may be deemed fit for 
 their spiritual needs. 
 
 There is a charm and simplicity about the peasantry of 
 every country, and in addition to this there is a gaiety and 
 joie de vivre in those fortunate regions of southern Europe, 
 where all the year round the sun shines in a clear, blue sky, 
 and the days are hot without being oppressive. Village hfe 
 in Cyprus, devoted as it is entirely to agriculture, runs smoothly 
 year by year, and probably does not differ very greatly from 
 what it has been for centuries past. Work in the fields through- 
 out the year is fairly constant but never strenuous ; harvest 
 time is busy, but it is then, in those beautiful May days,
 
 INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 that the sun shines most brightly in the clear sky and the 
 air is soft and spring-like and the nights warm. It is 
 good to see the brightly clad figures of the reapers in the 
 fields, and to hear their laughter and the merry sound of their 
 voices ; when night comes the villager will sleep beside the 
 com stack, piled high near the threshing floor, under a sky 
 studded with myriads of stars. In ordinary times the 
 inhabitants of every village will gather towards sunset outside 
 the little cafes, and sit there smoking and gossiping and 
 sipping coffee till long after night has fallen. 
 
 But the great days are Sundays and Saints' Days, or, in 
 the case of the Turkish villages, Fridays and Festivals. Let 
 us, for example, pay a visit in Greek Easter-time to one of 
 the villages on the northern coast that looks across to the 
 opposite coast of Asia Minor. It lies in a sheltered valley 
 a little way up the range of hills, looking down on the sea 
 breaking lazily against a rocky coast. A stream runs sparkling 
 beside the steep main street, and is led off by a score of tiny 
 irrigation channels into the terraced fruit orchards and vine- 
 yards below. The sun sets ; the church bells toll, and the 
 villagers flock to the little church to attend the Good Friday 
 service. Inside is a coffin, decked with flowers, and the 
 church is packed with peasants bearing in their hands tall 
 yellow candles which they obtain from a tray at the entrance 
 and light from their neighbour's. One by one they approach 
 the coffin, and, reverently kneeling before it, bend and kiss 
 it, and then pass on and mingle again with the crowd. The 
 priest drones in a monotonous, sing-song voice, pausing 
 every now and then for the responses ; the crowd wears an 
 aspect of reverence and solemnity, and towards midnight 
 begins to melt away, the people returning in silence to their 
 homes. On Sunday morning the village is astir early, every 
 one dressed in their best ; a blue and white flag floats from 
 the church, and most of the houses and shops are decorated 
 with flags and banners. The cake and sweet sellers' stalls 
 are piled high with delicacies of every kind, and the cafe
 
 i6 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 keepers have set out all available tables and chairs in front 
 of their cafes, and have made ready an ample supply of coffee 
 and wine. After church, the day is given over to merriment 
 and rejoicing. There are processions, dancing, feasting, 
 speech-making, and music ; men, women, and children flock 
 in from the outlying villages and join in the festivities. Large 
 quantities of the rough wine of the island are consumed, and 
 by nightfall, perhaps, some quarrelHng or brawling takes 
 place outside the caf^s ; but, for the most part, the crowd is 
 merry and good-humoured, and intent on enjoying their 
 Easter holiday. 
 
 In the Turkish villages very similar scenes may be observed 
 at Bairam after the long fast of Ramadan, or on one 
 of the other Mahomedan festival days. Here is a Turkish 
 village which lies in a picturesque valley amongst the lower 
 slopes of the mountain range which rises from the central 
 plains, and culminates in the great peak of Mount Olympus. 
 It looks down on to the flat, treeless plain below, green with 
 young barley in the spring, with here and there patches of 
 red-brown earth where a field has been ploughed for a late 
 crop, and across this to the graceful contour of the Northern 
 range, clear cut against the sky. To the left is a wide, sweeping 
 bay in which a narrow rim of yellow beach lies sharply defined 
 against the background of dark-blue sea, on which the white 
 sails of a few fishing boats stand out clearly, the whole picture 
 lit by the brilHant sun of a clear spring morning. The village 
 itself is a maze of orange groves, for it is famous for its oranges, 
 and fruit growing is its staple industry. The sound of running 
 water is to be heard everywhere, and the hum of insects 
 among the orange trees. Little narrow lanes, bordered by 
 the high walls of sun-baked brick which enclose the orange 
 plantations, wander tortuously up the hillside on wliich the 
 village lies, and lead to the open space where the bazaars 
 are situated and the shopkeepers display their wares. On a 
 slight eminence, rising from the tangle of houses, stands 
 the mosque with its graceful minaret overlooking the town.
 
 INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 The day being a Mahomedan festival, the streets are full 
 of holiday makers who have donned their gayest costumes, 
 many of them wearing flowers pinned to their fezzes. In 
 a red-tiled, two-storied house of lath and plaster, a venerable 
 old Turkish gentleman, in black frock coat, dark trousers, 
 elastic-sided boots, and red fez, is entertaining visitors who 
 have called in accordance with custom to pay their respects 
 on this day of festival. Coffee and cigarettes are brought in 
 on a tray by a youth clad in loose, baggy, white breeches, 
 pale blue stockings with ornamental red designs, shirt of pale 
 primrose, and a richly embroidered waistcoat. On another 
 tray are sweets, and apricots in syrup — for the Turk has a 
 sweet tooth — which are handed round to the guests, for each 
 of whom a long silver fork is provided, with which he helps 
 himself to the fruit. The host sits on a divan, smoking a 
 cigarette and discussing with his guests all the local news — 
 the prospects of next season's fruit crop, the profit to be 
 made from the one recently placed on the market, the weather, 
 neighbours' affairs, and all such matters of local interest. 
 In the narrow lanes the figure of a Turkish lady is seen 
 occasionally, clad in a loose gown of dark plum colour or black, 
 her face completely hidden by the yashmak, and only a pair 
 of beady black eyes showing. As night falls the shops in the 
 bazaars are lit up, the musicians play merry jigs outside 
 the cafes, little coloured lanterns are hung in gay festoons 
 from the minaret to the roof of the mosque, and here and 
 there a group of people may be seen sitting round a venerable 
 old Turk who is telling one of those wonderful tales in which 
 all Orientals delight ; the story is followed with breathless 
 interest, its witticisms greeted with shouts of laughter and 
 rounds of applause. 
 
 Such are typical scenes of Cyprus village life. Life in the 
 three or four coast towns differs little from it, in spite of the 
 comparative sophistication of which electric light and cinema 
 shows are the outward and visible signs. There is, of course, 
 more luxury and less simplicity than in the villages, more 
 
 B
 
 i8 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 graduation of the social scale, more display and extravagance 
 on the one hand, more squalor and poverty on the other. 
 The event of the week is the arrival of the weekly mail steamer 
 from Egypt. The pier is crowded with baskets of fruit, 
 sacks of potatoes, casks of wine, and other local produce 
 awaiting shipment to Egypt, whilst close to the beach is 
 a penfold of attenuated sheep destined for the Alexandria 
 market, and possibly a few oxen and swine. There is much 
 bustle and stir when the steamer is signalled, and the 
 shipping agents hurry to the pier and everywhere there is 
 eager curiosity to hear what news the mail will bring. In 
 a short time the steamer is hard at work discharging cargo 
 and taking in the live stock and the produce ready for ship- 
 ment, and the work often continues till far into the night ; but 
 at last it is completed, and as the smoke of the departing 
 steamer is seen on the horizon, the town settles down once 
 more to its normal life, and awaits the return of the steamer 
 the following week, when the same scenes will be enacted in 
 the same manner, with only trifling variations according to 
 the season of the year. 
 
 Village life in Cyprus in the twentieth century differs little 
 in all probability from what it has been for the last three 
 thousand years. The sun-baked mud houses, the paved 
 threshing floors, the primitive agricultural implements, all 
 recall the shadowy past, the days of the earliest civiHzation. 
 The wooden plough, with its pointed metal shaft, is of the same 
 pattern as those which are to be seen portrayed on the walls 
 of ancient Egyptian temples, and similar ones must have been 
 in use for thousands of years. Many of the customs and 
 superstitions of the Cypriot peasants are palpable legacies 
 from the remote past when their ancestors worshipped at 
 the temples of Isis or Aphrodite. It is a curious reflection 
 that the descendants of the rude savages who inhabited 
 Britain when Cyprus stood in the forefront of civiHzation 
 should, after the lapse of so many centuries, have come from 
 across the seas to aid Cyprus to rise from its long sleep, and 
 regain some at least of its former prosperity.
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 HISTORY TO THE BRITISH OCCUPATION. 
 
 CYPRUS at the present day lies in a peaceful backwater, 
 _ almost out of earshot of the ceaseless hum of the busy 
 world, and removed from the great arteries of commerce along 
 which flows the trade of the world. Rusticns expectat dum 
 defluit amnis. Yet, in the early days of civilization, Cyprus 
 occupied a vantage ground which was only too readily appre- 
 ciated by the nations which fought for supremacy all round her, 
 and it is merely the shifting of the centre of gravity of civiUza- 
 tion further west which has left the httle island stranded and 
 lonely. Its early history is lost in the mists of antiquity, 
 but the island attained a celebrity all its own in the annals 
 of mythology. It was from the waves that beat upon the 
 coast at Paphos that Aphrodite, the foam-born goddess, 
 sprang ; and although the noble altars erected for her worship 
 have long since vanished from those shores, you shall see 
 their site to this day. 
 
 ^ S'apa Kinrpov iKave (/jiXo/i/ici^f)? Acppobirrj 
 
 fV tIa(J)ov' fv6a de ol Ttfxivos (Sunos re 6vi]eis' ' 
 
 So we read in Homer. But long before this, Cyprus was 
 visited by the Phoenicians, who established trading stations 
 on her coasts and were the first to work the famous copper 
 mines which are supposed by some to have given the island 
 its name j and before the Phcenicians, again, Cyprus had been 
 invaded and conquered by the Egyptians. This event took 
 place in the fifteenth century before the Christian era, during 
 
 • So she to Cyprus came, laughter-loving Aphrodite. 
 To Paphos ; there she has a shrine and an altar fragrant with incense. 
 
 Odyssey VIII., 362 
 
 19
 
 20 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 the reign of Thothmes III., of the eighteenth dynasty, and 
 is the first positive infonnation we possess as to the early 
 history of the island. 
 
 When we enquire who were the inhabitants found by the 
 Egyptians when they conquered the island, we are confronted 
 by a difficult problem. In the Old Testament we find 
 frequent references to Kittim, or Chittim, and the Jewish 
 historian Josephus identifies this with the island of Cyprus. 
 The ancient Phoenician settlement which played a great part 
 in the subsequent history of Cyprus, and close to which was 
 built the modern town of Larnaca, was called Citium, or 
 Kitium, and the name survives to this day in the title of the 
 bishop of the diocese. In the tenth chapter of Genesis we find 
 Kittim mentioned as one of the sons of Javan. We are 
 justified, therefore, in supposing that the race found in the 
 island when the Egyptians invaded it in the fifteenth century 
 were of Javanian, that is to say, of Ionian, origin. 
 
 This conclusion has been fortified by the discovery in the 
 island of inscriptions in Cyprian characters which bear a 
 striking resemblance to the old Lycian script : its decipherment 
 has proved that this language is of Aryan or Indo-Germanic 
 and not of Semitic origin. Examination shows that the words 
 which the Cyprian characters express are much the same as 
 those used by the early Greeks, and we may conclude that 
 it comes from the same parent stock as that of Greece, though 
 the characters have Httle or no resemblance to Greek characters, 
 which are usually believed to be of Phoenician origin. We 
 may presume then that long before the Egyptian conquest 
 Cyprus was colonized by settlers of Aryan origin coming 
 from the direction of Phrygia, though we have no guide as 
 to the aborigines whom these settlers displaced or inter- 
 married with. 
 
 The traces of the Egyptian conquest are scanty, and it 
 seems to have left but little impress on the island ; it was 
 probably limited to the payment of tribute and the acknow- 
 ledgment of dependence. During the reign of Rameses III.
 
 HISTORY TO THE BRITISH OCCUPATION 21 
 
 the Cypriots appear to have joined the Phoenicians in an 
 unsuccessful attempt to throw off the yoke of Egypt ; but as 
 the years passed the power of Egypt abroad began to wane, 
 whilst Phoenicia gradually rose to a position of first import- 
 ance among the nations. We learn that Hiram, King of Tyre, 
 during the time of Solomon, made an expedition against 
 Citium because the colonists of Sidonian origin refused to 
 pay their tribute. Phoenician influence spread rapidly in 
 Cyprus ; but about the fourth century before our era, the 
 island was subjected to another tide of colonization which 
 allied itself \\ith and strengthened the native Cyprian element. 
 Settlers arrived from Greece and founded Greek colonies, 
 and these new colonists, unlike the Phoenicians, who main- 
 tained intimate intercourse \\ith their mother'countrj^ seldom 
 revisited theirs, and became in a short time fused with the 
 Cypriots. The most important and probably the first Greek 
 settlement was on the eastern shores of the island, where a city 
 was founded and given the name of Salamis, the site of which 
 had, however, been occupied by a town of far older origin. 
 Its Greek foundation is commonly ascribed to Teucer after 
 the fall of Troy, and the legend has long survived. 
 
 Before the Greek colonization, however, the Phoenician 
 influence had been overshadowed by Assyrian, and Cyprus 
 became tributary to that empire about the beginning of the 
 seventh century B.C. A statue of Sargon, King of Assyria, 
 cast in bas-relief and bearing an inscription in cuneiform 
 characters, was erected at Citium, and is now to be seen in 
 the Royal Museum at Berlin. Within a century, however, 
 Assyria itself had fallen before the Babylonians ; but in 
 588 B.C. a combined fleet of Tyre and Cyprus was defeated by 
 Psammeticus III. of Egypt, and Cyprus passed for the second 
 time under the yoke of Egypt. The triumph of the latter 
 was short-lived, however, for Nebuchadnezzar, returning into 
 Syria, re-took Cyprus from Egypt, and once more the island 
 became a Phoenician dependency, until it was again invaded 
 and conquered by Amasis, King of Egypt, who, we are told
 
 22 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 by Herodotus, " took Cyprus, which no man had ever done 
 before, and compelled it to pay him a tribute."* At this 
 time there were many Greek settlements in the island, and 
 it is said that Amasis, in an endeavour to win the goodwill of 
 its inhabitants, adorned the temple of Aphrodite with costly 
 offerings. A short time before the Egyptian invasion, Cyprus 
 had been visited at the invitation of Philocypros, one of the 
 Cypriot princes, by Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, in honour 
 of whom the town of Soli was founded, whose ruins, close to 
 the modern town of Lefka, can be seen to this day. The 
 dominion of Egypt in Cyprus continued until the reign of 
 Cambyses, King of Persia, the son of Cyrus, about 525 B.C., 
 who enlisted the assistance of Cyprus in his struggle against 
 the Egyptians and added the island to the Persian Empire. 
 Thus Cyprus had, in the course of a thousand stormy years, 
 seen empires wax and wane around her, and had herself been 
 the prey of the conquerors. She had seen the temples of 
 the conquering races set up one by one on her shores, and 
 had been constrained to bow the knee to the Egyptian gods 
 of Isis and Serapis, to the Phoenician Baal and the Assyrian 
 Melkarth, as each race gained ascendancy. The Ionian 
 colonists had erected their temples to Zeus and Apollo. Small 
 wonder that the island became haunted by mythological 
 shapes, and that the forms of all the gods and goddesses 
 whose altars littered the shores as the centuries passed took 
 root in the imagination of the people and coloured the history 
 of the oft-invaded islanders. So far, however, Cyprus had 
 borne a more or less passive part in the welter of nations 
 struggHng for supremacy in the lands that surrounded her, 
 although she could hardly fail to imbibe something of the 
 civilization which existed in such close proximity to her 
 shores — in Persia, Phoenicia, Babylonia, and Syria to the east, 
 Egypt to the south, Knossos and Mycenae to the west, and 
 Cilicia to the north. She was now destined to take a more 
 active part in the great struggle which in the end witnessed 
 • Herodotus, c. II., p. 182.
 
 HISTORY TO THE BRITISH OCCUPATION 23 
 
 the defeat of the Persians by the Greeks, and their expulsion 
 from the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 
 Herodotus gives a very full account of the revolt of the 
 lonians against Persia in 502 B.C., and describes graphically the 
 part taken by Cyprus in this historic contest. The majority 
 of the Cypriots sided with the lonians, who sent a fleet which 
 fought and won off Salamis a decisive naval battle against 
 the Persians and their allies the Phoenicians ; but on land the 
 Greek forces after a few initial successes were overcome, 
 mainly owing to the treacherous desertion of some of their 
 forces, and the Persians remained masters of the island, 
 having been greatly assisted by the Phoenician towns, which 
 were ready enough to take up arms against the lonians. 
 
 The history of Cyprus during these centuries is one of 
 continual conflict between the Greek colonists and the 
 Phoenicians and their masters, the Persians ; at one time we 
 find the island assisting Persia against the Greeks with a large 
 fleet ; at another, Greek forces land in Cyprus and succeed fcr 
 a time in wresting a portion of it from the Persians, only to 
 lose it again.* We have hitherto referred to the island as if 
 it were one kingdom, but from the earliest times it had been 
 divided into a number of petty, semi-independent princi- 
 paUties, owing a shadowy allegiance to the important kingdom 
 of Salamis. There were, probably, in the population at 
 this time two dominant elements — one Cyprian or native, 
 with Greek proclivities, and the other Phoenician, essentially 
 Asiatic ; each had its own peculiar alphabet and language, 
 which alone figure on the coins of the island up to this period. 
 
 ♦ Professor Burnet in his recently published book, " Greek Philosophy 
 from Thales to Plato," in describing Plato's connexion with the affairs of 
 Syracuse during the reign of Dionysius II. (who succeeded to the throne in 
 367 B.C.), writes : " The great question of the day was once more how Hel- 
 lenism could maintain itself against the pressure of Persia on the one side 
 and Carthage on the other, and far-sighted statesmen saw clearly that the 
 only hope lay in taking the offensive. . . . The Carthaginian question was 
 only another aspect of the Persian question, and it is at least an instructive 
 tradition that represents the battles of Salamis and Himera as having been 
 fought on the same day." He adds in a foot-note : " It is interesting to note 
 that the struggle between Hellenes and Semites liad also been going on in 
 Cyprus, the other great ' meeting-place of races.' Isocrates played a similar 
 part there to that which Plato played in Sicily — in his own way, of course."
 
 24 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 About the year 410 B.C., the throne of Salamis, which had 
 been occupied for over a century by a Phoenician dynasty, 
 was seized by one Evagoras, whose ancestors had ruled over 
 Salamis before they were supplanted by the Phoenician 
 dynasty, and who traced his descent from Teucer, son of 
 Telamon, one of the Trojan heroes. Evagoras is one of the 
 most famous characters in the history of Cyprus ; he is 
 described as having excelled all his contemporaries in the 
 beauty of his person, the splendour of his martial gifts, and the 
 ardour of his patriotism. Isocrates, the Athenian orator, relates 
 of him that even as a boy he was distinguished amongst 
 his companions for the strength and address which he dis- 
 played in games, and says that all these brilliant qualities 
 were enhanced by a kindness of heart, owing to which those 
 who were forced to own his superiority were the more readily 
 won to his side ; he seems, in fact, to have been a born ruler 
 of men. His first care after establishing his rule was to restore 
 the trade between Cyprus and Greece, his next to fortify 
 Salamis, improve the harbours, and build ships. He culti- 
 vated an ardent friendship with Athens, and many young 
 and eager Athenians flocked to his court. He remained, 
 however, a faithful ally of the Persian king until after the 
 defeat of the Spartan fleet off Cnidus in Caria by a combined 
 Persian and Cypriot force, when he became involved in war 
 with Persia. After reducing the Phoenician towns in Cyprus 
 he sailed across to the Syrian coast, reduced Tyre, and excited 
 Syria and CiUcia to open revolt. The Persian king, Artaxerxes, 
 becoming alarmed for the safety of his empire, concentrated 
 all his forces against Evagoras, who had obtained as his ally 
 the King of Egypt, by whom a fleet of fifty vessels was sent 
 to his assistance. A large Persian army landed in Cyprus, 
 and Evagoras retaliated by harassing the Persian communi- 
 cations with his fleet. A naval battle took place off Citium, 
 victory at first inclining to the side of Evagoras, who, however, 
 was finally defeated and retired crestfallen to his fortification 
 at Salamis, where he was soon besieged by the Persian forces.
 
 HISTORY TO THE BRITISH OCCUPATION 
 
 ^5 
 
 Here he haughtily refused the terms offered by the Persian 
 general, Tiribazus, which were that he should give up all 
 claim to any portion of the island, pay an annual tribute to 
 the King of Persia, and " demean himself towards the latter 
 as a subject to his lord." Eventually, however, he was forced 
 to conclude a peace by which, whilst paying an annual tribute 
 to Persia, he obtained honourable terms privileging him " to 
 communicate with the great king as one sovereign to another," 
 Little less than a year later, Evagoras was seduced into a 
 discreditable intrigue and murdered. Thus died one of the 
 most illustrious men to whom Cyprus ever gave birth, a man 
 whose love of culture, political sagacity, indomitable courage, 
 and energy in misfortune give him an honourable place in 
 history. 
 
 After this effort to throw off the Persian yoke, Cyprus 
 remained a dependency of that empire until the victories of 
 Alexander the Great finally put an end to Persian domination, 
 and Cyprus became a part of Alexander's vast dominions. 
 
 On the death of Alexander, and the division of his dominions 
 in 323 B.C., Cyprus fell to the share of Antigonus, one of his 
 generals, but it was seized by Ptolemy of Egypt, and remained 
 under the Ptolemies until the century preceding the Christian 
 era. Its timber, its minerals, and its agricultural produce 
 provided Egypt with those much-needed materials, and the 
 island during these two centuries and a half enjoyed a period 
 of comparative peace and prosperity under the Egyptian 
 crown such as it had scarcely known before in all its chequered 
 history. It is hardly to be expected, however, that it could 
 succeed in remaining indefinitely outside the boundaries of 
 Imperial Rome, and about sixty years before the Christian 
 era it passed into Roman hands under circumstances by no 
 means creditable to that great Power. 
 
 The island at that time was in the possession of Ptolemy, 
 known to history as the Cyprian, a man of mean and avaricious 
 character. A Roman tribune, Appius Claudius, fell into 
 the hands of some pirates of Cilicia, and applied to Ptolemy
 
 26 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 for funds to obtain his release. Ptolemy, not daring to refuse 
 the demand altogether, but grudging to part with any of 
 his treasure, sent only two talents as ransom. Claudius, 
 indignant at the insult, obtained his release from his captors 
 on giving his word that he would send the ransom they 
 demanded, and hastened to Rome, vowing that he would be 
 revenged on Ptolemy. He persuaded the Roman Senate to 
 pass a decree of confiscation against Ptolemy, basing the 
 claim on a pretended testament of Ptolemy Alexander II. of 
 Egypt, and Cato the younger was ordered to carry out this 
 unjust decree. Unable to resist the will of Rome, Ptolemy 
 consented to cede the island on condition of his being 
 appointed high priest of Paphos for life ; but before the 
 arrangement was carried into effect, unable to bear the dis- 
 grace, he poisoned himself, and Cato on arrival took peaceful 
 possession of the island. He proceeded forthwith to convert 
 into money the astonishing quantity of golden vessels, jewels 
 and ornaments, rich furniture and purple robes, which he 
 found in the palaces. To ensure its safe arrival at Rome, 
 he packed it in little boxes, each of which contained two talents 
 and five hundred drachmas and was fastened by a rope to 
 a large piece of cork, the whole being valued at some seven 
 thousand talents. To Cato's great credit, of the immense 
 treasure in his power, he reserved for himself only a statue of 
 Zeno, the founder of the Stoic School of Philosophy, who had 
 been a native of Citium, the most celebrated man to whom 
 Cyprus has given birth. 
 
 The island was made a praetorian province, but was shortly 
 afterwards united with Cilicia to form one proconsular province, 
 Lentulus being appointed in 55 B.C. as the first proconsul. 
 The latter was shortly afterwards followed by Appius, who 
 in turn was succeeded, in 52 B.C., by Cicero, whose letters 
 give a vivid account of the state of affairs which he found 
 in the island. " Appius," he writes, " who has administered 
 the province by lire and sword, who has bled and exhausted 
 it, who has consigned it to me expiring, finds it wrong that I
 
 HISTORY TO THE BRITISH OCCUPATION 27 
 
 should repair the evil which he inflicted. . . . The province 
 under his government has been ruined in every way ; under 
 mine no exactions have been made under any pretext. What 
 could I not say of the prefects of Appius — of his suite, of his 
 lieutenants, of their spoliations, of their violences, of their 
 brutaHties ? 
 
 The Cypriots appear to have welcomed a change which 
 elevated them to the status of Roman citizens. Shortly 
 afterwards they had a brief and illusory semi-independence 
 when their island was presented by Julius Caesar to Cleopatra, 
 who was confirmed in its sovereignty by Mark Antony, but the 
 island reverted to Rome at her death and was divided into 
 four districts by Augustus, who bestowed great care on it, 
 and rebuilt the temple of Aphrodite at Paphos after it had 
 been destroyed by an earthquake. 
 
 Christianity was introduced early into Cyprus, and its 
 spread was rapid and considerable. St. Paul landed 
 at Salamis, a.d. 45, in company with Barnabas, who was a 
 native of that town, and, traversing the island on foot, con- 
 verted to Christianity Scrgius Paulus, the Roman proconsul 
 at Paphos. Travellers to-day are shown a marble pillar 
 half buried in the ground to which, the legend asserts, St. 
 Paul was tied and flogged when he first began to preach the 
 new gospel in Paphos. There is no mention of the incident 
 in the New Testament, though it is by no means unlikely 
 that St. Paul suffered in Cyprus one of the many scourgings 
 which he enumerates. What is historically certain, however, 
 is that Barnabas suffered martyrdom at Salamis, and a B3'zan- 
 tine church exists to this day close to the site of the ancient 
 Salamis, beside which the saint's body is said to have been 
 discovered. The discovery had important results, for it 
 conferred upon the Church of Cyprus a dignity which has 
 been jealously guarded and which survives to this day. When 
 the remains of St. Barnabas were discovered towards the end 
 of the fifth ccntur}', a copy of St. Matthew's gospel in St. 
 Barnabas's own handwriting is said to have been found clasped
 
 28 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 to his breast. At the time a fierce ecclesiastical controversy 
 was raging round the Church of Cyprus, whose independence 
 was disputed by the Patriarch of Antioch, who claimed that 
 it formed part of the See of Antioch. The astute leaders of 
 the Church of Cyprus were not slow to appreciate the value 
 of the discovery made in the grave of Barnabas, and they 
 hastened to Constantinople to lay before the emperor their 
 case against Antioch, and, incidentally, related the discovery 
 of the treasured document. Their astuteness was rewarded. 
 The Emperor Zeno issued a rescript denouncing the claims of 
 Antioch, confirming the Church of Cyprus in its absolute 
 independence, and conferring upon its head peculiar honours 
 which he still enjoys. Amongst these were the assumption 
 by the Archbishop of Cyprus of purple silk robes, a gold- 
 headed sceptre, the title of Beatitude, and the privilege, only 
 customary with the emperors, of signing his name in red ink. 
 On the partition of the Roman Empire in a.d. 395, the con- 
 nection of Cyprus with Rome ceased, and it was administered 
 by a proconsul of the Byzantine Empire, appointed from 
 Antioch. The capital was transferred from Paphos to Salamis, 
 which had been re-named Constantia, and the island enjoyed 
 a long period of prosperity till the rise of the Mahomedan 
 power subjected it to a series of Arab invasions. In a.d. 647 
 Cyprus was invaded and occupied by Muawiyah, the first 
 Ommazad Caliph, but the Arab conquerors only retained 
 possession for two years, when it was regained by the Empire. 
 In the following century, during the reign of Nicephorus I., 
 war broke out between the eastern empire and the Caliph 
 Haroun-el-Raschid, the renowned hero of The Arabian Nights' 
 Entertainments. Cyprus was invaded and pillaged by Arab 
 forces, its churches destroyed, thousands of its inhabitants 
 massacred or sold as slaves, and the remnant subjected to the 
 most oppressive taxation. The island groaned under her 
 Mahomedan oppressors for nearly a century and a half, but 
 was finally freed during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor 
 Nicephorus II., called Phocas (963-969), and enjoyed com-
 
 HISTORY TO THE BRITISH OCCUPATION 29 
 
 parative peace for nearly two centuries, until in 1184 one 
 Isaac Comnenus, Governor of Tarsus, established himself 
 under the high-sounding title of " Emperor of Cyprus," and 
 for seven years ruled the island with great cruelty. It is 
 a curious historical fact that Cyprus was rescued from the 
 tyranny of this rapacious despot by an English king, Richard I., 
 and came for the first, but not, as it turned out, the last, time 
 under the crown of England. Richard was on his way to 
 the Crusades, and accompanying his fleet were his affianced 
 bride, Berengaria of Navarre, and his sister Joanna, widow 
 of William the Good of Sicily. A storm drove into Cyprus 
 waters the ships carrying the royal ladies, and they anchored 
 off Limassol. Isaac Comnenus, not content with plundering 
 some vessels of the fleet which had suffered shipwreck on his 
 coasts, proceeded to offer insults to the ladies occupying the 
 vessels lying in the Limassol anchorage, until the timely arrival 
 of Richard with the remainder of the fleet put a dramatic 
 end to the insolence of the tyrant. Richard landed with a 
 strong force, and captured Limassol. Six days afterwards, 
 in the chapel of the little Gothic fortress which exists to this 
 day, his nuptials with Berengaria were celebrated, his bride 
 being at the same time crowned Queen of the English. Isaac 
 had fled to Nicosia, and thence to Famagusta, but he was 
 pursued by Richard, who had been joined by Guy de Lusignan, 
 King of Jerusalem, and the fortresses in the island were rapidly 
 reduced, the luckless Isaac eventually surrendering to Richard. 
 By him he was handed over to the Hospitallers, and died in 
 captivity three years later in Syria. Having completed 
 the conquest of the island, Richard left two English officials 
 to govern it on the EngUsh model, and, just a month after 
 his first landing at Limassol, hove anchor and sailed for Acre. 
 Cyprus was not on this occasion, however, destined to remain 
 for long under English rule. Richard required all his resources 
 and all the money he could raise for his campaign against 
 Saladin, and he found the Knights Templar ready to purchase 
 from him his new conquest. The chaffering which ensued,
 
 30 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 interesting as an illustration of the manner in which 
 countries and their inhabitants were in those days bartered 
 by petty princehngs amongst each other, ended in the sale of 
 the island by Richard for 100,000 besants d'or, equivalent 
 in our day to about £320,000 sterling. Before long, how- 
 ever, the Templars, finding it beyond their power to keep in 
 order the somewhat turbulent population, requested Richard 
 to cancel the bargain, and the latter eventually handed it 
 over to Guy de Lusignan as compensation for the loss by him 
 of his kingdom of Jerusalem. 
 
 For close on three hundred years the island was subjected 
 to the Lusignan dynasty, and these were probably the most 
 brilhant in the history of Cyprus. The period has been thus 
 described in terms which contain in all likelihood little 
 exaggeration : 
 
 " In every aspect of mediaeval civilization the little kingdom 
 played a distinguished part. Its remarkable achievements 
 in every domain of human activity invested it with an import- 
 ance among the nations of Europe wholly out of proportion 
 to its small size and population. Its constitution was the 
 model of that of the mediaeval feudal state ; its laws, as 
 embodied in the Assize of Jerusalem, a pattern of mediaeval 
 jurisprudence. It can boast, in the abbey of Bella Paise, 
 in the cathedrals of Nicosia and Famagusta, and in the castles 
 of St. Hilarion, Buffavcnto, and Kantara, of really beautiful 
 examples of mediaeval architecture ; its men of letters, 
 Philippe de Novare, Guillaume de Machaut, Phihppe de 
 Mezieres, occupy no undistinguished place in the realm of 
 literature. In King Peter I. it possessed perhaps the greatest 
 knight-errant the world has ever seen ; in his Order of the 
 Sword the most perfect expression of chivalrous ideals. To 
 Kings of Cyprus such widely different writers as St. Thomas 
 Aquinas and Boccaccio dedicated works ; the wealth and 
 luxury of its citizens, especially in the fourteenth century, 
 evoked the amazement of all Western visitors. The rich 
 merchants of Famagusta were wont, we are told, to give their
 
 HISTORY TO THE BRTriSH OCCUPATION 31 
 
 daughters, on their marriage, jewels more precious que tonics 
 Us parures dc la rcine de France. Admittedly there was a 
 less attractive side to this efflorescence of French civihzation 
 on the rich Levantine soil : ' fastiis gallicus, syra mollitics, 
 grccca: hlandiiicB ac fraudcs qticB imam videlicet in insulani 
 convener e,' is the epigram by which a contemporary describes 
 the character of the inhabitants of Cyprus in those days."* 
 
 The constant ambition of the Lusignans was to reco\'cr 
 their ancient heritage of Jerusalem, and countless attempts 
 were made to this end. The Lusignan sovereigns indeed were 
 accustomed to have themselves crowned King of Jerusalem 
 as well as King of Cyprus, although the hold of the Saracens 
 on the sacred city was never shaken. In a.d. 1376, Fama- 
 gusta was wrested from the Lusignan King Pierre II. by the 
 Genoese, who ravaged the island, and continued to hold it 
 until finally driven out nearly a century later by Jacques II., 
 illegitimate son of a former king. But it was the marriage of 
 the latter with a Venetian lady which brought about the 
 end of the Lusignan dynasty in Cyprus. On his death, fol- 
 lowed within a few months by the death of his infant son, 
 the widow assumed the throne. But her sovereignty \\as 
 nominal, the real power being in the hands of two ^^enetian 
 counsellors and a providctor appointed bj-^ the Republic, and 
 in 1488 the island was occupied by the Venetians as a place 
 d'armes, which was to serve them in their struggle against the 
 Turks, 
 
 For eighty-two years Cyprus was in the hands of the Vene- 
 tians. But they used it merely as a naval and military station, 
 and made little or no attempt at civil administration. They 
 exhibited little but an insatiable lust for commercial gain, 
 and an overbearing, unsympathetic spirit towards the native 
 population. Traces of their occupation are to be seen in 
 the massive walls of the fortresses of Famagusta and Kyrenia, 
 which remain to this day much as they were when in the 
 occupation of the Venetians, by whom they were re-constructed 
 
 ♦ " The Handbook of Cyprus," by H. C. Lukach and D. J. Jardine.
 
 32 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 from former works. Notwithstanding, however, the elaborate 
 fortifications which the Venetians had, with the skill for which 
 they were famous, constructed on the island, Cyprus was not 
 destined to resist for long the Turkish war of conquest which 
 was spreading over eastern Europe. In 1570 the Turks 
 captured Nicosia after a siege lasting forty days, and the town 
 was deUvered up to the fury and lust of the troops. " Young 
 babes," says a chronicler, " were violently taken out of the 
 arms of their mothers, virgins were shamefully ravished, 
 and honest matrons in sight of their husbands despitefully 
 abused. Churches were spoiled ; the streets were in all places 
 filled with blood, for in the city on that day were slain 14,800 
 persons." In the following year, after a heroic defence of 
 four months, Famagusta capitulated, its brave defender, 
 Bragadino, being mutilated and eventually flayed ahve in 
 circumstances of brutal barbarity by his ferocious captors. 
 His skin, stuffed with straw and suspended to the yardarm of 
 a galley, was sent to Constantinople, being eventually bought 
 by his sons and carried to Venice, where his remains now rest. 
 The fall of Famagusta decided the fate of Cyprus, and the 
 whole island passed to the Turks. Two half-hearted attempts 
 to recapture the island ended in failure and Cyprus remained 
 an integral part of the Turkish Empire until recent times. 
 In spite of the cruelties which marked the capture of Fama- 
 gusta, the Turks proved themselves better masters than the 
 Venetians, whose miUtary rule had been harsh and exacting. 
 In some respects, indeed, the Turkish pashas proved them- 
 selves more liberal-minded than their predecessors ; the 
 peasantry were released from serfdom, the Orthodox Arch- 
 bishopric was restored, and the Christian population were 
 allowed a large measure of autonomy. The former pros- 
 perity of the island, however, which had begun to decHne 
 under Venetian rule, was hardly likely to revive under Turkish 
 administration, and Cyprus gradually sank into a state of 
 barren stagnation, which was destined to last for more than 
 three hundred years. There are few records of the history
 
 HISTORY TO THE BRITISH OCCUPATION 33 
 
 of this period. Taxation was heavy, administration light. 
 The peasant was obliged to work ceaselessly, if not particu- 
 larly industriously, to gain the wherewithal to pay his taxes 
 and to feed himself and his family ; there was no incentive to 
 thrift, industry, originaUty of character, energy, or, in short, 
 any of those qualities which go to make a virile race. A 
 great part of the land was owned by wealthy Turks, and in 
 course of time some of this was bequeathed to various religious 
 charities in perpetuo, estates thus bequeathed coming under 
 the Mahomedan religious laws and being administered either 
 by a semi-government department known as the Evkaf, or 
 by a mutevelli or agent specially appointed for this purpose. A 
 distinguished Italian, the Abb6 Mariti, who spent the years from 
 1760 to 1767 in Cyprus as an official of the Imperial and Tuscan 
 Consulates, and credits the island with " surpassing every other 
 Greek island in the number of natives illustrious for their 
 birth, dignity, learning, and saintHness," quoting Strabo's 
 statement in his geography, kut apfTTjv olBtnlas tS>v vijautv XdnfTm 
 {" it yields to no other island in excellence "), gives an 
 enlightening account of the exactions practised under Turkish 
 rule. " When the Governor wishes to impose some tax on 
 the Greek ri'aya, or subjects, " he writes, " he does not address 
 himself to the people directly, but to the interpreter, then to 
 the Archbishop, who sends notice to the several dioceses to 
 make the most convenient arrangements to avoid annoyances 
 or to lessen the demand. The poor subjects might very often 
 be saved from oppression if their Archbishop were not from 
 poUcy, and sometimes from personal interest, ready to lend 
 himself to the exactions of the Muhassil, so that they are often 
 abandoned by the very person who ought to take their part. 
 When the governor wishes to collect money out of season, 
 or of his mere caprice, the mode of imposing duties and taxes 
 is curious enough. He may even tax with a certain sum 
 anyone who bears a name which he may select : as, for instance, 
 anyone called George has, without appeal, to pay a certain sum. 
 Such an exaction falls on members of the Greek community
 
 34 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 only, who are treated more as slaves than subjects."* This 
 passage incidentally throws a light on the manner in which 
 the Turkish rulers of the island made use of the Greek ecclesias- 
 tical authorities in the collection of the taxes imposed by them 
 on the Christian inhabitants, and explains why the Archbishop 
 and Metropolitans of the Greek Orthodox Church in Cyprus 
 received special consideration from their Turkish masters. 
 
 The history of Cyprus under Turkish rule can only be 
 regarded, broadly speaking, as a sad record of oppression and 
 misgovernment. The island was for more than two centuries 
 a mere estate of the Capitan Pasha, who was solely concerned 
 in obtaining the largest possible profit out of it. When the 
 complaints of the inhabitants finally reached Constantinople 
 the administration was taken out of the hands of the Capitan 
 Pasha, and transformed to Mutezelims, who leased its 
 revenues to the Porte for the fixed sum of £25,000 per annum. 
 A terrible event occurred in 1825, when the Christian 
 inhabitants were suspected of complicity in the revolution of 
 Greece. The clergy and notables were summoned to a council 
 at Nicosia, and when they were assembled the gates were 
 closed, and all invited, with few exceptions, were treacherously 
 murdered. A reign of terror was thus established which 
 lasted until the close of the Turkish administration. 
 
 Reforms were introduced into the island in 1838 during 
 the reign of the liberal Sultan Mahmoud II., and the revenues 
 were no longer leased to the Mutezelims. A governor was 
 appointed with a fixed salary, who was charged with the 
 administration and the encashment of fixed taxes for account 
 of the Treasury. Later, Cyprus was placed under the Vali 
 for the Greek Archipelago, whose residence was at the Darda- 
 nelles. In 1870 the final change under Turkish administration 
 took place, the island being removed from the Vilayet of the 
 Archipelago and placed under a Mutasarrif, responsible directly 
 to Constantinople. Such was the situation when England inter- 
 vened for the second time in the internal affairs of Cyprus. 
 
 * "^Travels in the Island of Cj-prus " translated from the Italian of 
 Giovanni Mariti, by C. D. Cobham.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CYPRUS CONVENTION. 
 
 TN 1878, whilst the Berlin Conference was still sitting, 
 '*• Europe was startled by the announcement that an agree- 
 ment had been concluded between the British Government 
 and the Porte, whereby the administration of the island of 
 Cyprus was to be handed over to the former Power in 
 return for certain guarantees given by the Ottoman Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The text of the agreement, which subsequently became 
 known as the " Cyprus Convention," was as follows : 
 
 Convention of Defensive Alliance between Great 
 Britain and Turkey, Signed June 4, 1878. 
 
 HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, and His Imperial 
 Majesty the Sultan, being mutually animated with the sincere 
 desire of extending and strengthening the relations of friendship 
 happily existing between their two Empires, have resolved 
 upon the conclusion of a Convention of defensive alliance with 
 the object of securing for the future the territories in Asia 
 of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan. 
 
 Their Majesties have accordingly chosen and named as 
 their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say : 
 
 Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, the Right Honourable 
 Austen Henry Layard, Her Majesty's Ambassador Extra- 
 ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Sublime Porte ; 
 
 And His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, His Excellency 
 
 35
 
 36 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Safvet Pasha, Minister for Foreign Affairs of His Imperial 
 Majesty ; 
 
 Who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in 
 due and good form, have agreed upon the following Articles : 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 If Batoum, Ardahan, Kars, or any of them shall be retained 
 by Russia and if any attempt shall be made at any future 
 time by Russia to take possession of any further territories 
 of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan in Asia, as fixed by the 
 Definitive Treaty of Peace, England engages to join His 
 Imperial Majesty the Sultan in defending them by force of 
 arms. 
 
 In return. His Imperial Majesty the Sultan promises to 
 England to introduce necessary reforms, to be agreed upon 
 later between the two Powers, into the government, and for 
 the protection of the Christian and other subjects of the 
 Porte in these territories ; and in order to enable England to 
 make necessary provision for executing her engagement. 
 His Imperial Majesty the Sultan further consents to assign 
 the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by 
 England. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifica- 
 tions thereof shall be exchanged, within the space of one month, 
 or sooner if possible. 
 
 In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have 
 signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seal of their 
 arms. 
 
 Done at Constantinople, the fourth day of June, in the 
 year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight. 
 
 (L.S.) A. H. LAYARD. 
 (L.S.) SAFVET.
 
 THE CYPRUS CONVENTION 37 
 
 To this Convention was appended an Annex in the following 
 terms : 
 
 THE Right Honourable Sir A. H. Layard, G.C.B,, and 
 his Highness Safvet Pasha, now the Grand Vizier of His 
 Majesty the Sultan, have agreed to the following Annex to 
 the Convention signed by them as Plenipotentiaries of their 
 respective Governments on the 4th June, 1878 : 
 
 It is understood between the two High Contracting Parties 
 that England agrees to the following conditions relating to 
 her occupation and administration of the Island of Cyprus : 
 
 I. That a Mussulman religious Tribunal (Mehkdmei Sheri) 
 shall continue to exist in the Island, which will take exclusive 
 cognizance of religious matters, and of no others, concerning 
 the Mussulman population of the Island. 
 
 II. That a Mussulman resident in the Island shall be named 
 by the Board of Pious Foundations in Turkey (Evkaf) to 
 superintend, in conjunction with a delegate to be appointed 
 by the British Authorities, the administration of the property, 
 funds, and lands belonging to mosques, cemeteries, Mussul- 
 man schools, and other religious establishments existing in 
 Cyprus. 
 
 III. That England will pay to the Porte whatever is the 
 present excess of the revenue over the expenditure in the 
 Island ; this excess to be calculated upon and determined by 
 the average of the last five years, stated to be 22,936 purses* 
 to be duly verified hereafter, and to the exclusion of the pro- 
 duce of State and Crown lands let or sold during that period. 
 
 IV. That the Sublime Porte may freely sell and lease 
 lands and other property in Cyprus belonging to the Ottoman 
 Crown and State (Arazii Miriye v6 Emlaki Houmayoun) the 
 produce of which docs not form part of the revenue of the 
 Island referred to in Article III. 
 
 V. That the English Government, through their competent 
 authorities, may purchase compulsorily, at a fair price, land 
 
 • One purse is equivalent to 500 piastres, metallic, and 105 piastres, metallic 
 to one pound (Turkish).
 
 38 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 required for public improvements, or for other public purposes, 
 and land which is not cultivated. 
 
 VII. That if Russia restores to Turkey Kars and the other 
 conquests made by her in Armenia during the last war, the 
 Island of Cyprus will be evacuated by England, and the 
 Convention of the 4th of June, 1878, will be at an end. 
 
 Done at Constantinople, the ist day of July, 1878. 
 
 (Signed) A. H. LAYARD. 
 SAFVET. 
 
 The following Supplementary and further Agreements 
 were signed on the 14th August, 1878, and the 3rd February, 
 1879, respectively : 
 
 THE Right Honourable Sir A. Henry Layard, G.C.B., 
 and his Highness Safvet Pasha, Grand Vizier and Minister 
 for Foreign Affairs of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, having 
 met together this day, have, in virtue of their full powers, 
 signed the following additional Article to the Convention of 
 the 4th June, 1878, signed by them as Plenipotentiaries of 
 their respective Governments. 
 
 It is understood between the High Contracting Parties, 
 without prejudice to the express provisions of the Articles I., 
 II., and IV. of the Annex of the ist July, 1878, that His Imperial 
 Majesty the Sultan, in assigning the Island of Cyprus to be 
 occupied and administered by England, has thereby transferred 
 to and vested in Her Majesty the Queen, for the term of 
 the occupation and no longer, full powers for making Laws 
 and Conventions for the government of the Island in Her 
 Majesty's name, and for the regulation of its commercial 
 and Consular relations and affairs free from the Porte's 
 control. 
 
 Done at Constantinople, the 14th day of August, 1878. 
 
 (L.S.) A. H. LAYARD. 
 (L.S.) SAFVET.
 
 THE CYPRUS CONVENTION 39 
 
 Agreement Signed at Constantinople, February yd, 1879. 
 
 IT having been agreed between Her Britannic Majesty's 
 Government and that of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan 
 that all the rights reserved to the Ottoman Crown and Govern- 
 ment under Article IV. of the Annex to the Convention signed 
 at Constantinople on the 4th June, 1878, shall be commuted 
 by a fixed annual money payment, the Undersigned, the Right 
 Honourable Austen Henry Layard, Her Britannic Majesty's 
 Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 
 to the SubHme Porte, and His Excellency Alexandre Cara- 
 th^odory Pasha, His Imperial Majesty's Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs, being duly authorized so to do, hereby declare that : 
 
 All property, revenues, and rights reserved to the Ottoman 
 Crown and Government in the said Article IV. of the Annex 
 to the Convention of the 4th June, including all revenue 
 derived from tapous, mahloul, and intikal are commuted 
 hereby for a fixed annual payment of ;^5,ooo to be made 
 by Her Britannic Majesty's Government to that of His 
 Imperial Majesty the Sultan every year during the British 
 occupation of Cyprus, to be calculated from the beginning 
 of the next financial year. 
 
 Done at Constantinople, the third day of February, one 
 thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine. 
 
 (Signed) A. H. LAYARD. 
 
 AL. CARATHf ODORY. 
 
 1879. 
 
 On the 2nd of July, 1878, Admiral Lord John Hay arrived 
 off Larnaca with a squadron of British ships, and a few days 
 later, on the 12th July, the administration of the island was 
 handed over to him at Nicosia by the Turkish Governor in 
 the presence of a guard of honour of bluejackets and marines 
 from the fleet, the Turkish flag being formally hauled down, 
 and the Union Jack hoisted in its place. 
 
 On July 22nd, Sir Garnet Wolseley, K.C.B., landed at
 
 40 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Larnaca with a force of British and Indian troops, bearing a 
 Commission appointing him Her Majesty's Commissioner 
 and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Island of Cyprus. 
 His appointment was notified in the following Proclamation 
 which was issued and made public on the day of his arrival : 
 
 PROCLAMATION by His Excellency Lieutenant-General 
 Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley, Knight Grand Cross of the 
 most distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint 
 George, Knight Commander of the most honourable 
 Order of the Bath, Her Majesty's High Commissioner 
 for the Island of Cyprus. 
 
 Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, having agreed with 
 His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey by a Convention 
 duly signed and ratified at Constantinople that the Island of 
 Cyprus shall be occupied and administered by and on behalf 
 of Her Majesty, and Her Majesty the Queen having been 
 graciously pleased to appoint me, Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 
 to be Her Majesty's High Commissioner for the Island of 
 Cyprus, and to administer the Government of the Island in 
 Her Majesty's name. 
 
 Now, therefore, I hereby proclaim and make known to all 
 the inhabitants of Cyprus that I have this day assumed the 
 administration of the Government of the Island on behalf 
 of Her Majesty. Her Majesty directs me to assure the 
 inhabitants of Cyprus of the warm interest which the Queen 
 feels in their prosperity and of Her Gracious intention to 
 order the adoption of such measures as may appear best 
 calculated to promote and extend the commerce and agri- 
 culture of the country, and to afford to the people the blessings 
 of freedom, justice, and security. 
 
 It is Her Majesty's gracious pleasure that the Government 
 of Cyprus shall be administered without favour to any race 
 or creed ; that equal justice shall be done to all, that all
 
 THE CYPRUS CONVENTION 41 
 
 shall enjoy alike the equal and impartial protection of the 
 law ; and that no measures shall be neglected which may 
 tend to advance the moral and material welfare of the people. 
 And it is the express desire of the Queen that in the adminis- 
 tration of pubhc affairs regard shall be paid to the reasonable 
 wishes of the inhabitants with respect to the maintenance 
 of their ancient institutions, usages, and customs provided 
 that they be consistent with just and good Government, and 
 with those principles of civihzation and liberty which must 
 always and everywhere be upheld by those who govern in 
 Her Majesty's name. 
 
 Larnaca, July 22, 1878. 
 
 By Command, 
 
 G. R. GREAVES, Colonel, 
 Chief of Staff. 
 
 GOD SAVE THE QUEEN. 
 
 The instructions of the Sultan of Turkey to his officers 
 were expressed in a Firman of which the following is a trans- 
 lation : 
 
 " To my aiding Vizir Sadik Pasha, VaU of the Vilayet 
 of the Archipelago, a holder and bearer of the first class of 
 the Orders of the Mejidieh and Osmanieh, one of the very 
 illustrious Cabinet Ministers of my exalted Government, 
 an honoured and great Minister of State, an illustrious and 
 venerated Mushir, a basis of the order of the world, a manager 
 of the affairs of the nation with penetrating thought, a finisher 
 of important concerns of mankind with sound forecast, a con- 
 soUdator of the structure of the State and of prosperity, and 
 a strengthener of the pillars of happiness and grandeur, and 
 possessor of a right in the various favours of God Most High, — 
 may God, Whose Name be exalted, eternise his grandeur ! 
 
 " To Ahmed Pasha, one of my honoured Mir-i-Miran,
 
 42 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Mutasarrif of the Island of Cyprus, a holder and bearer of 
 the third class of the said Most Distinguished Order of the 
 Mejidieh, the pride of respected commanders, rehed upon by 
 illustrious persons, adorned with dignity and honour, possessor 
 of power and magnificence, specially adopted by the bountiful 
 favour of God the Sovereign Lord — may his prosperity endure ! 
 
 " To the Naib and Mufti of Cyprus, models of learned 
 Judges — may their learning increase ! and 
 
 " To the Members of the Council and Notables of the people, 
 the pride of the illustrious and honoured — may their honour 
 be augmented ! 
 
 " Be it known, on the arrival of my High Imperial Cypher, 
 that the delivery, in a temporary manner, to Her of the Island 
 of Cyprus having been desired and requested by the illustrious 
 British Government in consequence of reasons known, and on 
 a discussion of the matter in my Privy Council of illustrious 
 Ministers ; considering that the said Government has up to 
 now, according to the requirement of the friendship and sin- 
 cerity which have of old existed between my exalted Govern- 
 ment and Her, given by actual deeds very many proofs of 
 Her benevolent designs and intentions towards my Govern- 
 ment, and that, consequently, it would be congruous with 
 the exigencies of the circumstances and of the case that the 
 said Government should possess the said Island temporarily, 
 it has been deemed expedient that the temporary administra- 
 tion of the said Island be handed over to the said Government 
 with the condition (in accordance with the Convention that 
 has been framed, sealed, and signed in that behalf) that there 
 shall be a Sheri Court in the Island as heretofore, which will 
 continue to conduct the Sheri affairs of the Moslem community 
 of the , Island : that an official shall be appointed by the 
 Imperial Evkaf Ministry also from amongst the Moslem com- 
 munity, in order to administer, in conjunction with an official 
 to be appointed by the said Government, the sacred mosques, 
 and the properties, real estates and lands belonging to the 
 ]\Ioslem cemeteries, schools and other religious institutions
 
 THE CYPRUS CONVENTION 43 
 
 found in the Island. That the surplus remaining after deduc- 
 tion of local expenses from the total of my Imperial dues now 
 paid to my exalted Government by the said Island shall be 
 annually paid to my Government. That the miri and vakf 
 lands found in the said Island shall be freely sold or farmed 
 out, and the moneys accruing from them shall be included 
 in the said Imperial dues. And that the said Government 
 shall be empowered to purchase at suitable prices, and through 
 the officer in charge, the necessary imsown lands for public 
 works, and for other purposes of general utihty. And this 
 decision having been referred to and submitted for my noble 
 Majesty's sanction, and my High Imperial Irade having been 
 appended and issued for the carrying out of the same 
 accordingly, you, the above-mentioned Vali, Mutasarrif, Naib, 
 Mufti, and others, are hereby ordered to proceed to the handing 
 over to the officers of the said Government of the temporary 
 administration of the said Island, and to be careful to see that 
 no act or deed is done contrary to my Imperial approbation. 
 " Written on this thirtieth day of the month Jemadhi- 
 
 ul-akhir, in the year one thousand two hundred and 
 
 ninety-five " (July i, 1878). 
 
 The population of the island at this time was about 186,000, 
 of which some two-thirds were Greek-speaking and the 
 remainder Turkish, with a sprinkling of Syrians, Armenians, 
 and other nationalities. 
 
 The substitution of a British for an Ottoman administration 
 was warmly welcomed by the Christian inhabitants, a depu- 
 tation from whom, headed by the venerable Archbishop of 
 the Autocephalous Church of Cyprus, waited upon Sir Garnet 
 VVolseley on his arrival and presented him with an address. 
 The Turkish community accepted the change with Oriental 
 resignation, if not with enthusiasm, secure in the knowledge 
 that they were retaining their rights and privileges as Ottoman 
 subjects, and that Cyprus remained an integral part of the 
 Ottoman Empire.
 
 44 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 It is unnecessary to discuss the reasons which led to the 
 adoption by the British Government of the poUcy embodied in 
 the Cyprus Convention. They arc summarized in a despatch 
 written by Lord Salisbury on May 30, 1878, to the British 
 Ambassador at Constantinople, which was printed in a Par- 
 liamentary Paper the same year, and is reproduced in an 
 appendix to this book.* Anxiety to secure, in the event of 
 war, the safety of the communications of the Empire through 
 the Suez Canal — a vital link with our Indian Empire — was 
 doubtless one of the main reasons actuating the Government, 
 which saw in the geographical position of Cyprus a suitable 
 base for naval and mihtary operations in the eastern jMediter- 
 ranean. Had the statesmen of the day been able to foresee 
 the situation that was to arise shortly afterwards in Egypt 
 which resulted in the occupation of that country by a permanent 
 British garrison, it is hardly probable that the project of 
 occupying Cyprus would ever have been mooted. By the 
 garrisoning of Egypt with British forces the safety of the Canal 
 was far more effectively secured, and Cyprus, at the same^ 
 time, lost most of its value as a strategical point of vantage. 
 It is, perhaps, not too much to say that, had England cynically 
 consulted her own interests alone, she would have been \vise 
 when Egypt was occupied in 1881 to have cancelled the Con- 
 vention and handed back Cyprus to Turkey. But apart from 
 the loss of prestige which such a policy would have entailed, 
 and the difficulties involved in the uprooting of an adminis- 
 tration just planted in a country, there was undoubtedly a 
 strong feeling against handing back to Turkey an island 
 containing a population more than three-fourths of which 
 belonged to the Christian faith. Cyprus was, therefore, 
 destined to remain in British hands, though retaining, in name 
 at least, its status as an integral portion of the Ottoman 
 Empire. It may be doubted, however, whether the continued 
 occupation of Cyprus after the establishment of a British 
 garrison in Egypt was altogether to the advantage of Great 
 
 * Appendix I. Parliamentary Paper, Turkey, No. 36, C. 2037.
 
 THE CYPRUS CONVENTION 45 i 
 
 Britain. Its value to the empire was open to question, whilst 
 it involved an annual expenditure from imperial funds which, 
 though inconsiderable, was nevertheless permanent. On the 
 other hand, there can be no question but that the transference 
 of the administration of the island from Turkish to English 
 hands was of material benefit to the inhabitants, who exchanged 
 an admittedly indifferent government for an unquestionably 
 efficient one, and at the same time gained the protection and 
 security afforded by the British arms.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE TRIBUTE 
 
 WHILST it is unnecessary to discuss the wisdom or 
 unwisdom of the Cyprus Convention from the im- 
 perial point of view, some consideration of its effects on the 
 inhabitants of the island is a natural prehminary to any 
 account of British rule in the island. It is important at 
 the outset to reahze that the action of the British Govern- 
 ment in assuming the administration of Cyprus did not 
 result in any way from a regard either for the island or its 
 inhabitants. There was no question, for instance, of rescuing 
 the latter from misrule ; on the contrary, we have the 
 testimony of an EngHshman who spent many years in the 
 island before the British occupation, and acted on several 
 occasions as British Consul, that "of all the Turkish pro- 
 vinces perhaps Cyprus was the best administered."* The 
 occupation was the outcome solely of the desire of the Govern- 
 ment of the day to safeguard British interests in the Near and 
 Far East, interests which it was believed would be best furthered 
 by buttressing the Turkish Empire against Russian aggression. 
 It was not till many years later that the admission was made 
 by Lord Salisbury that England, in its Eastern pohcy, had 
 "backed the wrong horse." ^^^-rUaP: n-^ 
 
 This being so, the question arises whether the British Govern- 
 ment was justified in laying upon the Cyprus revenues, as 
 it did, the burden of the payment which was to be made 
 annually to the Porte under the Convention, and which became 
 known as the " Cyprus Tribute." 
 
 * " Cyprus : Its History, Present Resources, and Future Prospects," 
 by R. Hamilton Lang. Published 1878. 
 
 46
 
 -THE TRIBUTE 47 
 
 It will be remembered that by the Annex to the Convention 
 England covenanted to " pay to the Porte whatever is the 
 present excess of revenue over expenditure in the island ; 
 this excess to be calculated upon and determined by the 
 average of the last five years." The determination of this 
 sum involved considerable correspondence between the local 
 Government, the Foreign Office, and the Porte ; but it was 
 eventually fixed at £92,686, to which was subsequently added 
 a sum of £113 IIS. 3d., on the assumption by the Cyprus 
 Government of the control of the lighthouses in the island, 
 making a total of ;^92,799 iis. 3d., which was the sum finally 
 determined upon as payable annually to the Porte in respect 
 of the Cyprus Convention. It is somewhat surprising that 
 the Imperial Government should have decided that this sum 
 should be a charge on the revenues of the island, and it is 
 pertinent to enquire what funds were at the time available 
 to meet this charge. 
 
 As will be described later on, the first estimate of revenue 
 and expenditure made by the local Government after the 
 occupation showed a revenue for the years 1878-1879 of 
 ;^i72,ooo, and an expenditure of only £52,800, leaving a 
 surplus more than sufficient to pay the sum due to the Porte 
 under the Convention. But the estimate of expenditure 
 provided for nothing except the mere machinery of adminis- 
 tration, and it is difficult to beUeve that the British Govern- 
 ment could have seriously imagined that an efficient and 
 liberal administration of the island could be carried on if 
 more than fifty per cent, of the revenue was to be taken every 
 year out of the island in perpetuity and paid away as " tribute." 
 In any case, it was soon found that the revenue had been over- 
 estimated and the expenditure grossly under-estimated, and 
 it became necessary for Parliament to vote each year sums 
 as grants-in-aid to meet the inevitable deficit which occurred 
 when the " tribute " had been paid. The sums thus paid 
 by the British Government varied each year according to 
 the revenue, the average amounting for the first thirty years
 
 48 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 to about £30,000 per annum. But not a penny of this 
 so-called " tribute " has been paid to the Ottoman Govern- 
 ment, and, in point of fact, it never reaches Constantinople 
 at all. It is utilized to pay the shareholders of the 
 Ottoman Loan of 1855, which is guaranteed by England 
 and France, and amounts to £3,815,200. The interest on 
 this loan is £81,752, and the surplus from the Cyprus Tribute 
 which remains every year after the debt charge has been 
 satisfied is invested in Consols, and forms a separate fund, 
 from which sums have actually been deducted in the past to 
 pay the ransom of British subjects captured by brigands in 
 Ottoman territory. The last return laid before the House 
 of Commons relating to this fund is dated August 13, 1912, 
 and shows that the Consols purchased with the surpluses from 
 the moneys arising from the Revenue of Cyprus amounted 
 on March 31, 1912, to £430,178 iis. 7d., and there is 
 a note to the effect that " the aggregate surplus would have 
 been pro tanto increased had not the amount of £24,803 4s. 4d. 
 been paid out of the ' tribute ' in the years 1882 to 1886 
 for the ransoms of Captain Synge and Mr. Suter."* 
 
 In these circumstances it can hardly be a matter of sur- 
 prise that the payment of this " tribute " from Cyprus revenue 
 has been a subject of burning dissatisfaction amongst Cypriot 
 people ever since the British occupation. The drain imposed 
 on the revenue by this enormous annual payment has paralysed 
 progress, and left barely sufficient funds to keep the 
 administrative machinery in working order, whilst allowing 
 little for such vital purposes as education, road construction, 
 agriculture, and re-afforestation. The question has been more 
 than once brought up in debate in the House of Commons, 
 and has formed the subject of innumerable memoranda from 
 the Cyprus people to the British Government. The latter 
 has justified its action by maintaining that the money is 
 due to Cyprus under the Convention, and was, in fact, paid 
 
 • Return to an Order of the Honourable the House of Commons, dated 
 August 7, 1912. — Parliamentary Paper, H. of C. 318.
 
 THE TRIBUTE 49 
 
 to Turkey under the Turkish administration ; that the Cypriot 
 enjoys under the British Government an incomparably 
 better administration than he experienced under the Ottoman 
 Government ; and that he receives in addition the benefit 
 of a generous grant-in-aid from Parhament. All this may be 
 conceded, but it must be remembered that under Turkish 
 Government the island was taxed up to the limit that it could 
 bear, and that the cost of administration was kept at an insig- 
 nificant figure by the farming of taxes and the payment of 
 officials by well-known Oriental methods which did not figure 
 in the accounts of expenditure, whilst there was an almost 
 entire absence of expenditure on roads, harbours, agriculture, 
 education, forestry, etc. The main business of the Turkish 
 administration was to extract as much revenue as possible 
 from the island ; hence, to calculate the annual surplus which 
 was thus obtained, and to fix such a sum as a permanent 
 burden on Cyprus revenues, is a proceeding which it seems 
 difficult to justify, even taking into consideration the small 
 annual grant-in-aid voted by Parliament. 
 
 The view taken by the Greek section of the population is 
 forcibly expressed in a Memorial addressed in 1903 to Mr. 
 Chamberlain, when Secretary of State for the Colonies, criti- 
 cizing a speech made by him in the House of Commons on 
 May 26, 1902. After complaining that the Greek inhabitants 
 of Cyprus had been wronged by statements then made, the 
 memorialists set forth their views regarding the question of 
 the " tribute " in the following terms : 
 
 " . . . . The Greek inhabitants of the island especially 
 complain of being wronged by your statement, and strongly 
 protest against the following three points : (i) The question 
 of the 'tribute,' (2) that of the antiquities, and (3) that of 
 their National aspirations. 
 
 "As regards the first, you have urged that the sum of 
 £92,000 constitutes an obligation adherent to Cyprus as a 
 ' tribute,' which had to be paid were Cyprus occupied either by 
 England or any other Power, and that Cypriots have no cause 
 
 D
 
 50 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 of complaint against it nor did it interest lis what became of 
 that sum of money. It is certainly not the first time nor is it 
 by you alone that this terrible burden, which has been unwill- 
 ingly imposed upon us by the English Government, has been 
 thus characterized, but we think that we are not, therefore, 
 precluded of the right of considering such a burden as unjustly 
 imposed upon us, and of protesting against it as we have 
 already done on several occasions ; and to ask that we may be 
 relieved of this heavy injustice, provided that the grounds 
 on which we base our claims are just, which will be proved 
 if you will kindly allow us to examine shortly this question 
 from the beginning, and to point out how this sum of ;(92,ooo 
 arose, what does it represent, and whom does it really affect. 
 
 " When in 1878 Great Britain was negotiating with the 
 Sublime Porte for the cession of Cyprus, it promised, as it 
 appears from the document of the Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs to Sir H. Layard, dated the 30th May, 1878, 
 ' that the excess of the revenue over the expenditure, whatever 
 it may be, shall be paid over annually by the British Govern- 
 ment to the Treasury of the Sultan,' and in fact in the Con- 
 vention of 1878, paragraph 3, it is defined ' that England 
 will pay to the Porte the surplus,' etc. Negotiations were 
 subsequently carried out for determining the ' surplus,' 
 which w^as finally fixed at about £87,000, and to this sum, 
 the light and salt dues having been added, the whole amount 
 to be paid rose to about £92,000, the very sum which you 
 have styled as the ' tribute ' — which ought to, as it really 
 does, represent but the surplus which the Porte received from 
 the Administration of the Island, and which sum England 
 has taken upon herself to pay to the Porte in order that the 
 administration and occupation of Cyprus be ceded to it. 
 
 " We, therefore, maintain that the Convention is very clear 
 on this subject, viz. : that the payment of the surplus which 
 was fixed at £92,000 is an obligation of England alone and not 
 of Cyprus towards the Porte, as otherwise it would have been 
 certainly written down in the Convention; that England
 
 THE TRIBUTE 51 
 
 undertook the obligation to levy from Cyprus the surplus 
 with a view to pay it over to the Porte ; nor can it be possibly 
 supposed that in so serious a document — drawn up by the 
 best authorities — an obscure construction should have crept 
 in the formulation of the real meaning of the high contracting 
 parties or that such an essential omission should have escaped 
 notice. And as in the very terms of the Convention no direct 
 obhgation rests upon Cyprus for the pa5'ment of £92,000, 
 it may be asked if Cyprus is not indirectly responsible for 
 the said sum towards the English Government on account 
 of the direct obligations of Cyprus towards England. This 
 is a question to be examined. 
 
 " By virtue of the Convention the administration of Cyprus 
 is given up to the English Government under restrictive 
 conditions in its duration ; and, the island continuing to 
 be considered as a part of the Turkish Empire, the Enghsh 
 Government, consequently, is merely an ad interim adminis- 
 trator and the island continues to bear the same obligations 
 for payment of taxes towards the new administration as it 
 did towards the fornier Suzerain. The Sultan collected the 
 revenues of the island, from which he defrayed the necessary 
 expenses for the administration, placing any surplus into 
 his treasury ; we acknowledge bearing the same responsi- 
 bility towards the present Government, which is entitled to 
 levy the same sum which the Sultan collected. 
 
 " The cost of the administration must be necessarily taken 
 out of this sum, as it used to be done under the Sultan ; and 
 if, after this deduction, there is a surplus, the English Govern- 
 ment may undoubtedly dispose of it as it pleases, and one may 
 justly say that it must not concern the Cypriots what England 
 does with such a surplus as they were not entitled to ask the 
 Sultan what he did with it. 
 
 " The annual sum of the verified revenues of the island 
 during the Turkish administration on the basis of a period of 
 five years, was proved not to exceed the sum of ;{i30,ooo {vide 
 document of the High Commissioner, dated 7th June, 1880).
 
 52 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 And, although this amount has been objected to by the Cypriots 
 as being very exaggerated, they having proved that the annual 
 revenues did not exceed the sum of £117,000, we nevertheless 
 take the sum of £130,000 as a basis, it being the undisputedly 
 highest sum ever levied by Turkey. 
 
 " We acknowledge, therefore, that we are bound to pay 
 annually this sum of £130,000 to the new Administrator, 
 i.e., to the English Government, which is responsible, in its 
 turn, to pay out of this sum the cost of the administration ; 
 but we maintain, in the meantime, that the Enghsh Govern- 
 ment is not entitled to recover anything beyond this sum ; 
 and that, should the revenues of the island exceed the sum 
 of £130,000, anything over and above that sum belongs 
 to the island. This argument should not be considered as 
 a mere theory of law as it happily is supported by facts. 
 
 "In the course of the negotiations between England and 
 Turkey for fixing the surplus, the Porte demanded that the 
 growing surplus which might accrue in the course of time 
 out of the island revenues be paid to Turkey by England ; but 
 England repUed that ' as England will probably spend the 
 growing surplus in the improvement of the island. Her 
 Majesty's Government cannot assent,' etc. {vide telegram of 
 Secretary for Foreign Affairs to Sir H. Layard, dated 30th 
 May, 1878). 
 
 " In the face of the aforesaid objection and of the assurance 
 that this money would be spent for the benefit of the island 
 the Porte waived its demand and accepted that the surplus 
 be liquidated — which was done — on the computation of the 
 revenues of the last five years of Turkish administration. 
 Does this undertaking by England not constitute an obliga- 
 tion that any sum over and above £130,000, or, more accurately 
 speaking, over £117,000, which accrue out of the revenues, 
 be spent in the improvement of the island ? And is it not 
 clearly proved that Cyprus does not bear any responsibility 
 for the sum of £92,000, that she is not bound to pay to the 
 English Government more than £130,000, which Government
 
 THE TRIBUTE 53 
 
 might take for its own interest any surplus that would accrue 
 out of the said sum after the cost of administration, and has 
 the English Government not undertaken to spend any growing 
 surplus over and above the sum of £130,000 on the improve- 
 ment of the island ? 
 
 " Let us see, however, Honourable Sir, if these principles 
 are kept really, and whether you are entitled to say that it 
 must not concern us what England does with the money 
 which is taken from our revenues. 
 
 " We have said that the total sum of the revenues realized 
 during the Turkish administration amounted to ;£i30,ooo. 
 The cost of the present administration exceeds the sum of 
 £140,000, that is to say, that in addition to the sum of £130,000 
 which we are bound to pay, an additional sum of £10,000 is 
 absorbed out of our growing surplus, which surplus accrued, 
 it must be noted, mainly out of the increased taxation as well 
 as out of new taxes unlawfully levied, and secondarily out 
 of the naturally increasing revenue of the island in proportion 
 with the increase of the population. But as the said sum of 
 £10,000 taken from the growing surplus is in some way or 
 other spent in the island, it may be urged that none of the 
 aforesaid principles is thereby impugned. 
 
 " Unfortunately, however, things do not stop as far as this. 
 The revenues of the island have since the British occupation 
 sensibly increased for the aforesaid reasons, and the surplus 
 sum over and above the £130,000, instead of being devoted 
 to the improvement of the island according to the express 
 promise and obligation of England, is arbitrarily utilized 
 towards the fulfilment of an individual obhgation of England 
 towards the Porte, viz. : the payment of the £92,000. 
 
 " Does not this act constitute an overt violation of the obli- 
 gations of England, and is this not a misappropriation of moneys 
 belonging exclusively to Cyprus, which is paying them ? You 
 still maintain. Right Honourable Sir, that we have no right 
 to ask what has become of the money ; we urge, however, 
 that we are entitled to claim, in exercise of our rights, that it
 
 54 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 may not be taken away from us, inasmuch as this is a down- 
 right injustice committed against us. 
 
 " It may be put forward, in reply, that all these arguments 
 are sound and good, but, inasmuch as England cannot 
 administer the island with the excessive economies of the Porte 
 and with the omission of the most elementary obligations 
 incumbent upon every civilized country, in carrying out 
 works of public utility, etc., and, consequently, that since 
 the cost of administration has absorbed ihe very surplus 
 which accrued during the Turkish administration, the English 
 Government is compelled, under such circumstances, to receive 
 any surplus which may accrue from any source, even if it 
 may be the very sum which England has undertaken to 
 spend in the improvement of the island. 
 
 "We submit, however, that when the negotiations between 
 the two Governments were going on, even after the occupation, 
 as to fixing the surplus sum, England having under her eyes 
 the true state of things was in a position to understand that 
 she could not administer the island at a cost of ;{30,ooo to 
 £40,000 per annum, and it was then the duty of England to 
 point out to the Porte that the Enghsh administration would 
 necessarily be more expensive and to claim a proportionate 
 reduction of the surplus. Or, if England, owing to private 
 reasons, and to higher political aims affecting her alone, 
 wanted to occupy Cyprus at all costs, the question of money 
 being of minor importance to her, it was and it is reasonable 
 and just that the sacrifice should be borne by England, which 
 has politically benefited by the occupation of Cyprus, and not 
 by the poor Cypriot, who has pla^-ed the role of a dumb person 
 on this occasion. And that such was the opinion of the Eng- 
 lish Government at the time is apparent by the words of the 
 Convention, ' England shall pay the surplus to the Porte.' 
 
 " Unfortunatelj'^ those right thoughts did not prevail in 
 practice, contrary to the express condition of the Convention 
 and to the promises of the English Government ; and thus 
 we see the lamentable spectacle of a poor and small people
 
 THE TRIBUTE 55 
 
 being crushed under a burden which ought to fall upon others, 
 a burden which, the heavier it is for the poor Cypriot, the 
 lighter it is for the great and wealthy English nation ; and 
 which burden was adroitly characterized by an Honourable 
 Member of the English Government as a millstone hanging 
 on the neck of the Cypriot and menacing to strangle him at 
 every moment. In order that the ruinous work of this ' mill- 
 stone ' — the ;{92,ooo — be understood and the necessary 
 attention may be.' drawn to the injustice done to us, we beg 
 leave to be allowed to outline briefly the general situation 
 of the island during the twenty-four years of English 
 administration. 
 
 " If we look at the Budget, we see that the greatest part 
 thereof is absorbed by the salaries of the officials of the costly 
 administration, and the only new items which may be con- 
 sidered as conducive to the improvement of the island is the 
 granting aid for the Elementary Education and the item for 
 Public Works. And in order that the shabbiness of the 
 administration may be proved it suffices to say that out of a 
 revenue of ;{205,ooo the sum spent for the schools hardly 
 amounts to £4,000, while the sum actually spent for public 
 works hardly reaches £9,000. It will consequently surprise 
 nobody to hear that a great part of the sum expended for the 
 elementary education and the whole sum spent for the middle 
 education are paid by the population of Cyprus, whicli is so 
 heavily taxed, and that very few public works, in comparison 
 to what ought to have been done, have been executed during 
 the English administration for a period of twenty-four years. 
 Our ports and roadsteads still remain in their natural condition, 
 and at a time when all over the world electricity vies with 
 steam for the rapidity of communications, even the elementary 
 group of carriage roads has not been completed in the island, 
 although the construction of the carriage roads does not 
 necessitate a great outlay owing to the evenness of the ground, 
 the absence of large rivers, and the cheapness of wages. The 
 construction of village roads which form part of the group
 
 56 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 of carriage roads has been imposed by a special law on the 
 peasants, who are bound to construct them at their own 
 expense or labour. 
 
 " No works for developing the productive powers of the 
 country have been carried out by the Government Treasury, 
 and, as you are aware, the experimental irrigation works 
 were done from a special loan from the English Treasury. 
 And it is by a similar loan that the contemplated irrigation 
 works and the construction of railway between Nicosia and 
 Famagusta and the harbour of Famagusta will be undertaken. 
 
 "It is as well known to you that for establishing a regular 
 steam communication with Egypt it has been necessary to 
 have recourse to the private funds of the country to a large 
 extent, and the same may be said of the maintenance of the 
 coasting steam service. 
 
 "The cost of the Agricultural Department, of the Rural 
 Medical Service, and of one Veterinary Surgeon is also defrayed 
 from private funds of the island. The expenditure for the 
 destruction of locusts is also paid from the private locust-fund, 
 from which most of the aforesaid expenses are drawn ; and 
 while the people of Cyprus is heavily taxed it is additionally 
 taxed with the above and many other burdens which we 
 consider superfluous to enumerate, bearing, moreover, the 
 most unjust pecuniary bleeding of the £92,000, out of which 
 sum £60,000 goes on an average out of the island annually, 
 i.e., the whole of the surplus which England has expressly 
 undertaken to spend on the improvement of the island. 
 
 " Is it, therefore, astonishing if a great scarcity of gold pre- 
 vails in the island and if the Cypriot is literally poor, or will 
 it arouse any surprise that Cyprus has in fact made no progress 
 worth speaking of either through the Government or through 
 private initiative under the British administration, with no 
 hope of progress in the future ? As long as the Government 
 considers it as its sole mission to levy tyrannically the taxes, 
 shutting its eyes at everj'thing that would contribute to the 
 benefit and relief of the inhabitants, private individuals
 
 THE TRIBUTE 57 
 
 though not devoid of spirit of enterprise, as it was proved 
 in many instances when Cypriots established themselves 
 abroad, have not been able to make a step ahead, being 
 enervated under the paralytica! influence of poverty. 
 
 " In consequence of all these drawbacks agriculture, which 
 is the principal financial source of the country is still in a 
 primitive condition ; industry is very meagre and poor ; 
 while navigation is quite extinct, and no other source of wealth 
 has been opened anywhere in the island. These are the 
 reasons which tend to produce the singular fact that the 
 population of Cyprus, having at its command a large and fertile 
 soil, instead of being one of the wealthiest people in the world, 
 is the poorest, being deprived of every means and support 
 to exploit the natural resources of his country ; the landed 
 property has been reduced to a much lower price than under 
 the Turkish administration, while the land tax remains stable 
 at its over-estimated rate in order that the ruin of the land- 
 owners may sooner be brought about, such owners being often 
 unable to recover hardly anything more than the tax payable 
 by them. 
 
 " Nevertheless, things might be remedied and the fate of the 
 island improved if the unjust burden of the £92,000 were 
 removed from the shoulders of the Cypriots, and we beg to 
 lay stress upon the fact that, should this sum continue to 
 be levied for a few years more, the present financial languor 
 will be certainly turned into a catastrophe — a fact which will 
 be far from conducing either to the material or moral credit 
 of the British Government. 
 
 " If Cyprus, instead of being so far deprived of the annual 
 sum of £60,000, was granted this amount for its improvement, 
 there would undoubtedly be a change within a short time ; 
 Cyprus would be in a position which England might be proud 
 of, and the promise given by it that it would render Cyprus a 
 model administration towards Turkey and its subjects, making 
 of it a paradise of the East, would be accomplished. The least 
 we could claim. Right Honourable Sir, is that this unjust
 
 58 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 burden of the £92,000 be removed from us, so that we may not 
 be hampered in our course forward, a right to which we are 
 certainly entitled. 
 
 "How unjust and oppressive this burden is for the people 
 of Cyprus appears from the fact that not only the Greek but 
 also the Moslem population (which is for racial reasons favour- 
 able to the payment of the ;^92,ooo, as it considers it a mark 
 of subjection of the island to the Sultan), as weU as the Cyprus 
 Government itself, have raised their voices for the removal 
 of this scourge from the shoulders of the Cypnis people. 
 
 " In 1892 a resolution was unanimously passed by the 
 elected (both Greek and Turkish) and the official members 
 of the Legislative Council that Cyprus might be relieved 
 from the payment of the £92,000, and the then High Com- 
 missioner declared that he would feel very glad if the wishes 
 of the Council were listened to and carried out. 
 
 " Sir Robert Biddulph, former High Commissioner of Cyprus, 
 expressed himself unreservedly against this burden, having 
 predicted, several years ago, that no progress would be effected 
 in Cyprus as long as this overwhelming weight lay on it."* 
 
 The reference in the last paragraph is probably to Sir Robert 
 Biddulph's despatch of June 7, 1880, dealing with the revenue 
 of the island, in which he wrote : " The revenue of Cyprus 
 is ample ... to pay for all sorts of improvements, and to 
 pay sufficiently a staff of competent men to carry out those 
 fiscal and judicial reforms which it is the desire of the Great 
 Powers to see carried out in the territories of the Sublime 
 Porte, but which, it is admitted on all hands, require the 
 superintendence of persons who have not been trained in 
 Turkey. But there is not sufficient to do all this, as well as to 
 pay to Turkey the same amount that she used to receive from 
 Cyprus. ... It is obvious that it is unreasonable to suppose 
 that the revenue will at present admit of such enormous 
 subsidy as we are paying to Turkey ; and that it is hard on 
 
 ♦ Affairs relating to Cyprus. — Parliamentary Paper Cd. 3996.
 
 THE TRIBUTE 59 
 
 a country which has a revenue that is double its expenditure 
 to be compelled to postpone necessary public works, and to 
 continue a number of taxes which press heavily on the people, 
 and to be obliged to borrow money (for that is what we shall 
 come to) in order to continue the annual payment to Turkey 
 of the average sum which was only raised to its present high 
 figure by the total neglect of all local necessities. ... I trust 
 that some measure may be devised for lightening the burden 
 that weighs on the revenues of Cyprus in order to enable us 
 to make those financial reforms that are expected of us."* 
 
 The measure devised was the Parliamentary grant-in-aid. 
 But Sir R. Biddulph dealt with the matter in another aspect 
 when discussing in a subsequent despatch the question of 
 laying the annual estimates before the Legislative Council. 
 In February, 1881, he wrote : " It may be expected that if 
 Her Majesty's Government concede that the people of Cyprus 
 have the same right of regulating their expenditure as have 
 the people of England, a right which in theory is indisputable, 
 what becomes of the annual payment to Turkey ? How am 
 I to meet a proposal that the payment should be left to the 
 country that guaranteed it ? My reply will, of course, be that, 
 in administering the government of Cyprus, England did 
 not undertake to relieve Cyprus from contributing to the 
 general expenses of Turkey in the same way as before, and that 
 by limiting the amount to what was formerly contributed, 
 we hoped by good administration to obtain a further margin 
 which will go in the revision of taxation or in works of public 
 benefit. But this very reply disposes of the theory of con- 
 trolling their own expenditure."! 
 
 But to return to the Memorial ; it presents, of course, 
 an extreme view of the case, and no impartial critic will 
 pass judgment without hearing the arguments on both 
 sides. Let us see, therefore, what were the arguments 
 
 * Despatch from Sir R. Biddulph to Earl Granville, June 7, 1880. — 
 Parliamentary Paper C. 2629. 
 
 t Despatch from Sir R. Biddulph to the Earl of Kimberley. February 
 19, iSSi.- — Parliamentary Paper C. 3005.
 
 6o CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 used by the Imperial Government in defence of their polic'' 
 When Mr. Winston Churchill, as Under Secretary of Statl 
 for the Colonies, visited Cyprus in 1907, a Memorial was' 
 presented to him by the Greek Elected Members of the 
 Legislative Council — who have always been indefatigable in 
 such matters — in which they quoted the words used in 1903, 
 stating that " it was admitted by all that, from a financial 
 point of view, the misfortunes of Cyprus are due to the 
 yearly alienation of the sum of money which, in proportion 
 to her resources and public revenue, is enormous."* In his 
 reply, Mr. Churchill dealt with the matter of the "tribute" 
 in the following words : 
 
 " I have left the question of the ' tribute ' to the last, because 
 it is the most practical of the questions on which you have 
 addressed me. It is a matter which has a political as well as 
 a financial aspect. From the pohtical point of view it is 
 clear that payment could only cease with the abrogation of 
 the treaty by which the occupation of the island is secured ; 
 and His Majesty's Government do not contemplate any 
 abrogation of the treaty. 
 
 " The financial aspect of the matter has already received 
 the serious consideration of His Majesty's present advisers. 
 By recent arrangements, which fix the amount of the annual 
 grant-in-aid at £50,000, the pressure on the Island Treasury 
 has already been reduced and reUeved. I hope that larger 
 funds may be available in the near future for the development 
 of public works in various parts of the island. ... It is 
 quite true that the new arrangement of the grant-in-aid is 
 limited to a period of three years. But I daresay that when 
 the time to reconsider it is reached, if the British Government 
 see encouraging results from the new arrangement achieved, 
 it will certainly not be altered to the disadvantage of the 
 island." f 
 
 It will be observed that in this reply the assumption is made 
 
 * Correspondence relating to the Affairs of Cyprus — Parliamentary Paper 
 Cd. 3996. t Ibid.
 
 THE TRIBUTE 6i 
 
 at England was bound by the treaty to pay the " tribute " 
 
 om Cyprus revenues, ignoring the contention of the Memo- 
 
 .iahsts of 1903 that " the payment of the surplus which was 
 
 fixed at £92,000 is an obligation of England alone and not 
 
 Cyprus towards the Porte." 
 
 But Mr. Churchill in his reply referred to a matter which 
 requires some explanation. Until the year 1907 Parliament, 
 as has been stated above, voted annually a sum in aid of Cyprus 
 revenues to meet the deficit caused by the excess of expendi- 
 ture over revenue after the "tribute " obligation had been met. 
 As the annual revenue depended mainly on the harvest and 
 varied largely in consequence from year to year, the sum 
 required to meet the deficit varied in proportion ; in the year 
 1882-83 the grant-in-aid amounted to no less than £90,000, 
 whilst in respect of some years by reason of bountiful harvests 
 and consequent large revenue no grant-in-aid proved necessary 
 and none was paid. The consequence was that an excess of 
 expenditure over revenue affected the pockets of the British 
 taxpayer, but imposed no burden on Cyprus funds, so that it 
 was to the manifold interest of the Cypriot population to resist 
 any increase of taxation and to put forward demands for 
 expenditure on every conceivable object. This was well 
 illustrated by the incident recorded on page 85, when the 
 utility of an important and long-overdue law passed in the 
 Legislative Council providing for the Registration and Revalua- 
 tion of all Immovable Property in the island was seriously 
 impaired by the insertion by the elected members of a ridicu- 
 lous clause limiting in perpetuam the amount of revenue to 
 be derived from the tax on immovable property. With a 
 Legislative Council in which the elected members exceeded 
 the Government members by two to one — since the Council 
 consists of twelve elected members and only six Government 
 members — it can hardly be a matter of surprise that the passing 
 of the yearly Budget proved an exceedingly difficult task for 
 the local executive. It would indeed in all probability have 
 been impossible under normal circumstances but for the fact
 
 62 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 that the Turkish elected members have usually supported the 
 payment of the " tribute," regarding it as an acknowledgment 
 of the sovereignty over the island of the Ottoman Empire. 
 But what is to be said for an arrangement which created a 
 permanent antagonism between the Imperial Government 
 and Cypriot taxpayers ; which made the aim of the British 
 authorities an equilibrium between local revenue and local 
 expenditure, including the " tribute," and the aim of the Cypriot 
 taxpayer a large excess of expenditure over revenue, since the 
 deficit merely formed a liability of Imperial Funds ? That 
 such an arrangement was allowed to continue for thirty-three 
 years is inexphcable, except on the supposition that the per- 
 manent officials at the Colonial Office and the Treasury were 
 too much absorbed in other work to devote time to a thorough 
 consideration of the matter. Friction has been incessant, 
 and on one occasion the whole machinery of a Royal Order 
 in Coimcil had to be invoked in order to sanction expenditure 
 which the Legislative Council in Cyprus refused to vote. Some 
 idea may be formed of the financial difficulties with which the 
 local administration in Cyprus has had to contend since the 
 British occupation, with the enormous sum of ;^92,8oo to meet 
 each year as " tribute," with a mainly hostile legislature oppos- 
 ing for thirty-three years any addition to taxation, while 
 clamouring for expenditure in every direction, and with the 
 Imperial Government calling for the strictest economy in order 
 that the deficit might be kept as low as possible. In such 
 circumstances one may be permitted to wonder, not that the 
 result has been in many ways disappointing, but that any satis- 
 factory result has been possible at all. 
 
 An end was put however to the absurd situation when, in 
 1907, the Imperial Government decided to ask Parliament to 
 vote a fixed annual sum of £50,000 as grant-in-aid of Cyprus 
 revenues ; and although this w^as at first limited to a period 
 of three years, it has been continued ever since.* The result 
 
 • In the year 1910-11 the grant was reduced to ;^40,ooo, but with this 
 exception it has been ;^50,ooo each year since 1907-08.
 
 THE TRIBUTE 63 
 
 has been, as might have been anticipated, to place the local 
 finances on an entirely different footing ; the Local Govern- 
 ment, being able to count on a fixed grant-in-aid, has been in a 
 position to arrange the Budget accordingly. The net liability 
 on account of " tribute " is reduced to the fixed sum of £^2,800, 
 and any surplus of revenue over expenditure is expended 
 in the island. Under the old arrangement there could be no 
 surplus, for the annual deficit was made good by the Imperial 
 Government in the form of a grant which amounted to the 
 precise sum required. Since 1907 good harvests and increased 
 prosperity, coupled with careful and conservative estimates of 
 revenue, have resulted in the realization of considerable sur- 
 pluses, which have been devoted to expenditure on many 
 useful objects, mostly themselves revenue providing ; as an 
 instance, the Government railway has been extended, the 
 capital charge being met from these surplus funds. 
 
 Since the annexation of Cyprus to Great Britain on the out- 
 break of war with Turkey on November 5, 1914, the so-called 
 " tribute " has appeared in the annual budget as " Share of 
 Cyprus of the Turkish Debt Charge," and the argument may 
 be put forward that Cyprus may reasonably be expected to 
 shoulder a portion of the Ottoman Public Debt, and that 
 this in fact is what the island has done since the occupation 
 in 1878, although for convenience the payment was charac- 
 terized as " tribute." Incidentally it may be remarked that 
 such an argument runs counter to the claim that the " tribute " 
 is payable by the island under the terms of the Convention with 
 Turkey. But in any case it may be doubted whether there is 
 any other instance in British colonial history of a similar 
 arrangement, and it is certainly contrary to preconceived 
 notions. Since the occupation Cyprus has paid no less a sum 
 than £3,533,136 as " tribute " or " debt charge " — whichever 
 name may be preferred — ^whilst the sum received during the 
 same period from the Imperial Government as grants-in-aid 
 amounts to £1,347,085. The facts relating to the payment of 
 the so-called " Cyprus tribute " or " debt charge " have been
 
 64 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 set forth as impartially as possible, and from them an opinion 
 can be formed as to whether the British Government has been 
 justified in making the payment due to the Porte under the 
 Cyprus Convention a charge on the Cyprus revenues, or 
 whether, after assuming by treaty with Turkey the responsi- 
 bility for administering the island — an arrangement to which 
 the inhabitants of Cyprus were in no way a party — ^there was 
 any justification for the British Government making this 
 payment a charge on the island revenues, and utilizing it 
 towards meeting the interest on an old debt of the Ottoman 
 Empire entirely unconnected with Cyprus.* It is not 
 uncommon in the British Empire to charge the revenues of 
 its colonies and dependencies with the cost of any British garri- 
 son which may be maintained in their territories, and if this 
 had been done in the case of Cyprus there would have been 
 little to say. But it is a very different thing to fix upon 
 Cyprus revenues a permanent charge equivalent to the average 
 sum extracted annually from the island by the Porte during 
 five years of Turkish occupation. Is it possible to doubt that 
 if Cyprus had remained in Turkish hands public opinion 
 would have forced the Porte to provide a more liberal adminis- 
 tration, and that the sum annually available for remission to 
 Constantinople would in consequence have decreased instead 
 of remaining constant ? Finally, is it not the duty of the 
 British Government to see that the revenue raised in taxation 
 in any of its dependencies is expended for the benefit of those 
 dependencies, and that no portion is utilized for exterior 
 purposes having no direct individual connection with the 
 taxpayers who provide the revenue ? 
 
 * Lord Eversley, in his recently published book The Turkish Empire ; Its 
 Growth and Decay, after describing the financial arrangements made in the 
 Cyprus Convention, makes the following comment : — " The arrangement was 
 made hastily and without due enquiry, with the result that the island has 
 been burthened with a charge far in excess of its past payments to the Porte 
 and the British taxpayers have been compelled to bear a part of the burthen."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS AND REFORMS. 
 
 THE task which confronted the new administration to 
 which was now entrusted the future welfare of Cyprus 
 was no hght one. The three hundred years of Turkish govern-\ 
 ment had reduced the island to a state of stagnation, and to stir 
 the dry bones needed energy and initiative. Not that Turkey 
 can be accused in latter years of downright maladministration : / 
 it was a case rather of absence of administration. In some [ 
 senses the government had been a Hberal one. The Christian > 
 community, which comprised three-fourths of the population, 
 had been left free to practise its own religion ; the Orthodox 
 Greek Church had not only been left unmolested in the exer- 
 cise of its spiritual functions, but its ministers had even been ' 
 assisted by the Turkish tax collectors in the collection of 
 their church dues and admitted to a considerable share in ; 
 the government. 
 
 But the proportion of the taxes raised in the island which 
 had been devoted in Turkish times to the needs of those who 
 paid the taxes was insignificant. The account of expenditure 
 rendered by the Ottoman Government for the five years pre- 
 ceding the British occupation showed an annual average of 
 only £24,000 a year, and this, be it remembered, was for an 
 island 3,500 square miles in extent with a population of 200,000 
 souls. The average revenue from direct and indirect taxation 
 during the same period is calculated to have amounted to not 
 less than £130,000 per annum, so that the sum expended on 
 local administration was only eighteen per cent, of the taxes 
 paid by the inhabitants, the balance being sent to Constanti- 
 nople. In the light of these facts it can hardly be a matter of 
 
 65 E
 
 66 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 surprise that the island in 1878 was found to be without roads, 
 its harbours silted up, the peasants apathetic, agriculture 
 languisliing, trade and commerce undeveloped, and a general 
 state of paralysis prevailing. What conceivable incentive had 
 the Cypriot to toil energetically when eighty per cent, of the 
 money he paid in taxes was taken out of the island to fill the 
 coffers of his Ottoman masters in Constantinople ? 
 5^. The administration had passed to the British Government 
 suddenly and unexpectedly, and there was no question of 
 upsetting the prevaihng system or machinery, nor indeed 
 would it have been possible to do so, seeing that there had beer 
 no time to take stock, to formulate plans, or to think out 
 substitute. Sir Garnet Wolseley simply stepped into tH 
 position vacated by the Turkish Governor, and nominatt^ 
 six British officers to take the places of the Turkish Kaimakaf^- 
 who had been in charge of the six administrative divisioi^ 
 These set to work with characteristic British energy to evol- 
 some order out of the chaos to which Oriental neglect ai? 
 apathy had reduced the towns and villages in their district' 
 The Turkish machinery for tax collecting was taken over as 3 
 stood, together with the existing system, and the native estab 
 lishments were transferred bodily to the new administration. 
 The old Turkish gendarmerie — the zaptieh or police force — 
 which had existed for the maintenance of law and order, for 
 executing warrants of the courts, and above all for assisting 
 in the collection of taxes, was taken in hand and reformed, 
 and one of the first legal instruments promulgated by the 
 new administration provided for its recruitment, pay, condi- 
 tions of service, discipline, pensions, gratuities, and so forth. 
 Hence, in a short time there was in existence an efficient 
 military police force, properly officered, clothed, armed, and 
 accoutred ; this was distributed amongst the various districts, 
 small detachments being quartered in central villages from 
 which patrols were regularly sent to outlying localities, and 
 in this way the whole island was rapidly brought under efficient 
 poHce supervision.
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS AND REFORMS 67 
 
 A very necessary reform of the currency was inaugurated by 
 Sir Robert Biddulph, who succeeded Sir Garnet Wolseley as 
 High Commissioner on June 23, 1879. At the time of the 
 occupation the principal medium of exchange was a depreciated 
 form of paper money known under the name of caime, valued 
 at about 250 piastres of Turkish money : various currencies 
 were in use in different parts of the island, and the introduction 
 of some xmiform system was imperative. In 1879, therefore, 
 the value of the Enghsh sovereign was fixed at 180 piastres, 
 and a copper coinage was struck for Cyprus, bearing the effigy 
 of the Queen, and consisting of piastres, half piastres, and 
 quarter piastres. In 1900 a silver coinage was issued, consist- 
 ing of pieces of 18, 9, 4I, and 3 piastres, equivalent respectively 
 *^o 2s., IS., 6d., and 4^. of Enghsh money. These coins bear 
 )n the obverse the effigy of the sovereign and on the reverse 
 he Lusignan lion, and, in company with the English sovereign, 
 hey form the sole currency of the island. The Government 
 and other accounts are kept in pounds sterling, shillings, and 
 " copper piastres," the latter so called to distinguish them from 
 Turkish or Egyptian piastres, which have a different value. 
 The seigniorate on Cyprus silver accruing to the Government of 
 Cyprus amounts to some £35,000, which is invested in various 
 securities, the interest from which is credited to the island 
 revenue. 
 
 Writing in 1879, a year after the British occupation, Sir 
 Samuel Baker was loud in his praise of the work done during 
 those first twelve months by the British officials — drawn 
 almost entirely from the army, as the occupation was at its 
 inception of a miUtary nature — and of " the extreme devotion 
 to a most difficult task in a contradictory position, exhibited 
 not only by the Governor and Commissioners of districts, 
 but by all British officers entrusted with authority." " No 
 officer," he writes, " understood either the language, or laws, of 
 the people they had to govern ; they were for the most part 
 specially educated for the military profession, and they were 
 suddenly plunged into official positions where agricultural,
 
 68 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 legal, commercial, and engineering difficulties absorbed their 
 entire attention, all of which had to be comprehended through 
 the medium of an interpreter. It is rare that the most favoured 
 individual combines such general knowledge ; Turks and 
 Greeks, antagonistic races, were to lie down contented like the 
 lion and the lamb under the blessing of a British rule ; all 
 animosities were to be forgotten. The religion of Mussulmans 
 would remain inviolate, and the Greek Church would hold its 
 former independence ; freedom and equality were to be assured 
 when the English flag replaced the Crescent and Star upon the 
 red ensign beneath which Cyprus had withered as before a 
 flame ; the resources of the country were to awaken as from 
 a long sleep, and the world should witness the marvellous 
 change between Cyprus when under Turks, and when trans- 
 ferred to Englishmen. ' Look upon that picture, and on this 1 ' 
 The officers of our army were magicians to effect this trans- 
 formation, not only strangers to the climate, language, laws, 
 customs, people, but without money : as the island had been 
 robbed of revenue by the conditions of the Turkish Conven- 
 tion." * 
 
 "An Enghshman's first idea," says the same author, "is 
 improvement, and I believe that upon entering heaven 
 itself he would suggest some alteration." f Before the 
 new administration had been at work six months, however, 
 letters were received by public men in England alleging all 
 sorts of grievances on the part of the Greek population in 
 Cyprus, and on March 24, 1879, a debate took place in the 
 House of Commons during which a number of questions were 
 asked relating to Cyprus affairs. The majority of the com- 
 plaints had reference to alleged injustices to the Greek popula- 
 tion of the island ; it was asserted that petitions written in 
 the Greek language were refused, and Greek newspapers 
 excluded from the island ; that priests of the Orthodox Church 
 were sent to gaol, and the spiritual jurisdiction of the Arch- 
 bishop and Bishops interfered with; that Turks were given 
 a majority on the Councils of the island, and that persons 
 * " Cyprus as I Saw It in 1879," by Sir Samuel Baker. t Ibid.
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS AND REFORMS 69 
 
 proposed as members of the Legislative Council were rejected 
 merely on the ground that they were Greeks. 
 
 On reference being made to Sir Garnet Wolseley, he at once 
 instituted an enquiry, and ascertained that the complaints 
 originated mostly from " a small and insignificant clique of 
 foreigners who, seeking for notoriety, are prepared to make 
 the most monstrous and unfounded charges against anyone, 
 regardless of truth, as long as they secure what is to them a 
 great distinction, namely, that of seeing their names quoted 
 in print as the authority for statements which are made 
 seriously and in good faith in Parliament by over-credulous 
 members who have been deceived by the very circumstantiality 
 introduced into these untruthful charges." * 
 
 The root of the alleged grievances was soon found to exist 
 in the enforcement of the law by the British authorities on 
 all persons and classes alike. Under the lax Turkish regime 
 favours were easily purchased, and the ministers of the Greek 
 Church had been treated with peculiar leniency because the 
 Turkish authorities had reUed to a great extent on their assist- 
 ance in the collection of revenue and the enforcement of various 
 orders. In the words of the Commissioner of Limassol, against 
 whom charges had more particularly been preferred : 
 
 " Priests are imprisoned when convicted by the Courts, 
 all are equal before the law ; the priests, when formerly 
 imprisoned by the Church, were set at liberty without leave or 
 authority. . . . The classes who possessed immunity have 
 now been brought to a dead level with the poorer villager, 
 and the attempt to bring the latter into the ranks of the 
 Adullamites is an impudent imposture." f 
 
 Lest, however, there should be supposed to be any hesitation 
 on the part of the local authorities in enquiring into the truth 
 of the allegations or a desire to evade enquiry, reports were 
 called for from all Commissioners, and a Judicial Commission 
 
 * Despatch of April lo, 1879, from Sir G. Wolseley to the Marquis of 
 Salisbury. — Parliamentary Paper C. 2324. 
 t Ibid.
 
 70 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 was sent to Limassol before. which the complainants were 
 invited to appear and substantiate their statements. The 
 Commission resulted in establishing the fact that the complaints 
 were either untrue or grossly exaggerated and misrepresented, 
 and the Judicial Commissioner was able to report that he had 
 " the satisfaction of believing that the Bishop of Citium and 
 the ' extreme Hellenic ' inhabitants of Cyprus, who have 
 evinced an almost excited interest in the inquiry, have left it 
 with no feeling of soreness, and with the conviction that the 
 welfare of the inhabitants was the anxious care of the adminis- 
 tration." * No more complaints were heard after this, and 
 the island rapidly settled down to the new conditions entailed 
 by the change of administration. 
 
 To\\ards the close of the year 1880 it was decided to transfer 
 correspondence relating to Cyprus to the superintendence of 
 the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and in a despatch dated 
 December 6, 1880, the High Commissioner was directed by 
 Lord Granville to address his despatches and letters on the 
 public service accordingly. The affairs of the island were 
 henceforth directed from the Colonial Office instead of being, 
 as hitherto, under the superintendence of the Foreign Ofhce. 
 Lord Kimberley, however, decided to send out to Cyprus an 
 official " well versed in the principles and practice of Colonial 
 administration " to consult with the High Commissioner, and 
 report upon the administrative requirements of the island, 
 and in the autumn of 1881 Mr. Fairfield, a member of the 
 Colonial Office, was despatched to Cyprus for this purpose ; 
 and in 1882 an exhaustive report was submitted by that officer 
 dealing with the whole administrative and financial situation 
 of the island. The report formed the basis of a number of 
 administrative and financial reforms which were subsequently 
 introduced into the island. But it proved clearly that 
 neither increased revenue nor any considerable economy in 
 administration could be expected, " It would not be credit- 
 
 * Letter from Mr. Phillips to Colonel Greaves, June 12 1879. — Parlia- 
 mentary Paper C. 2355.
 
 AD:\IINISTRATIVE problems and reforms 71 
 
 able for us," wrote Mr. Fairfield, " to govern as cheaply as 
 did the Turks, even if it were practicable. They governed 
 cheaply because they governed badly. They let everything 
 go to ruin. They executed no public works. They paid ordi- 
 nary judges 14s. a month, and other salaries were in proportion. 
 Zapiiehs lived at free quarters on the common people." It 
 was recognized that by lavish expenditure of pubHc money 
 on harbours, railways, afforestation, artesian well boring, 
 agricultural banks, and so forth, a state of forced prosperity 
 might be achieved. But " it does not seem necessary," wrote 
 Mr. Fairfield, " to argue against a plan which amounts to a 
 speculation with the proceeds of English taxes in an effort 
 to change the face of nature and the characters of the seasons 
 in an island not exactly our own. . . A fairer and more 
 hopeful plan of action seems to be to fix the establishment of 
 the island on an efficient but somewhat parsimonious basis, 
 to re-adjust taxation so as not to hamper industry, to afford 
 moderate assistance from Parliamentary votes for a term, 
 and to trust to the natural growth of wealth and revenue 
 under a wise and orderly Government." * 
 
 As a result of this report a number of administrative reforms 
 were introduced, and the grant of a Constitution in 1882 
 providing for a Legislative Council with twelve elected members 
 gave the people a direct voice in the management of the affairs 
 of the island. 
 
 In 1887 great distress was caused by drought, due to the 
 absence of winter rains, and measures were undertaken by 
 Government for the relief of the villagers, who were threatened 
 with ruin by the almost complete failure of their crops : relief 
 works were started in the districts more concerned, and large 
 advances of seed corn were made to the farmers. The revenue, 
 dependent as it was to a great extent on the tithe, was seriously 
 affected, and when the Legislative Council met in the spring 
 of 1888 the financial position gave rise to serious alarm amongst 
 
 * Memorandum by Mr. G. Fairfield, June, 1882. — Parliamentary Paper 
 C. 3661.
 
 72 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 the elected members. They adopted the course, when the 
 Appropriation Bill for the year was presented to the Council, 
 of voting for a number of reductions in the sums appropriated 
 for various departments, explaining that they desired 
 economies effected by abolishing certain offices in the 
 Government Service and reducing the salaries and emolu- 
 ments of a number of Government officials. Holding a 
 majority over the official members the elected members carried 
 these reductions, and it was eventually found necessary to 
 obtain legislative sanction for funds to carry on the adminis- 
 tration by obtaining an Order in Council by Her Majesty 
 to provide the requisite funds. The incident, coupled with 
 the distress caused by the drought of the previous year, had 
 created considerable unrest in the island, and meetings had 
 been held in most of the principal towns at which resolutions 
 were passed demanding various reforms and alleging a number 
 of grievances. As a result of these meetings a deputation 
 consisting of three leading members of the Greek community 
 visited England in 1889 in order to lay before the Imperial 
 Government a statement of the grievances from which the 
 island was said to be suffering, and put forward a number of 
 proposals for reforms of various descriptions. The Memorial 
 submitted by these gentlemen covered a vast number of sub- 
 jects, amongst which the principal related to the financial 
 position of the island, the taxation of the country, the pay- 
 ments made to the Porte, the value of landed property, the 
 constitutional powers of the Legislative Council, and the con- 
 stitution of the Executive Council, education, the agricultural 
 interests of the island, the police force, and the condition of the 
 Independent Eastern Orthodox Church in Cyprus. All these 
 matters were duly considered by the Secretary of State, and his 
 views regarding them were conveyed to the High Commissioner 
 in a lengthy despatch of March 22, 1890,* which was laid in 
 due course before the Legislative Council. In this despatch 
 
 ♦ Despatch from Lord Knutsford to Sir Henry Bulwer, March 22, 
 1890. — Parliamentary Paper C. 6003.
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS AND REFORMS 73 
 
 the complaints of the MemoriaHsts regarding the alleged 
 over-taxation and consequent exhaustion of the resources 
 of the island were analysed, and it was shown conclusively 
 that, although the revenue derived from taxation had 
 increased since Turkish times, so far from taxes having been 
 increased, a net remission of nearly £20,000 per annum had 
 been effected since the British occupation. " Grievances 
 about taxation," wrote Lord Knutsford, " usually take the 
 form of objections to the imposition of novel and heavier rates 
 of taxation ; and, as far as I know, never to the more abundant 
 yield from indirect taxes. More often, indeed, a decreasing 
 yield in that branch of revenue is adduced as evidence that a 
 government is ruining a country. Yet it is into a complaint 
 against the increasing yield of indirect taxation that the argu- 
 ments in the Memorial are found to resolve themselves." * 
 With regard to the alleged exhaustion of the resources of the 
 island, figures were adduced showing that the average wheat 
 crop for the eleven years since the British occupation was 
 double in quantity the highest estimates obtainable in respect 
 of Turkish times, and that the barley crop had increased about 
 fifty per cent. Lord Knutsford then proceeded to deal seri- 
 atim with the other matters which had formed the subject of 
 the Memorial, and concluded by " venturing to hope that a 
 careful perusal of the despatch would convince the members 
 of the deputation and the MemoriaHsts that their views had 
 received very full and careful consideration, and that Her 
 Majesty's Government had closely at heart, and was most 
 anxious to promote in every way, the welfare and prosperity 
 of the island." 
 
 The incident no doubt had an excellent effect in clearing 
 the air and proving to the Cypriot population that the affairs 
 of the island were watched with anxious soHcitude both by 
 the local administration and by the Government in England, 
 and it enabled the Colonial Office to hear at first hand the 
 
 * Despatch from Lord Knutsford to Sir Henry Bulwer, March 22 
 1890. — Parliamentary Paper C. 6003.
 
 74 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 views of the people, and discuss with their representatives 
 the most important of the problems connected with the island. 
 The careful consideration given to these problems had certain 
 indirect results, which led to changes and improvements in 
 various branches of the administration, but the only immediate 
 and tangible result appears to have been the reduction of 
 the charge for passports from five shillings to one and four- 
 pence — a very exiguous mouse to result from the labour of 
 mountains. 
 
 Village and municipal administration has undergone little 
 change since the British occupation, though various laws have 
 been passed from time to time in the Legislative Council 
 designed to improve and modernize the machinery. Muni- 
 cipal Councils have been set up in many of the principal towns 
 and endowed with considerable powers for raising municipal 
 revenue, but the result has in most cases been disappointing. 
 Although empowered to raise money by levying a rate on 
 property the Councils have preferred to rely on a number of 
 petty indirect taxes — such as weighing fees, storage of petro- 
 leum, market dues, and so forth — for raising the municipal 
 revenue, with the result that with the meagre funds resulting 
 they have failed to make adequate arrangements for water 
 supply, street Hghting and cleaning, sanitation, and all similar 
 requirements of an urban community. The capital in parti- 
 cular suffers from a defective water supply, the streets are 
 narrow, tortuous, and ill-paved, and until recently, when 
 electric light was installed, a few ill-burning lamps were all 
 that relieved the darkness at night. On the other hand, the 
 municipality of Limassol, which obtains a considerable revenue 
 from weighing dues owing to the large export of carob beans 
 from the port, has displayed remarkable energy and adminis- 
 trative ability in improving the amenities of the town. It 
 maintains a hospital, and has laid out municipal gardens, where 
 a municipal band plays in the afternoon ; the streets are clean 
 and well-lighted, and excellent municipal markets and 
 slaughter-houses have been provided. Visitors to the island
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS AND REFORMS 75 
 
 who land at Limassol are impressed with the appearance of 
 the town, which is rapidly growing in prosperity and wealth, 
 and compares favourably with any town of its size in the 
 Levant. 
 
 Village administration in Cyprus is based on an excellent 
 system, which has probably prevailed in something like its 
 present form for centuries. Each village has its Miikhtar 
 or headman, and its council of Azas or elders ; a number of 
 " field watchmen " guard the crops, and are charged with 
 preventing trespass or damage by the village flocks. Formerly 
 the Mukhtar was appointed to his post by Government, but 
 some time ago, owing to the passion of the Greek population 
 for democratic institutions, a law was passed in the Legislative 
 Council providing that this functionary should be elected by 
 the villagers. The result of this innovation has been anything 
 but satisfactory. In every village, though the majority of 
 the inhabitants are peaceful and law-abiding, and desire 
 nothing but the maintenance of law and order, there are a 
 certain number of persons who are bent on exploiting their 
 fellow- villagers for their own benefit, and these persons by 
 unscrupulous methods in many cases succeed in getting them- 
 selves elected to the post of Mukhtar. The multitude of elec- 
 tions are, moreover, apt to create bad blood amongst the 
 various parties and cliques into which every village is divided, 
 and many crimes are directly traceable to this cause. Not 
 infrequently persons who are entirely ilHterate, or whose repu- 
 tation is anything but good, obtain election to the office of 
 Mukhtar, and, although the High Commissioner is empowered 
 by law to dismiss from his office a Mukhtar guilty of miscon- 
 duct, there is nothing to prevent the same man being elected 
 again by his party, if they are in the majority. Public opinion 
 is slowly coming round to the view that the present system is 
 a mistake, and it is possible that the Legislative Council would 
 be favourably inclined towards an amendment of the existing 
 law which would abolish some of the abuses which undoubtedly 
 exist.
 
 76 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 The election of field watchmen and the assessing of their 
 wages by the villagers, is also a cause of much discontent, and, 
 although the law governing the present system has been 
 amended in various directions from time to time, it has proved 
 most unsatisfactory, and has been described more than once 
 as " bad from top to bottom." A proposal which has beeil 
 made to change the field watchmen into a kind of rural policeL ^ 
 has much to commend it, and may prove the means of placingj 
 the whole system on a more satisfactory basis, but the members 
 of the Legislative Council have been unable to agree on any 
 such measure, and until they do no alteration in the present 
 system is possible. 
 
 Cyprus, like many other similarly circumstanced countries^ 
 suffers from a perpetual feud between the owners of flocks i.^ 
 and the tillers of the soil, and this leads to quarrels and disputes, ) 
 which not infrequently have a fatal termination. Murder and 
 homicide are by no means an uncommon feature of village 
 life, and, although the crime fassionnel is certainly the 
 commonest, yet the antagonism between the shepherds and 
 the farmers is a fruitful source of breaches of the law. There 
 can be no doubt that amendments to the laws relating to 
 village authorities and field watchmen, and fresh legislation 
 regulating the carrying of fire-arms and knives would do much 
 to diminish the crime which is all too common in Cyprus, 
 but the elected members of the Legislature are very jealous 
 of any measures supposed to curtail the liberty of the people 
 or interfere with democratic institutions, and with the Legis- 
 lative Council constituted as it is the executive is powerless 
 to press measures unacceptable to the remainder of the Council. 
 
 There is one defect in the present system of district adminis- 
 tration which should be remedied : an important hnk is missing 
 between the village organization and the Commissioner, who 
 is the direct representative of the Government. In Turkish 
 times each district or Kaza was administered by a Kaimakam, 
 and was subdivided into Nahiehs or sub-districts, in charge 
 of which were officials termed Mudirs, Shortly after the
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS AND REFORMS yy 
 
 British occupation, when strenuous endeavours were being 
 made to reduce administrative expenses, attention was turned 
 to the latter officials. " Hitherto," wrote Mr. Fairfield, 
 " part of the Mudir's duty has been to talk to and be talked 
 to by the people — ^to exhort them to pay taxes, to plant trees, 
 and to mend their water-wheels, for the government of the 
 Cypriots involves more ' palaver ' than that of any other 
 people under our jurisdiction ... It seems hardly necessary 
 to keep up a staff of officers merely to exhort people to 
 mind their own business." * So the fiat went forth, and in 
 the interests of economy the Mudir was turned into a sheriff's 
 officer and sent perambulating his Nahieh, selling up the immov- 
 able property of the villager who had fallen into debt, and 
 executing the decrees of the Court. The Commissioner was 
 thus deprived of the services of the only person on whom he 
 could rely both to ascertain the views and the wants of the 
 villager and to explain to the latter the views and orders of 
 the Government. Yet the vital importance of such an inter- 
 mediary between the Commissioner and the villager is obvious, 
 more especially when the barrier of language is remembered. 
 The diversion of the Mudirs from their proper duties was a 
 very ill-judged piece of economy on the part of the Govern- 
 ment, and the mistake should be remedied as quickly as pos- 
 sible. There should be in each district a native assistant, 
 selected from amongst the most intelligent of the people, known 
 to and trusted by every villager — or at least every Mukhtar — 
 in the district, who would be the medium for conveying to the 
 people the wishes of the Government, and to the Government, 
 through the Commissioner, the wants of the people. Mr. 
 Fairfield's airy sarcasm about exhorting people to mind their 
 own business shows ignorance of the true situation, and a 
 lamentable want of insight into the needs of a backward and 
 ignorant peasantry. The Mudir should never have been turned 
 into a sheriff's officer : the number might well have been 
 reduced and the pay increased so as to secure the best class of 
 * Report by Mr. Fairfield. — Parliamentary Paper C. 3661.
 
 78 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 individual for this most important post. So long as Mudirs 
 remain sheriff's officers the Government will be out of touch 
 with the people, ignorant of their wants, an alien Government 
 in every sense. Every Commissioner knows and feels this, 
 and is aware of the remedy, but is powerless to supply it. 
 There is a great difference between false economy and true 
 economy ; the difference has not always been recognized in 
 Cyprus, and this is a case in point.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TAXATION AND FINANCE. 
 
 ON assuming the administration of the island the first step 
 taken by the Government was to make a careful survey 
 of the financial assets and liabilities which had been inherited 
 from its Turkish possessors, and in September, 1878, a report 
 was submitted by the Financial Commissioner. This report 
 contained an estimate of revenue and expenditure for the year, 
 together with a memorandum describing the character and 
 operation of the several taxes existing in the island. 
 
 The Turks taxed almost everything : a list of their taxes 
 exhibited no less than twenty-four classes of imports, which 
 included almost every device known for raising revenue, to 
 the most modern, namely, an income tax and stamps on the 
 written transactions of daily hfe. The revenue raised under 
 the Turkish Government, however, may be classified under 
 eight main heads, namely : (i.) Tithes on agricultural produce ; 
 (ii.) Property tax and trade taxes ; (iii.) Sheep and goat 
 tax ; (iv.) Customs dues ; (v.) Excise on tobacco and 
 spirits ; (vi.) Salt monopoly ; (vii.) Exemption from miUtary 
 service ; (viii.) Miscellaneous taxes. 
 
 Of these the revenue obtained from tithes was the most 
 important item, as it provided considerably more than a third 
 of the total revenue of the island. Under normal conditions 
 this may be regarded as a fair and reasonable tax, and is an 
 exceedingly common one in Oriental countries, where it is 
 usually levied, as in Cyprus, in kind ; but when it is applied 
 to every imaginable kind of agricultural and horticultural 
 produce it is apt to result in unfair and irritating restrictions, 
 which hamper produce and lead to a minimum development 
 of agricultural industry. This was the case in Cyprus, where 
 
 79
 
 8o CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 the system of collecting tithes was designed with the sole object 
 of extracting the maximum of revenue at a minimum of cost, 
 an object obtained by farming out the tithes to private per- 
 sons, who were more concerned with making what profits 
 they could than with collecting the tithes with justness and 
 fairness. Nor could it be expected that the cultivation of 
 cereals, fruit, and vegetables would be encouraged by a system 
 which provided that no produce could be removed from any 
 field or garden until it should have been valued for taxation 
 by the Government official appointed for that purpose at 
 the rate of ten per cent, ad valorem. On the other hand, the 
 tax had this advantage, that it varied in precise proportion 
 to the annual yield, and, being levied in kind, was eminently 
 suited to a community of agriculturists, for the most part very 
 poor small-holders, who were without capital, and whose sole 
 wealth consisted in the produce which they were able to obtain 
 from the soil. 
 
 Under the Turkish Government the tithes were sold to mer^/ 
 chants or speculators in the spring of each year, when the extent 
 and quality of the year's produce could be estimated from an 
 examination of the ripening crops. The tithe farmer signed 
 a bond for the amount of his purchase, payable in six monthly 
 instalments, beginning from August ist. This done, he pro- 
 ceeded to watch the fields, and to see the grain cut, threshed, 
 and heaped ; the tithe was taken on the threshing floor, and 
 arrangements made by the cultivators for its transport to 
 the nearest port of embarkation on terms more or less unfavour- 
 able to themselves. Their cattle were taken away for trans- 
 port when most required in their own fields, and they had to 
 bear all the expense of transit except the expense of the first 
 mile, which was paid by the tithe farmer. With regard to 
 fruit, vegetables, and other perishable articles, the tithe was 
 usually commuted in a money payment, which led almost 
 invariably to disputes, determinable by the head Government 
 official of each locality, who usually gave his decision in favour 
 of the tithe farmer. In the autumn the vineyards were
 
 TAXATION AND FINANCE 8i 
 
 similarly visited, and as the cultivator was usually unwilling 
 to risk the deterioration or loss of his stock which disputes as 
 to valuation would involve, he was forced to submit to the 
 exactions of the tithe farmer. 
 
 Although keen in their dealings with the peasantry, however, 
 the tithe farmers were by no means prompt in their own pay- 
 ments to the Government Treasury ; and although interest 
 was, under the bonds, payable on overdue instalments, it was 
 in fact never enforced. The accounts handed over by the 
 Turkish Government revealed the existence of considerable 
 arrear claims, and of the collections credited in the year 
 1876-77, nearly one-half was on account of the claims of 
 previous years. Thus the tithe system as practised by the 
 Turkish Government was in almost every way injurious. 
 It impoverished the peasant, involving him in the toils of the 
 money-lender, as well as of the tithe farmer ; it checked the 
 productiveness of the island, the area under cultivation at 
 the time of the British occupation being estimated as less than 
 a third of the whole cultivable ; and it resulted in a loss of 
 revenue to the State, since the system of farming the tithes 
 left in the hands of the tithe farmers a considerable propor- 
 tion of the sums collected by the latter from the peasantry. 
 The system was seen to be injurious, and it was promptly 
 altered. " The collection of tithes was worse managed under 
 the Turks," wrote Sir R. Biddulph in 1880, " than any other 
 branch of their revenue. . . . The agency we used was alto- 
 gether new to the Government. One of the largest and most 
 successful tithe farmers was appointed by Sir Garnet Wolseley 
 to be Chief Collector of Tithes, and placed immediately under 
 the orders of the Auditor and Accountant-General. With 
 his advice Superintendents and Agents were selected, chiefly 
 from amongst men who had filled similar situations under the 
 different tithe farmers, and each district was worked under the 
 orders of the Commissioners. . . . The success achieved has 
 been remarkable, and we are now using the tithe agents as 
 permanent tax collectors, instead of following the Turkish 
 
 F
 
 82 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 plan of having different collectors for each kind of tax. . . . 
 Any money lost to the State has remained in the pockets of 
 the people, and has not fallen into the hands of the middleman, 
 as under the system of tithe farming." * 
 
 Much correspondence ensued during subsequent years 
 between the local and the Imperial Government on the subject 
 of tithes and the question of their commutation for a money 
 payment. At one time it was proposed to adopt a system 
 introduced successfully into Ceylon, which formed a com- 
 promise between a variable tithe and a fixed annual payment, 
 designed to allow for the uncertainty of harvests and at the 
 same time accustom the minds of the people to the payment of 
 a fixed sum. In 1879 the Government had decided that the 
 farmer should pay in money the assessed value of the tithe 
 due by him ; this relieved him from the obligation of convey- 
 ing his tithe in kind to the Government stores, which, up to 
 a distance of three miles, he was compelled to do free of charge, 
 and left him free to dispose of all his produce as he chose. The 
 Cypriot peasant is, however, by nature imthrifty, and the 
 arrangement was found to work unsatisfactorily ; by the time 
 the Government collector came round, the peasant had often 
 no money wherewith to pay him, and was forced either to 
 borrow the amount from a money-lender at a high rate of 
 interest, or to fall into arrears with the Government, resulting 
 in a fine for his failure to pay. About 1886, therefore, the rule 
 was gradually relaxed in order to meet the necessities of cer- 
 tain districts, and the tithe was taken in kind. This arrange- 
 ment has since been extended, and it is now in force through- 
 out the island," f The Government has purchased or built 
 large grain stores in every district, where the tithe corn is 
 collected and eventually sold to merchants by means of tenders 
 in the open market. The system has its advantages as well 
 as its disadvantages. It enables the Government to exercise 
 
 ♦ Despatch from Sir R. Biddulph to Earl Granville, June 7, 1880. — 
 Parliamentary Paper C. 2629. 
 
 t Except in certain hill villages where, owing to the difficulties of trans- 
 port, an arrangement is made each year whereby it is collected in cash.
 
 TAXATION AND FINANCE 83 
 
 a certain control over the price of grain, and to make large 
 issues of seed corn every year to indigent farmers. It is popular 
 with the peasant, who hands over to Government the tithe 
 of his corn straight from the threshing floor, and so is quit 
 of his tax for the year, instead of having a debt hanging over 
 his head for some months. 
 
 The most important step taken by the Government with 
 regard to the tithes, however, was their aboHtion in every case 
 except that of the four principal crops — wheat, barley, oats, 
 and vetches. The tithe on grapes was abolished, the Govern- 
 ment imposing in return an additional excise duty on all wine 
 and spirit made in the island, and an export duty on raisins ; 
 similarly the tithe on carob beans was done away with, an 
 export duty being imposed in Heu ; whilst the large number 
 of fruits and vegetables which the Turks had taxed were alto- 
 gether exempted from the payment of tithes, the people being 
 thus freed not only from the payment of a tax, but from the 
 objectionable restrictions under which they could not gather 
 their fruit and garden produce until it had been first assessed. 
 
 The Property Tax, whilst providing less than a third of the 
 amount obtained annually for tithes, came next in importance 
 from the point of view of revenue. It was divided into three 
 classes : (i) Tax on houses or immovable property, at the rate 
 of four per thousand on the purchasing value. (2) Tax on the 
 rent of immovable property, at the rate of four per cent. 
 (3) Tax on professions and trades, at the rate of three per cent, 
 on profits and salaries. This tax was assessed by the district 
 authorities preparing statements showing the contributions 
 required for each village and town, according to the number of 
 houses, and the number and means of the population. The 
 assessment was made roughly, and the tax was recovered by 
 the Mukhtars or headmen of villages, selected by the inhabi- 
 tants, and confirmed by the district authorities. The assessment 
 of the first two classes of property tax was facilitated by the 
 fact that all sales and transfers of immovable property had to be 
 registered in the Land Registration Office, but the tax on trades
 
 84 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 and professions was arbitrarily fixed for each town or village, 
 and the Mukhiars were left in practice to levy the personal 
 contribution of each taxpayer as they thought fit. It is 
 clear that there was room for much extortion and oppression 
 in this system, although the tax itself was both fair and reason- 
 able ; but as in the case of the tithes, a considerable propor- 
 tion of the money exacted from the taxpayers remained in 
 the hands of the collectors and failed to reach the Government 
 Treasury, In order that a Property Tax should be properly 
 assessed, an accurate record and valuation of all existing 
 property is clearly indispensable. Shortly after the occupa- 
 tion, an engineer officer of experience was employed to survey 
 the island,* and the work was completed in about three years. 
 The scale of the survey ranged from two inches to a mile for 
 the more mountainous and less populated parts to four inches 
 to a mile for the cultivated plains, besides plans of the four 
 principal towns on a scale of eight inches to a mile. All details 
 were shown of which the scale permitted, such as roads, rivers, 
 watercourses, woods, vineyards, orchards, and buildings, but 
 not the boundaries of properties, so that full advantage could 
 not be derived from the work as a revenue survey. To 
 mark out the boundaries of every holding in the island the 
 necessary expenditure was estimated at ^^50,000, the time 
 necessary for such a survey to be twenty years, so that the 
 undertaking was clearly impossible at the time. It was not 
 till the year 1907 that the Legislative Council decided to pass 
 -a law providing for the revaluation and compulsory registra- 
 tion of all immovable property in the island, which entailed 
 the carrying out of a cadastral survey, now in progress. Unfor- 
 tunately the elected members inserted and carried a clause 
 whereby any enhancement of revenue was prevented by the 
 proviso that if in any district the revaluation of property 
 
 * The officer in question was the late Lord Kitchener, then a subaltern 
 of the Royal Engineers. It is not surprising that the survey work performed 
 by him was described in 1882 as having " called forth the admiration of 
 every competent critic who has examined it," as being " the cheapest survey 
 of which there is any English experience." — Parliamentary Paper C. 3661.
 
 TAXATION AND FINANCE 85 
 
 resulted in an increase in the proceeds of the Property Tax, 
 the rate at which the latter was assessed should be reduced to 
 a figure which would produce from the new revaluation a sura 
 equivalent to the previously existing sums. As the rate of 
 four per thousand, which previously prevailed, was admitted 
 on all sides to be fair and not excessive, this absurd proviso 
 merely prevents the Property Tax of the island from making 
 its proper contribution to the revenue, and diminishes the 
 funds necessary for administrative purposes. 
 
 The revenues derived from the Sheep Tax, Customs Dues, 
 Excise on Tobacco and Spirits, and Salt monopoly were 
 collected on the whole with fairness and impartiality, and with 
 adequate machinery. A regular enumeration of the sheep 
 and goats in the island was carried out annually during the 
 month of March, and the tax, amounting to about sixpence 
 per head, was collected by the local Government officials. 
 The Customs Dues amounted to eight per cent, on imports 
 and one per cent, on exports. The salt obtained in large 
 quantities from the lakes at Larnaca and Limassol formed a 
 Government monopoly and was collected and sold for local 
 consumption and export. Unfortunately an injudicious 
 increase to the selling price made some years before the British 
 occupation, combined with short weights and enhanced cost of 
 shipment, had diverted a great part of the Syrian demand from 
 Cyprus to the salt lakes of Tunis, and had reduced the revenue 
 derived from this source ; but the latter was still considerable, 
 and was from its nature obtained with very little trouble and 
 expense. These taxes have been continued with little or no 
 alteration, and remain in force. 
 
 The tax on exemption from military service had superseded 
 the capitation tax formerly levied upon Christians and the 
 subjects of the Porte who were not Moslems. It amounted to 
 27f piastres (about 5s. 6d.) for each male inhabitant from 
 twenty to forty years of age, though in practice it was levied 
 upon males above and below those limits. It was collected 
 by the Miikhtars, who were required to recover the money and
 
 86 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 pay it into the Government Treasury in twelve monthly instal- 
 ments. The tax was exceedingly unpopular and offensive to 
 all whom it affected throughout the Turkish dominions, and 
 Greek, Armenian, and Bulgarian subjects had protested against 
 it from time to time, but without effect. It yielded, however, 
 in Cyprus a sum of about £12,000 per annum, and was collected 
 with a fair amount of impartiality and regularity. On the 
 British occupation this tax was very properly extended to 
 Moslems as well as non-Moslems, and was reduced to 2s. 6d. 
 per head ; it became, in fact, a simple poll-tax on certain male 
 taxpayers. It was open to all the ordinary objections to a 
 poll-tax and was in addition very troublesome to collect. 
 There was, however, a still more objectionable tax, called 
 verghi temettu, nominally a tax of three per cent, on trade profits, 
 which was levied even on agricultural labourers. The proper 
 assessment of trade profits of many labourers and mechanics 
 was clearly impossible, and it therefore became the practice 
 amongst the Turks for the assessor to fix a stated amount 
 according to the nature of the man's business ; the tax was 
 therefore in reality a classified " trade licence tax," and taken 
 in connection with the military exemption tax made far too 
 heavy a demand on the labouring classes. This being recog- 
 nized by the Government shortly after the British occupation, 
 all labourers and mechanics were relieved from the payment 
 of verghi temettu. Finally, in 1906, both this tax and the 
 military exemption tax were altogether abolished, their dis- 
 appearance being hailed with delight by the inhabitants. 
 
 The above account gives a brief summary of the principal 
 taxes which were levied by the Turks at the time of the British 
 occupation, and shows the manner in which they have since 
 been modified. It is now necessary to turn to the revenue 
 derived from them and the relation of the revenue to the 
 expenditure in the island. 
 
 The estimate of revenue made by the Government for the 
 first year of British occupation amounted to a sum of ;^i70,ooo, 
 made up as follows :
 
 TAXATION AND FINANCE 
 
 87 
 
 Tithes on Agricultural Produce 
 
 . . £72,000 
 
 Property and Trade Taxes . . 
 
 22,000 
 
 Sheep Tax 
 
 11,000 
 
 Customs Dues 
 
 13,400 
 
 Excise on Tobacco and Spirit 
 
 . . 16,850 
 
 Salt Monopoly 
 
 .. 15,145 
 
 Exemption from Military Service Tax 
 
 9,000 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 10,605 
 • -1 _ _ 1 
 
 / 
 
 The estimate of expenditure for the same period was based 
 upon the actual cost of the Turkish and native establishments 
 maintained by the new administration, together with the cost 
 of the new agencies created by the latter. As has been already 
 stated, the account of expenditure rendered by the Ottoman 
 Government showed an annual average for the previous five 
 years of £2^,000. Deducting from this the pay of officials 
 and subordinates, estabUshments no longer retained, and the 
 cost for six months of the old Zaptieh or police (the correspond- 
 ing charge for the reformed police force being added to the 
 estimated cost of the British establishment), a balance of 
 £17,000 remained, and was accepted as a fair estimate of the 
 charges for native establishments for the first year of the 
 British administration. The charges for British establish- 
 ments for the same period were estimated at £35,000, which 
 sum included certain expenses incidental to the occupation 
 of a new country unhkely to recur. The total estimated 
 expenditure for the year, therefore, amounted to £52,000, 
 leaving an estimated surplus of £118,000. 
 
 An examination of the accounts of Cyprus for the five years 
 preceding the British occupation revealed the fact that the 
 average surplus of revenue over expenditure had been less 
 than £100,000. " The future yearly contribution to the Otto- 
 man Government from the surplus revenues of Cyprus, under 
 the Convention of June 4, 1878," wrote the Financial Commis- 
 sioner on September 25, 1878, " will not, therefore, exceed, 
 and may fall short of, the sum of £100,000. Nearly one-half
 
 88 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 of this claim for the current year was taken by the Turk from 
 surplus revenue before our arrival. We shall easily make up 
 the balance from the revenue now in course of collection. 
 And, under ordinary conditions, the current revenue will not 
 only cover the annual payment to the Porte, and the expenses 
 of administration, but also provide a fair outlay for roads 
 and sanitary improvements." * 
 
 What a rosy prospect ! Cyprus did indeed seem to be in 
 an enviable financial position, with a revenue more than three 
 times its expenditure — a veritable gold mine. Even after 
 paying away more than half its revenue annually to Constan- 
 tinople the balance was to pay all the cost of the administra- 
 tive machinery, and even — happy thought ! — contribute 
 something towards " roads and sanitary improvements." 
 Those who study the history of the thirty years which followed 
 the issue of this famous memorandum may shrug their 
 shoulders at its short-sightedness and confident optimism, and 
 marvel at the failure to take any account of such items 
 as public works, education, agriculture, forestry, and other 
 necessary expenditure, but it can hardly cause surprise if the 
 British Government, glancing merely at the figures given by 
 the Financial Commissioner, decided without a qualm that the 
 whole of the " surplus revenue " hypothecated to the Porte 
 under the terms of the Convention should be a charge on the 
 Cyprus taxpayer. 
 
 The first estimate of revenue, however, was soon found to 
 have been far too optimistic : the amount realized fell short 
 of the estimate by more than £30,000, and during the first 
 twelve years of the British occupation the annual local revenue 
 showed an average of only £165,000, while the average annual 
 local expenditure during the same period amounted to no 
 less than £112,000. The surplus of local revenue over local 
 expenditure during these twelve years thus only amounted 
 
 * Memorandum on the Revenue and Charges of the Island of Cyprus 
 for the five years from 1873 to 1878, under Turkish administration, by 
 Geo. W. Kellner, Financial Commissioner of Cyprus, dated September 
 25, 1878.
 
 TAXATION AND FINANCE 89 
 
 to an average of ;^53,ooo per annum, which was quite insuffi- 
 cient to meet the Hability, charged by the British Government 
 on Cyprus funds, of £92,800 to be paid annually to the Porte, 
 and the balance had to be paid by the Imperial Government in 
 the form of an annual grant-in-aid. 
 
 The determination of the amount of grant-in-aid formed the 
 subject of voluminous correspondence which passed between 
 the High Commissioner, the Foreign Office, and the Treasury, 
 and the payment of the " tribute charge " presented many com- 
 pHcations. Grants amounting in all to £209,085 were voted 
 by Parhament during the first five years, and afterwards 
 sums varying from £10,000 to £87,000 were voted each year 
 in aid of the Cyprus revenues, although there were three years 
 when no grant was found necessary as bountiful harvests 
 yielded revenue sufficient to meet all charges, including the 
 " tribute." * The system by which deficits were thus made 
 good by the Imperial Parliament involved, however, serious 
 disadvantages. To begin with, as has been explained else- 
 where, it was anomalous that the island should be placed in 
 a position which tempted the inhabitants to clamour at the 
 same time for large expenditure and reduction in taxation, 
 in the knowledge that the Imperial Government would be 
 obHged to make good any defect. Further, it involved a tire- 
 some duplication of correspondence and division of responsi- 
 bility, for all the estimates had to be submitted first to the 
 Imperial Treasury by the Colonial Office and to receive the 
 sanction of the former. The system was, however, allowed 
 to continue until 1907, when an annual grant of £50,000 was 
 provisionally decided upon, and three years later this provi- 
 sional arrangement was made permanent, and the finances of 
 the island were freed from Treasury control. A condition was, 
 however, attached to the concession made regarding the per- 
 manent grant-in-aid, which was that a sum of £90,000 should 
 be set aside as a reserve fund to meet any shortage of revenue 
 which might occur in consequence of a succession of bad 
 
 • The years were 1892-3, 1893-4, ^^<i i904-5'
 
 90 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 harvests. This sum has since been saved and invested, the 
 interest on the investment accruing to the island revenue. 
 No doubt the recollection of the drought in 1888 and conse- 
 quent distress influenced the Imperial Government in making 
 this condition, but the state of the island finances now renders 
 this reserve unnecessary and the locking up of so large a sum, 
 which might be of great use for reproductive expenditure, 
 only hinders and delays progress. The condition should be 
 cancelled and the money released and added to the surplus 
 funds available for expenditure. 
 
 It has been explained that the taxes found in existence 
 when the island was taken over from the Turks were main- 
 tained subject to certain modifications and reductions. Only 
 one new tax was instituted, and this was not paid into general 
 revenue, but formed a separate fund devoted to a special pur- 
 pose — ^the destruction of locusts. Under the Turkish regime 
 every male inhabitant between the ages of eighteen and sixty 
 was required to bring in each year a bushel of locust eggs, and 
 was also obliged to furnish labour, free of charge, on the work 
 of destroying live locusts. Shortly after the British occupa- 
 tion this obligation was cancelled, and a law was passed 
 imposing a special tax, the proceeds of which were to be formed 
 into a fund for the destruction of locusts. The tax may be 
 described as practically an extra charge of one per cent, on 
 the annual value of titheable produce, property, income, and 
 trade profits ; a charge of about ^d. is also made on every 
 sheep and goat. The tax produces nearly £9,000 per annum, 
 and by its means the debt incurred by the initial campaign was 
 paid off by the year 1889, by which time the expenditure on 
 the annual campaign had been reduced to about £3,000 per 
 annum. Thus the fund created by this tax soon reached a 
 figure in excess of its requirements for locust destruction, and 
 a desire immediately arose to apply it to other purposes. 
 The elected members of Council urged the establishment of 
 an Agricultural Bank, to be financed from the Locust Fund, 
 but after long discussion the proposal fell through, and sub-
 
 TAXATION AND FINANCE 91 
 
 sequently, in 1897, a law was passed establishing a Public Loan 
 Fund administered by a Board of Loan Commissioners, 
 empowered to make use of the surplus Locust Funds for grant- 
 ing loans on approved securities. Meanwhile, in 1895, a grant 
 from the Fund had been made to the town of Limassol for secur- 
 ing the town against inundation by floods. In 1898 the Fund 
 was still further diverted from its proper use by the passing 
 of a law whereby the interest on a loan made to Cyprus under 
 the Colonial Loans Act for the construction of a harbour at 
 Famagusta and a railway from that port to the capital was 
 secured by pledging the Locust Fund up to an annual maximum 
 of ;^2,500. Neither harbour nor railway when constructed 
 succeeded in paying by their receipts the interest on the capital 
 expenditure involved, so that a large annual disbursement 
 has been necessary ever since from the Locust Fund. 
 
 Recent improvements in the method of locust destruction 
 have reduced the cost to a small figure, and the continuance 
 of this special tax is an anomaly. Efforts to amend or repeal 
 the law have been met by the Imperial Government with the 
 reply that before sanction can be given to the abolition of the 
 locust tax an equivalent sum must be provided for by some 
 other means of taxation. Elected members cannot agree upon 
 the form which such taxation should take, and the anomaly 
 continues. A revision of the Customs Tariff has been proposed, 
 and a Commission was appointed in 1913 to draft a new tariff, 
 but so far nothing has come of it. The tax should certainly 
 be abolished, locust destruction being handed over to the 
 Agricultural Department and its cost made a charge against 
 the agricultural vote, whilst the interest on the Harbour and 
 Railway Loans should be made a charge against the general 
 revenue, taxation being if necessary increased to meet it, 
 either by a revision of the Customs Tariff, an increase in the 
 Property Tax, or by some other means. 
 
 In 188 1, when the affairs of Cyprus were transferred from 
 the Foreign Office to the Colonial Office, an official of the latter 
 Department was, as has been recorded elsewhere, sent to Cj^prus
 
 92 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 to confer with the High Commissioner as to the finances and 
 administration of the island. This official made various pro- 
 posals, the majority of which have since been carried out. 
 At that time, however, the affairs of the island were in a very 
 different state to that now existing. The peasantry had in 
 Turkish times been taxed up to the last limit, and owing to 
 the condition of trade and agriculture the revenue was small. 
 The Turks, as has been said, taxed almost everything, and 
 " though the general bearing of the facts then available was 
 that the peasantry were able to support life fairly well, there 
 was little or no taxable margin on their incomes, and if their 
 contributions were raised, most of them would be driven into 
 the hands of the money-lenders beyond the hope of extrication, 
 and the poorer villages would be actually ruined." * It was 
 contemplated that by exercising every economy and limiting 
 the expenditure on public works to £13,000 a year, the annual 
 expenditure of the island might be maintained at a figure of 
 about £112,000 — making, with the " tribute," a total of 
 £205,000. The existing taxes were calculated to yield about 
 £176,000 per annum and could not be increased, so that there 
 remained a deficit of about £30,000 per annum to be met from 
 Imperial Funds. This, in fact, is about the average amount 
 of the grant annually voted by Parliament in aid of Cyprus 
 revenues until 1907, when it was increased permanently to 
 £50,000. If this is deducted from the " tribute " it leaves 
 a sum of over £60,000 which the Cyprus revenues have been 
 obhged to bear annually towards the payment to the Porte 
 due under the Convention. 
 
 During the last twenty or thirty years the island has 
 advanced enormously in prosperity, and its financial position 
 is very different from what it was during the early days of 
 the British administration. The revenue reaHzed during the 
 year 1915-16, exclusive of the grant-in-aid, is shown in the 
 published estimates to have been no less than £363,692, and 
 the expenditure, exclusive of the Turkish " debt charge " 
 
 • Mr. Fairfield's Report, 18S2. — Parliamentary Paper C. 3G61,
 
 TAXATION AND FINANCE 93 
 
 and the sums expended from surplus balances, to have been 
 £275,484. Adding to these figures the "debt charge" and the 
 Imperial grant-in-aid, we find that the total revenue amounted 
 to £413,692, and the total expenditure to £368,283, leaving 
 a surplus for the year of £45,409. 
 
 The fixed annual grant-in-aid has been an inestimable boon 
 to Cyprus, and a careful husbanding of the finances of the 
 island, together with increased prosperity, has resulted in a 
 succession of handsome surpluses, which have been utilized 
 in carrying out a number of improvements. About five years 
 ago the system was adopted of introducing into the Legislative 
 Council a separate Appropriation Bill for the surplus balances. 
 The ordinary recurrent expenditure on administration was at 
 the same time reduced to the smallest possible figure, and any 
 surplus of revenue over expenditure was treated as a kind of 
 Development Fund to be used as far as possible for public 
 works of a reproductive nature and projects directly furthering 
 the progress of the island. With these surplus funds an exten- 
 sion of the Government railway has been made, a lighthouse 
 erected, a quay wall constructed at Limassol, roads improved 
 to fit them for motor traffic, bridges built, water supplies 
 improved, agricultural and re-afforestation schemes financed, 
 stock purchased for the Government Stock Farm, and a cam- 
 paign against malaria carried out on lines suggested by Sir 
 Ronald Ross, who visited Cyprus in 1913 to report on the 
 prevalence of the disease and the best means for its prevention. 
 The great benefit of this surplus fund is that projects of 
 this description can be carried out at times when a good harvest 
 and general prosperity bring in a large revenue, and can be 
 discontinued or omitted whenever the revenue falls, the 
 general administrative expenditure of the island being kept 
 down to a figure which can be met without difficulty even in 
 a bad year. Moreover, by the introduction into Council of a 
 separate Bill for the appropriation of surplus funds, the Elected 
 Members are placed in the position of exercising a real and 
 tangible control over their expenditure, for they can vote
 
 94 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 against any item of which they disapprove without embarrass- 
 ing Government, since the deletion of such an item from the 
 Bill would merely result in the particular project not being 
 carried out, and would be an entirely different thing from the 
 reduction of one of the items in the main Appropriation 
 Bill, which almost inevitably dislocates the administrative 
 machinery.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. 
 
 DURING the later years of the Turkish administration the 
 Governor was assisted by a Council on which various 
 sections of the population were represented. The Council met as 
 often as it was summoned by the Governor, and always once a 
 week ; its decisions were embodied in documents called masbutas, 
 which were signed by all the members present. To a good 
 Governor the Council never proved a hindrance ; to a bad one 
 it was an impediment to be overcome ; but it was no protection 
 against the evils of an inactive administration. It was useful 
 in giving the Governor, invariably a stranger to the island, the 
 benefit of local advice, and in obliging him to act in harmony 
 with the representatives of the country. 
 
 When the administration of the island was taken over by 
 Great Britain and a High Commissioner appointed, a some- 
 what similar procedure was followed, although the Coimcil 
 appointed to advise Sir Garnet Wolseley was actually less 
 representative than that which had existed imder the Turkish 
 figime. An Order by Her Majesty in Council dated September 
 14, 1878, estabUshed a Legislative Council consisting of 
 the High Commissioner and not less than four or more than 
 eight other public officers and persons in the island, to be 
 nominated under Her Majesty's sign-manual, one-half being 
 officials and the remainder non-officials, holding their seats 
 for two years. The High Commissioner was empowered with 
 the advice of the Council to make " such laws as might from 
 time to time be necessary for the peace, order, and good govern- 
 ment of the island." * Under the Turks the Governor's 
 
 * Correspondence respecting the Island of Cyprus. — Parliamentary 
 Paper C. 2229. 
 
 95
 
 96 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Council consisted of eight members beside himself, of whom at 
 least five, and sometimes six or seven, were natives of the 
 island. The first Council appointed on the British occupa- 
 tion consisted of seven members, four of whom were British 
 oihcials and the remaining three non-official members of 
 the community. 
 
 This nominated Legislative Council was, however, merely 
 temporary and provisional, and in 1882 an announcement was 
 made that Her Majesty's Government intended to establish 
 a Constitution under which the people of Cyprus should take 
 part, through their representatives, in the conduct of the 
 affairs of the island. It was proposed that the Legislative 
 Council should in future consist of twelve elected and six official 
 members, the former being divided between the Christian 
 and Moslem sections of the community in proportion to their 
 numbers as shown in the latest census, that is to say, nine 
 Christian and three Moslem representatives elected by the 
 Christian and Moslem voters respectively. In the despatch 
 by Lord Kimberley announcing this decision the following 
 significant words were used : — 
 
 " As the island of Cyprus is not part of the Queen's posses- 
 sions, but is administered by Her Majesty under a Treaty with 
 the Sultan, which is terminable in certain events, it is impos- 
 sible for the Queen to finally surrender any part of the powers 
 and responsibilities of Government. For this and other 
 reasons power will be reserved to Her Majesty to amend or 
 revoke the Instrument creating the Constitution if she thinks 
 fit."* 
 
 The announcement was hailed with delight by the Christian 
 section of the population, and the Archbishop despatched the 
 following telegram to the Colonial Office on March 23, 1882 : 
 " Au nom population Grecque ChypHote je prie voire Excellence 
 sonmettre aux pieds du trdne de sa Majeste sa profonde reconnais- 
 sance pour rialisation reformes sollicitees justifiant notre confiance 
 
 * Despatch from Earl Kimberley to Sir R. Biddulph, March lo, 1882, — 
 Parhamentary^Paper C. 3211.
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 97 
 
 sans borncs aiix sentiments jiistes et lihcraux da Goiivernement 
 Anglais." The Moslem community, however, received the 
 announcement with very different feelings, and their leaders 
 despatched three days later an indignant telegram to the 
 Secretary of State, declaring that their " ancient and present 
 privileges would be trodden under foot " by the proposed 
 arrangement, and concluding, " we absolutely object to same, 
 and beg to inform your Lordship that under the circumstances 
 shall not depute representation to said Council, and shall not 
 abstain in meantime from persistent application to all necessary 
 for protection of our rights." * The Moslem community con- 
 tended that their members in the Council should be equal in 
 number io the Christian members, and they followed up their 
 telegram by a long Memorial to Lord Kimberley setting forth 
 the grounds for their contention.! " Our forefathers," they 
 wrote, " occupied this island more than three hundred years 
 ago conformably with the established rules respected by all 
 nations, leavening and dyeing its soil with their own blood and 
 sacrificing their lives even for a handful of its earth. Ever 
 since that time we have been the ruling element ; and has it 
 ever been equitably proved that we have on any occasion exer- 
 cised tyranny or oppression towards our Christian compatriots ? 
 
 * Affairs of Cyprus. — Parliamentary Paper C. 3384. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 It is interesting to note that advocates of the system of Proportional 
 Representation have quoted with approval the Cyprus Constitution. Thus 
 the late Earl Grey in an article in the Nineteenth Century, wrote as follows : 
 " At the end of 1882 it was decided to give Cyprus representative institutions. 
 A legislative council was created in which there were twelve members to be 
 elected by the people. But the census taken in 1881 revealed the fact that 
 one-quarter of the people were Mahomedan and three-quarters non-Mahome- 
 dan. Now, wishing to secure fair representation, what did the Government 
 do ? Did they divide the island into twelve districts each returning one 
 member ? No ; they knew that such a course would be grossly unfair to the 
 Mahomedans, w^ho, although they were one-quarter of the whole, would be, 
 of course, out-voted in every constituency, and practically disfranchized. 
 So the Government decided that three of the members should be elected by 
 the Mahomedan and nine by the non-Mahomedan inhabitants. . . . Now 
 it is difficult to understand why, if it is desirable to secure the general repre- 
 sentation of the people of Cyprus, it should not be equally desirable to obtain 
 the general representation of the people of the United Kingdom." It should 
 be gratifying to the Cypriot to And his Constitution cited by a prominent 
 Englishman as a model which the United Kingdom would do well to follow I
 
 98 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 We are able to substantiate by many proofs that during the 
 long period in which we had the opportunity we have constantly 
 endeavoured to support goodwill and justice, holding all 
 classes on an equal footing in our proceedings without distinc- 
 tion of creed or faith, and to shield and protect the sufferers 
 from wrong. While at the time of the change of the adminis- 
 tration of the island we knew we were losing a Government 
 of our own faith we willingly submitted to Her Britannic 
 Majesty's rule, and took refuge under the equitableness and 
 graciousness of Her Government, so well known to the whole 
 world, without paying any attention and without attaching 
 the least importance to the constant incitement and instiga- 
 tions of our Christian compatriots. We have never raised 
 complaints against the Government under any pretext what- 
 ever, but have always been the first to accept and comply with 
 all the orders and inhibitions, whether of a heavy or light 
 nature, made by the Government, and have zealously applied 
 ourselves to the speedy observance and carrying out of the 
 same ; and this we believe is a fact well known to the central 
 authorities. Nevertheless, whilst we expected to be publicly 
 rewarded for our zealous services in the past, and especially 
 in consideration of our official rights above referred to, it is 
 proposed that the Greek community whose thoughts and inten- 
 tions of oppressing and vexing us are made manifest under all 
 circumstances, and in every one of their acts, who have con- 
 stantly made all sorts of complaints (against the Government), 
 and whose endless cries of ' We want the Hellenic Govern- 
 ment for our rulers,' are still echoing from the heights of heaven, 
 should all at once be granted a privilege which they have never 
 possessed in the past, and which they can claim on no ground 
 of present grievance. Our Christian compatriots would have 
 hardly expected to acquire the proposed privilege even after 
 the lapse of a thousand years had, God forbid, the island been 
 ceded to the Hellenic Government. Such being the case, can 
 this indulgence be considered justifiable or approved by the 
 world ?
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 99 
 
 " The Legislative Council, which is hereafter the basis of the 
 administration of the island, will ultimately become a prelude 
 to the independence which is the motto constantly repeated 
 by our Christian compatriots, and on which their designs and 
 acts are concentrated. According to our notion every com- 
 munity satisfied with what it is entitled to and cherishing no 
 ill-will or hostility (against others) should always feel happy 
 imder the protection of any equitable Government, and should 
 abstain from offensive conduct. . . . Even the Moslem 
 inhabitants of Her Majesty's Indian possessions, who constitute 
 forty to fifty millions of the population, do not enjoy a similar 
 franchise. The vast region of Anatolia is full of Mahomedans, 
 and its Christian inhabitants constitute so small a minority 
 as to admit of no comparison, but nevertheless they are, up 
 to the present, allowed an equal representation. 
 
 " Nicosia, the most advanced and richest town of the island, 
 contains a majority of Mahomedans over Christians. In fact, 
 there are innumerable arguments to be advanced in our favour, 
 but we would consider it a want of proper respect on our part 
 to attempt to dictate to your Lordship, and we therefore close 
 our present memorial, as one of the representations alluded 
 to in our telegram, with the following : — 
 
 "We know perfectly well that Her Britannic Majesty's Govern- 
 ment make laws according to the capacity and requirements 
 of every place, and we once more desire to repeat that the 
 project of proportional representation in the Legislative 
 Council is in every respect detrimental to our rights and 
 destructive to the safety we now enjoy. We consequently 
 take the Hberty to solicit your Lordship to be pleased to amend 
 according to the principle respected ab antiquo the franchise 
 in question, which (in its proposed form) is incompatible with 
 local requirements, and which, if enforced, will absolutely 
 compel us all to leave the island for some other place. 
 
 " We shall anxiously await your Lordship's reply, as we must 
 prepare to carry out our painful resolution of leaving the 
 island as soon as possible, should we be obHged to do so."
 
 
 100 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Her Majesty's Government was not prepared, however, 
 to accede to the representations of the Moslem community, 
 or to modify the proposals previously made, and on November 
 30, 1882, an Order was made by Her Majesty's Council can- 
 celling the Order of September 14, 1878, and establishing a 
 Constitution on the lines already explained. The Constitu- 
 tion, with certain insignificant modifications subsequently 
 made, has remained in force ever since, and is briefly as 
 follows : — 
 
 There is a Legislative Council consisting of the High Com- 
 missioner and eighteen members, of whom twelve are elective 
 and six non-elective. The latter are " the persons for the time 
 being discharging the duties of such public offices in Cyprus 
 as shall from time to time be designated by any instructions 
 under Her Majesty's sign-manual and signet (who shall be 
 styled ex-officio members)* and such other persons holding 
 for the time being public offices in Cyprus as may from time 
 to time be appointed by Her Majesty's sign-manual and signet, 
 through one of Her Principal Secretaries of State." Of the 
 twelve elective members, three are elected by the Mahomedan 
 and nine by the non-I\Iahomedan voters. For purposes of 
 election the island is divided into three areas, each returning 
 four members, one elected by the Mahomedan and three by 
 the non-Mahomedan voters. 
 
 Every male person, being either an Ottoman or British 
 subject, is entitled to be registered as a voter and to vote at 
 the election of members for his district, provided that he has 
 resided in the island not less than live years, has attained the 
 age of twenty-one years, and is a payer of any class of the taxes 
 called Veyghi (property tax), and has on or before January 13th 
 paid all Verghi payable by him up to that date. Every person 
 registered as a voter is eligible as a member of the Council for 
 his district, with the exception of judges of any court in the 
 
 * Royal Instructions designate the Chief Secretary to the Government, the 
 King's Advocate, and the Treasurer, as the three ex-officio members, and 
 the same three officials are usually appointed members of the Executive 
 Council.
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL loi 
 
 island, public contractors, uncertificated bankrupts, and persons 
 convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for 
 a term of not less than six months. 
 
 It is provided that a session shall be held once at least in 
 each year, the High Commissioner appointing by proclamation 
 the place and time of holding each session. The High Com- 
 missioner is empowered to prorogue or dissolve the Council 
 by proclamation whenever he thinks fit, and, unless the Council 
 be sooner dissolved, the elective members hold their seats 
 until the expiration of five years from the date of return of the 
 first writs at the last preceding general election ; at the expira- 
 tion of such five years it is provided that the High Commissioner 
 shall dissolve the Council. It is further provided that " a 
 general election shall be held within two months after a disso- 
 lution, and in case of a vacancy by death, resignation, or other- 
 wise, an election shall be held as soon as possible after the 
 vacancy occurs." No vote, resolution, or law for the appro- 
 priation of any part of the public revenue or for the imposition 
 of any tax or import may be proposed except by the High Com- 
 missioner or by his direction ; but with this exception any 
 member is at liberty to propose any question for debate in 
 the Council, and such questions, if seconded by any other 
 member, must be debated and disposed of according to the 
 standing Rules and Orders. Elective members have also the 
 right to put questions to the non-elective members on matters 
 of public concern affecting the administration of their several 
 departments. Either the English, Greek, or Turkish language 
 may be used in the debates of the Council, but in taking down 
 the Minutes, and in Bills laid before the Council, the Enghsh 
 language must be used, translations in Greek and Turkish being 
 appended to the Bills and Minutes when printed for the use of 
 Members. All questions proposed for debate are decided by 
 the majority of votes ; in case of an equality of votes the High 
 Commissioner has a casting vote, and in his absence the non- 
 elective member presiding has a casting vote in addition to 
 his original vote.
 
 102 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Whilst the power of legislation is thus entrusted to the High 
 Commissioner, who may " with the advice and consent of the 
 Legislative Council make all such laws as may from time to 
 time be necessary for the peace, order, and good government of 
 the island," full authority is " reserved to His Majesty, through 
 one of His Principal Secretaries of State, to disallow any such 
 laws in whole or part, and to make or establish from time to 
 time, with the advice of His Privy Council, all such laws as 
 may appear to him necessary for the peace, order, and good 
 government of the island." Any law made by the Legislative 
 Council and thus disallowed ceases to be of any force or effect 
 so soon as its disallowance is notified by proclamation. The 
 High Commissioner, on a law being presented to him for his 
 assent, may either declare that he assents to it, or that he 
 refuses his assent, or that he reserves it for the signification of 
 His Majesty's pleasure ; and no law can take effect until it 
 has been assented to by the High Commissioner in the name of 
 His Majesty and on his behalf, and been signed by him in 
 token of such assent. The High Commissioner may not assent 
 to any law by which any of the taxes, imports, or duties are 
 altered or discontinued, unless His Majesty's approval has been 
 previously signified. 
 
 Finally, certain sums are permanently charged on the Con- 
 solidated Revenue of the island, and are " payable to His 
 Majesty every year until it may be otherwise ordered by His 
 Majesty with the advice of His Prix^y Council." These 
 charges are : 
 
 (i) The amount of " tribute " payable to Turkey. 
 
 (2) The salary of the High Commissioner and a sum for 
 the expenses of his establishment. 
 
 (3) The salaries of the six official members of Council. 
 
 (4) The salaries of the judges and the necessary expenses 
 of the law courts. 
 
 In addition to the Legislative Council which thus meets once 
 a year (or oftener) in session in order to make laws for " the
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 103 
 
 peace, order, and good government of the island," including, 
 of course, the annual Appropriation Law, without which no 
 disbursement from public funds can take place, the High 
 Commissioner is assisted by an Executive Council consisting 
 of Government officials not exceeding four in number, 
 appointed by him in His Majesty's name under the Public 
 Seal. The High Commissioner may also appoint in similar 
 manner not more than three " additional members, " who may 
 be " any fit persons residing in the island " ; the latter may 
 or may not be summoned to meetings of the Executive Council. 
 The Executive Council cannot proceed to the despatch of 
 business unless summoned by the High Commissioner, or unless 
 at least two members exclusive of the High Commissioner 
 or of the member presiding be present. It is purely of an 
 advisory character, for the High Commissioner is alone entitled 
 to submit questions to it for advice and decision, and is 
 expressly empowered to act in opposition to the advice given 
 by the members should he deem it right to do so ; but in every 
 such case he must report the matter fully to His Majesty 
 through the Secretary of State at the first convenient oppor- 
 tunity, with the grounds and reasons for his action. Exact 
 Minutes of the proceedings of the Council have to be kept, 
 and a copy forwarded at the close of each half year to the Secre- 
 tary of State. When a sentence of death is passed by any court 
 in the island, a report by the presiding judge is sent to the High 
 Commissioner, who refers it for consideration to the Executive 
 Council ; and the High Commissioner may not pardon or 
 reprieve any such offence unless after receiving the advice of 
 the Executive Council it appears to him expedient to do so. 
 He is expressly directed, however, in all such cases to decide 
 according to his own deliberate judgment, whether the members 
 of the Executive Coimcil concur or not. 
 
 Many laws contain provisions which empower " the High 
 Commissioner in Council " to make regulations or orders, and 
 in such cases it is necessary that the matter shall be discussed 
 in Executive Council, and an " Order in Council " be made and
 
 104 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 published. Otherwise the High Commissioner is free to decide 
 the matter on which he will consult his Executive Council, 
 being guided only by the following instructions : 
 
 " In the execution of the powers and authorities committed 
 to the High Commissioner ... he shall in all cases consult 
 with the Executive Council, excepting only in cases w^hich may 
 be of such a nature that in his judgment would sustain material 
 prejudice by consulting the Council thereupon, or when matters 
 to be decided shall be too unimportant to require their advice, 
 or too urgent to admit of their advice being given by the time 
 within which it may be necessary for him to act in respect of 
 any such matters." 
 
 It is obvious that the views taken as to the importance or 
 unimportance of questions which arise for decision will vary 
 considerably in accordance with the personality of the High 
 Commissioner for the time being, and the clause has been inter- 
 preted very differently at different times, and in all probability 
 was loosely drafted in order to give a wide latitude to the 
 official charged with the responsibility of carrying out the 
 administration of the island. 
 
 Having thus sketched the Constitution of the island, which 
 has been, with insignificant changes, in force since 1882, it 
 becomes necessary to examine its practical working. With 
 the Executive Council it is unnecessary to deal : its constitu- 
 tion and the rules governing its proceedings are similar to those 
 of many British Colonies, and the only remark which need be 
 made in passing is that the appointment of additional members 
 from amongst the non-official population affords the High 
 Commissioner an admirable opportunity of obtaining the 
 advice of the non-official element. The proceedings of the 
 Council are confidential ; hence there is no incentive to play 
 to the gallery, and the additional members are free to express 
 themselves in a manner which they might find extremely 
 difficult in the Legislative Council, where their speeches are 
 reported and published in the local papers. The provision 
 empowering the High Commissioner to summon additional
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 105 
 
 members to the meetings of the Executive Council has been 
 made use of to a very varying degree by different High Commis- 
 sioners. Some, during their five or six years' tenure of office, 
 have rarely summoned the additional members — possibly only 
 once or twice a year — and then only to discuss some 
 comparatively unimportant matter. Other High Commis- 
 sioners have boldly " called to their Councils " the additional 
 members, and referred to them not only questions relating 
 to education, agriculture, municipal and village administra- 
 tion, etc., but matters of finance, racial questions, and other 
 grave matters of policy. It is indeed a matter for considera- 
 tion whether a frequent discussion of such matters with the 
 additional members of the Executive Council does not consti- 
 tute the best method of enabling the High Commissioner to 
 keep in touch with the people, and of giving the latter's repre- 
 sentatives a share in the government of the island. It is true 
 that in the Executive Council they can only advise and cannot 
 otherwise exert any direct influence in the conduct of affairs ; 
 but it is precisely in this respect that they can be of the best 
 ser\dce to the island, and of most assistance to those entrusted 
 with the responsibility for the welfare of its inhabitants. 
 
 It will have been observed that in the Constitution of the 
 Legislative Council the elected members outnumber the non- 
 elective or official members by two to one. This arrangement 
 produces a very curious situation, for the Executive Govern- 
 ment can only count on six votes in a Council of eighteen 
 members, and may therefore be out- voted at any time. In 
 practically every one of the British Crown Colonies the Con- 
 stitution provides for an official majority, for the obvious 
 reason that there can be no alternative government, and the 
 defeat of an important Government measure in the Council 
 would result merely in a deadlock. The only explanation 
 of the situation created by the Cyprus Constitution would 
 appear to be that when the Constitution was passed considera- 
 tion was given to the fact that the three Turkish members r 
 were unlikely ever to combine with the nine Greek members
 
 io6 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 to defeat the local Government on any really important issue, 
 and that their votes would be cast with those of the six official 
 members and produce an equality of votes with those of the 
 nine Greek members, the casting vote of the High Commis- 
 sioner or presiding official deciding the issue. That this has 
 proved to be the case is shown by the fact that the local Govern- 
 ment has been able to carry on its functions for thirty-five 
 years ; but the obstacles which it has had to surmount have 
 at times been formidable, and once at least a complete dead- 
 lock has only been overcome by the exercise of the power 
 reserved to His Majesty in Council to legislate over the heads 
 of the Cyprus Legislative Council. 
 
 Whether it is wise to rely on the permanent hostiHty between 
 two sections of the population to carry into effect the pohcy 
 of the Government is a matter of opinion. It has been urged 
 with some show of justice and considerable force that such a 
 balancing of votes must tend to keep alive the racial animosity 
 that naturally exists in an island inhabited by a mixed Christian 
 and Moslem population ; and that it is beneath the dignity 
 of a Government to rely on the support of a small minority to 
 pass such measures as it may think necessary for the " peace, 
 order, and good government " of the people entrusted to its 
 care. 
 
 The situation created has always been a cause of consider- 
 able dissatisfaction amongst the Greek elected members, who 
 have from time to time been loud in their denunciation of 
 what they call " stiffing the voice of the majority of the inhabit- 
 ants." In the year 1888, six years after the grant of the Con- 
 stitution, as has already been recorded, the Council by a 
 majority of votes reduced some of the figures in the Appropria- 
 tion Bill providing for the expenditure of the year, and it 
 was necessary for His Majesty to pass Imperial Orders in 
 Council to give legislative sanction for the necessary expendi- 
 ture. In 1911 the Council made reductions in certain items 
 of the Appropriation Bill as presented to them, basing their 
 action on what they considered the unnecessarily high salaries
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 107 
 
 paid to certain British officials and the high percentage of 
 British officials employed on the Government railway. The 
 reductions thus made would have rendered administration 
 impracticable : payments were therefore made as usual, 
 and the excess thereby caused was embodied in a Supple- 
 mentary Appropriation Bill presented to the Council the 
 following year, which would certainly have been opposed by 
 the Greek deputies had they not, previous to its introduction, 
 elected to resign their seats in a body to mark their disapproval 
 of the attitude adopted towards certain representations made 
 by them to the Secretary of State, leaving the official and 
 Turkish members to pass such legislative measures as they 
 thought fit.* The right of Her Majesty to legislate by Order 
 in Council was exercised in 1888, because, in Lord Knutsford's 
 words, " the threatened destruction of the efficiency of the 
 Chief Secretary's Office, the threatened release of the Zaptiehs 
 from the control of their English officers, and the threatened 
 breaking of faith with a number of public servants, appear 
 to me to constitute such a special emergency as was contem- 
 plated by Lord Kimberley " ; and the Order supplemented the 
 Appropriation law of the year, "so as to make up the total 
 under each head to the amount which may be necessary in 
 order to provide the sums requisite to pay all the salaries and 
 allowances to which the public faith is pledged, or which 
 cannot be omitted without detriment to the public service." 
 Lord Knutsford concluded his despatch announcing this deci- 
 sion with the following words : — 
 
 " With respect to the future, I will only say at present that 
 Her Majesty's Government could not regard with satisfaction 
 a renewal, year after year, of the mode of providing the expendi- 
 ture of the island, which is to be adopted this year, that is, 
 the passing by the Legislature of a law containing an inade- 
 quate provision, which is afterwards supplemented by an Order 
 
 • On this occasion one of the Greek deputies remarked excitedly, as 
 he left the Council Chamber, " Europe shall ring with this to-morrow ! " 
 It is characteristic of the Greek members that they consider the proceedings 
 of the Council to be of European interest and importance.
 
 lo8 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 made by Her Majesty in Council in the exercise of Her reserved 
 powers. If the Legislature were to display anew in coming 
 years the same disposition as in the present case, it would 
 become necessary for Her' Majesty's Government to recon- 
 sider the whole question of the Constitution of Cyprus. But 
 I am loth to beheve that the same line of action will be taken on 
 future occasions. I am confident that the Cypriot people and 
 their elected representatives value the privileges which they 
 enjoy, and I am perfectly willing to attribute to inexperience 
 and want of adequate consideration whatever I have had to 
 criticize as amiss in their recent proceedings. I do not yield 
 to them in anxiety for economy in the public expenditure, 
 and I hope that, gradually, measures of economy may be 
 devised, which, without unjustly sacrificing individuals or 
 public interests, will bring about much the same results as 
 would have been attained had the action of the Council during 
 the recent session taken immediate effect." 
 
 The agitation against the Constitution by the Greek element 
 {the Turks have always since their first protest been warm 
 supporters of it) has at various times assumed different forms, 
 but two demands are distinguishable, both having the same 
 object, viz., to hand over legislative power in the island to the 
 Greek elected members of Council. The first and most ambi- 
 tious demand was embodied in the Memorandum presented 
 by the Greek members to Mr. Churchill when he visited the 
 island in 1907. It ran as follows : 
 
 " We therefore beg to suggest : 
 
 " (i) That the Legislative Council henceforth consist 
 exclusively of elected members in proportion to the population 
 of the two predominant races of the island, the Government 
 being represented by the members of the Executive Council 
 {i.e. Chief Secretary, King's Advocate, and Receiver General) 
 who should, however, have no vote. 
 
 " (2) That the Legislative Council may be accorded full 
 liberty in the management generally of the interests of the 
 island — the restrictions embodied in the Order in Council of
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 109 
 
 the 6th of July, 1907, Clause 33, being removed — the Crown 
 reserving to itself the power of disallowance." 
 
 Such a preposterous claim, by which the whole power of 
 legislation would have been handed over to a non-official 
 electorate, the Executive Government being reduced to a mere 
 machine for carrying out such irresponsible mandates, was 
 easily dealt with, and Mr. Churchill replied as follows : 
 
 " In reviewing the proceedings of the Legislative Council, 
 it does not appear to me that the wishes of the representatives 
 of the people have suffered from any insufficiency of expres- 
 sion, or from any failure to shape or control legislation. I 
 have carefully examined and considered the Constitution of 
 the Government, and I fail to discern at present any way by 
 which the influence and power of the Greek elected members 
 could be increased which would not in fact involve a surrender 
 of sovereignty and an inability, not only on the part of the 
 British Government, but also on that of the Moslem minority, 
 to exercise any further influence on the course of affairs. It 
 may be that in the course of time such a way may be 
 discovered ; and though I do not see it now, I will not fail to 
 think about it." 
 
 A claim which was less contrary to common sense was 
 subsequently put forward by the Greek elected members, 
 who urged that the Greek element which, according to the 191 1 
 census, provided four-fifths of the population,* was inade- 
 quately represented in proportion to the Moslem element by 
 being allowed only nine members, whilst the Moslems had three, 
 and they claimed that their number should be increased to at 
 least twelve. To make such a concession would of course 
 have had the same result as had been involved in the previous 
 claim, viz., to give the Greek members a permanent 
 majority in the Council over both the elective and Moslem 
 members, and to reduce the local executive to a cipher. The 
 
 * Out of a total population of 273,964, the 191 1 census gave 216,310 
 as Greek speaking and 55,213 as Turkish, or a percentage of 79 and 20 respec- 
 tively. At the 1881 census the figures were 186,173, 160,541 and 46,449 
 respectively. ~"^ '^
 
 no CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Secretary of State was, however, prepared to meet the argu- 
 ments of the Memorialists by increasing the Greek members 
 from nine to eleven, making the proviso that the official 
 members should at the same time be augmented by a similar 
 number, thus preserving the balance ; but the offer was unani- 
 mously rejected by the Greek members, who thereby disclosed 
 the real object of their move. The aim of the Greek elected 
 members has undoubtedly been to obtain control of the finances 
 of the island ; how they would exercise this control has been 
 abundantly shown by their attitude in Council towards the 
 " tribute " and by the manner in which they have voted for 
 reductions in the amounts allocated to certain Departments, 
 explaining that these economies were to be obtained by 
 reducing the salaries or dispensing with the services of many 
 of the British officials. Their economies have had in fact a 
 barely disguised political basis, namely, the ehmination from 
 the administration of the English officials and their replacement 
 by Cypriots. One of the Greek deputies coined some years 
 ago the happy phrase " blue-blooded Englishmen " to desig- 
 nate the British officials, and this absurd appellation has since 
 been used again and again in debate by Greek members when 
 fulminating against the presence in the administration of 
 British officials, who were represented as " highly-paid " and 
 " expensive luxuries," though Cyprus salaries are notoriously 
 small. These endeavours to eliminate British officials by 
 reducing their salaries have always been hotly opposed by the 
 Turkish members, who are quite alive to the political conse- 
 quences involved, and are determined to contest to the last 
 any tendency towards Greek domination. 
 
 To a superficial observer the contention of the Greek 
 members that the passing of the annual Budget by the Council 
 is a farce, since their votes are defeated by the official hloc 
 supported by the Turkish members, may appear at first sight 
 to have some justification. But closer consideration will 
 show that this is a mistaken view of the situation. The Esti- 
 mates are prepared annually by the local executive and sent
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL iii 
 
 home to the Colonial Office ; they are there subjected to a 
 careful and minute scrutiny and are returned, either approved 
 in toto, or, after correspondence, with orders as to reductions 
 or alterations. When finally approved by the Secretary of 
 State they are printed and laid before the Council with the 
 Appropriation Bill, and the latter is then introduced, and if it 
 passes its first and second readings, is referred to a Committee 
 of the whole Council, in which every item is discussed, and 
 the total for each Department put to the vote. The elected 
 members thus have ample opportunity for discussing and 
 recording their opinions on every item proposed for expenditure, 
 and although it is true that the Executive Government resists, 
 and is bound to resist, any attempt to alter the figures which 
 it lays before the Council, the view is clearly erroneous that 
 the presentation before the latter of the annual Appropriation 
 Bill is a mere farce. 
 
 It is no doubt galling for a party commanding half the votes 
 in the Council to feel themselves in practice unable to alter a 
 single figure in the annual Estimates. They are incensed at 
 the sight of six overworked officials sitting in Council immersed 
 in their papers, to all appearances indifferent to the debate 
 raging around them, but voting together in accordance with 
 Government policy and usually supported by the Turkish 
 minority. But, as was recently stated in a discussion on 
 financial control in the House of Commons, " the whole diffi- 
 culty is to divide the control of financial poHcy pure and simple 
 from policy." * The fact is that it cannot be divided, and it 
 is idle for those who wish to control expenditure to say that 
 they do not wish to control policy. Finance is nothing but 
 the expression of policy. The fullest opportunities for criti- 
 cizing the financial and other measures of the Government 
 are accorded to all the elected members, and their wishes are 
 given every consideration. But they clearly cannot be placed 
 in a position which would enable them to force the Executive 
 to carry on its administration with funds which the latter 
 *Mr. Bonar Law, House of Commons, July 6, 1917.
 
 112 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 considers insufficient for its purpose, and as they cannot eject it 
 from office, there must be some means by which the Executive 
 can in the last resort carry its measures through in the face of 
 any opposition which may be brought to bear by the elected 
 members. An Imperial Order in Council provides the means, 
 but to invoke the aid of His Majesty and His Privy Council 
 to enable the High Commissioner of Cyprus to utilize funds 
 refused by the Legislative Council is to use a very large steam 
 hammer to crack a very small nut. There seems, in fact, 
 something wrong with an arrangement by which the Executive 
 Government of a small Mediterranean island is obliged to 
 submit its financial and other legislative measures to a Council 
 containing a two-to-one majority of elected members, a large 
 proportion of whom are actively and permanently hostile to 
 the Executive. 
 
 That the existing arrangement has worked for thirty-five 
 years proves that it is workable and no more. Many an 
 impoverished or incompetent manufacturer carries on his busi- 
 ness with defective machinery, but few would be found to argue 
 that the business would not be carried on more efficiently and 
 successfully if the defects were remedied and the machinery 
 repaired or replaced by better. The task of the local officials 
 in carrying their measures — particularly the annual Budget — 
 through the Council has been a difficult one, and only a sense 
 of humour has rescued them on occasions from sheer despair. 
 Many of the scenes enacted in the Cyprus Chamber would have 
 afforded excellent material for a Gilbert and Sullivan opera ; 
 but is it sound poHcy to set such a bark afloat as sailed from 
 Downing Street in 1882, obliged as best it could to weather 
 the storms that have from time to time assailed it ever since ? 
 It should be obvious that where only one government is 
 possible, where in fact there is representative and not respon- 
 sible government, the Executive must have the power inherent 
 in it of carrying its measures into execution. The conclusion 
 can hardly be avoided that it would have been better to have 
 given Cyprus from the outset a Constitution similar to that
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 113 
 
 enjoyed by most Crown Colonies, where the local Government 
 is in a permanent majority and the elected members of the 
 Legislative Chamber are recognized as being in an advisory 
 and not an executive position. 
 
 A Legislative Council consisting of eight members, four being 
 officials and the remainder elected, three by the Christian and 
 one by the Moslem voters, would, with the Chairman's casting 
 vote, secure an official majority and yet fulfil the principle of 
 allowing " the people of Cyprus to take part, through their 
 representatives, in the conduct of the affairs of the island."* 
 It must be remembered that in Cyprus three languages are 
 officially recognized, and every speech in the Council is neces- 
 sarily translated into two languages as it is delivered. This 
 renders the debates and proceedings of the Council exceedingly 
 tedious, and consumes a vast amount of time in mere transla- 
 tion. A Council consisting of eight members would transact 
 business more expeditiously than one consisting as at present 
 of eighteen, and there is no reason why it should prove any less 
 efficient or less useful as the channel by which the people are 
 enabled to take part in the affairs of the island. A reaction- 
 ary poHcy in Cyprus is far from being advocated, but the exist- 
 ing Constitution clearly possesses grave defects, and it should 
 not be beyond the powers of the Colonial Office to devise 
 some means by which these defects could be remedied without 
 taking from the people any of the rights and privileges which 
 they now enjoy of " electing representatives to assist in the 
 conduct of the affairs of the island." 
 
 ♦ Or if consideration were given to the contention of the Greek community 
 that the representatives should be in proportion to the numbers disclosed 
 by the 191 1 census, the Greeks might be given four menbers, the official 
 members being reduced to five instead of four, 
 
 H
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM. 
 
 WHEN Cyprus passed under British administration there 
 was in existence in each Kaza or district a court of law, 
 called a " Daavi " Court, presided over by a Cadi, with four 
 members, of whom two were ^loslems and two Christians. The 
 jurisdiction of these courts was Hmited to 5,000 piastres (about 
 £50) in civil cases, and three months' imprisonment in criminal 
 cases : but sentence in criminal cases could not be carried out 
 until it had been approved by the Kaimaikani (Governor) 
 of the Kaza. In addition to these District Courts there was 
 at the capital a court composed of a Cadi and six members, 
 half of whom were Moslems and the remainder Christians, 
 which acted as a court of appeal in civil cases, and in criminal 
 cases dealt with those in which punishment exceeded three 
 years' imprisonment ; whilst at the port of Larnaca there 
 was a Commercial Court, to deal with commercial cases. All 
 these courts administered the Ottoman law, as contained in the 
 Destur, or authorized edition, an excellent system of law 
 founded on the " Code Napoleon." 
 
 There were in addition a number of reUgious courts called 
 Mekheme-i-Sheri, administering Islamic laws for Moslems 
 only, in cases of marriage, divorce, probate, and such matters. 
 
 One of the first steps taken by the new administration was 
 to enact, in 1879, an Ordinance providing for the administration 
 of criminal and civil justice by setting up a High Court of 
 Justice consisting of the High Commissioner, a Judicial Com- 
 missioner, and Deputy Commissioners, having " jurisdiction, 
 both civil and criminal, over all persons and all cases other 
 than such as would have been under the sole jurisdiction and 
 
 114
 
 THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM 115 
 
 authority of the Ottoman Courts had the Cyprus Convention 
 not been made." * The law administered by this court was 
 the Statute Law of England, but the Daavi Courts were 
 maintained for the time being for dealing with ordinary cases 
 under the Ottoman law, where Ottoman subjects only were 
 concerned. These courts, however, were unsatisfactory 
 and their composition peculiar ; with the exception of the 
 presiding Cadis they consisted of persons elected by the people, 
 receiving a most inadequate salary ; and though some of them 
 had sufficient education and energy to study the laws which 
 they were invited to administer, these formed the exception 
 rather than the rule. As regards the Cadis themselves, their 
 education had been formed on the lines of Moslem religious 
 law, and the study of the Koran and of laws based upon it did 
 not fit them to administer efficiently laws based upon the tra- 
 ditions and experiences of Western civilization. Hence the 
 Cadis by their education and the other members by their lack 
 of it were ahke unfitted to administer the criminal and civil 
 law of the Nizam Courts. 
 
 In 1881 it was decided to introduce a new system to supersede 
 the temporary arrangements described. Briefly, the object 
 aimed at was to unify in principle the courts of the island whilst 
 maintaining a duphcate system of laws, foreign inhabitants 
 (including British subjects) being subject to the laws of England 
 as modified by local legislation, and Ottoman subjects, whether 
 Cypriot or others, to Ottoman law. " The principle which I 
 desire to see adopted," wrote Lord Kimberley, " is not to place 
 those persons who are not Ottoman subjects under the jurisdic- 
 tion of Cypriot judges, which would be impolitic if not unfair, 
 but to extend to Ottomans what I conceive will not fail to be 
 regarded as a boon in the present circumstances of Cyprus, 
 namely, the services of English judges in the adjudication of 
 their suits." f A High or Supreme Court was therefore to 
 
 * Ordinance of 1879 for the establishment of a High Court of Justice. — 
 Parliamentary Paper C. 2229. 
 
 t Despatch from the Earl of Kimberley to Sir R. Biddulph, July 29, 
 1881. — Parliamentary Paper C. 3091.
 
 Ii6 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 be instituted, consisting of two English judges, having juris- 
 diction over all cases, Ottoman or non-Ottoman, either original 
 or on appeal ; and District Courts, with limited civil and 
 criminal jurisdiction, each of which was to be presided over 
 by an English President, and to include for Ottoman cases 
 two Cypriot members, one a Christian and the other a Moslem, 
 but to consist for non-Ottoman cases of the President alone, 
 unless the defendant or accused should elect to have the case 
 tried by full court. 
 
 This scheme was embodied in the following year in a Cyprus 
 Courts of Justice Order, which, with certain subsequent modi- 
 fications, remains in force to-day. Besides the Supreme Court, 
 which sits in Nicosia, there is a District Court in each district 
 constituted as described above, with unlimited civil jurisdic- 
 tion, and with criminal jurisdiction up to three years' imprison- 
 ment. Assizes are held at stated times of the year in each of 
 the six principal towns of the island, the Assize Court consisting 
 of one or more judges of the Supreme Court, and either two or 
 more judges, or the President only, of the District Court. 
 Besides this, there is a Magisterial Court in each district for 
 the trial of criminal offences, consisting of the President of 
 the District Court sitting alone, or of two of the Ordinary 
 Judges sitting together without the President. For the trial 
 of small civil cases the island is further divided into sixteen 
 " judicial areas," to each of which a village judge is appointed, 
 either a Moslem or a Christian,* who has jurisdiction up to 
 such amount as may be determined by the High Commissioner ; 
 and to some of these judges has recently been given a very 
 limited jurisdiction in criminal cases. 
 
 The Annex to the Cyprus Convention provides that " a 
 Mussulman Religious Tribunal (Mekheme-i-Sheri) shall con- 
 tinue to exist in the island, which will take exclusive cogniz- 
 ance of religious matters, and of no others, concerning the 
 Mussulman population of the island." The old Sheri Courts 
 
 ♦ Except in six areas, where the President of the District Court or the two 
 ordinary judges sitting together hold full magisterial powers as village 
 judges.
 
 THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM 117 
 
 have, therefore, been maintained, and a Cadi is nominated 
 from Constantinople and appointed by the High Commissioner 
 as Cadi of Cyprus to preside over the Sheri Court of Nicosia, 
 where he has an official residence. The remaining three Cadis 
 are natives of the island, and reside in Nicosia, Larnaca, and 
 Limassol respectively. 
 
 The system, with its six District Courts, each consisting of 
 three judges, is an exceedingly cumbrous one for a small island 
 with only 270,000 inhabitants, and is very costly. The legal 
 vote at present amounts to close on £18,000 a year, and the 
 pension charges will be a very heavy item in a few years' time. 
 Nor can it be said that this large expenditure of money brings 
 justice within easy reach of all the inhabitants. Although 
 Magisterial Courts are occasionally held in places other than 
 the six principal towns, the great majority of criminal cases 
 are heard in the latter only, accused and witnesses being 
 brought in from the village where the offence has been 
 committed. This is not a serious matter in the case of import- 
 ant criminal offences, but it is the cause of great inconvenience 
 and even hardship in thousands of petty cases. Villagers 
 accused of some trifling offence, such as non-payment of a 
 Government tax or fine amounting to a few shillings, have 
 sometimes to be brought in two or three days' journey before 
 the case can be heard, the witnesses being obliged to travel the 
 same distance. The three judges of each District Court in 
 general perform all their work at the head-quarters of the 
 district, and are unable, except at rare intervals, and then only 
 for short periods, to visit outlying villages and hold magis- 
 terial courts there. Thus, although there are no less than 
 eighteen judges in the island, exclusive of the judges of the 
 Supreme Court and the ten village judges (who with one or 
 two exceptions hold only civil jurisdiction), criminal and 
 magisterial cases are in general heard only in six towns 
 throughout the island. Apart from the inconvenience which 
 such a situation causes, the expense entailed owing to the long 
 distances which witnesses are obliged to travel is considerable.
 
 ii8 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 and the necessity for introducing some system by which petty 
 magisterial cases could be heard in a number of centrally 
 situated villages is evident. 
 
 The whole present judicial system needs overhauling, It 
 may well have been the best that could be devised in 1882, 
 when Cyprus had just been taken over from Turkey and 
 communications were almost non-existent in the island, but it 
 is certainly capable of considerable improvement after thirty- 
 five years. Eighteen judges, with a total salary of over 
 £6,000 per annum, are practically tied to six large towns, each 
 of which, except one, is situated on the coast. It would not 
 be difficult to arrange a system which would do away with 
 the necessity for villagers travelling forty or fifty miles for the 
 hearing of some trifling magisterial case. It is true that lock- 
 ups would have to be provided in a number of villages, but 
 police-stations are scattered all over the island, and of the 
 various difficulties which exist not one is incapable of solution 
 were the main principle definitely decided upon. 
 
 The decision of the Secretary of State that the Presidents of 
 the six District Courts should be Englishmen has been the cause 
 of many representations by Greek ]\Iembers (who are almost 
 invariably advocates) in the Legislative Council and elsewhere. 
 It is not so much a question of prestige (or what Greek deputies 
 are accustomed to call amour propre) as of salary. The 
 Presidents of District Courts receive salaries varying from ;£5oo 
 to £800 a year, whereas the salaries of the Ordinary Judges 
 (as the Cypriot members of the courts are called) vary from 
 £250 to £275, and were a few years ago considerably smaller. 
 A large number of educated Cypriots now study law in Athens, 
 Paris, London, and elsewhere, and return to Cyprus after taking 
 their degrees ; many of them have a large practice and make a 
 considerable income from their profession. Obviously the 
 Government cannot expect to attract the best advocates to 
 the bench so long as the highest post to which they can aspire 
 is an Ordinary Judgeship at a salary of £275 a year — a salary 
 hardly sufficient to enable them to live and bring up their
 
 THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM 119 
 
 families in a manner suitable to their position. Yet the diffi- 
 culty is not really one of pounds, shillings, and pence, but a 
 political one. It arises chiefly from the racial animosity exist- 
 ing between the two elements of which the population of Cyprus 
 is composed. There is the further difficulty, alluded to in 
 Lord Kimber ley's despatch already quoted on page 115, that 
 foreign inhabitants (including British subjects) have a right 
 to be tried by District Court Presidents under the English 
 Statute Law. This difficulty might perhaps be overcome by 
 giving foreign inhabitants the right to be tried by the Supreme 
 Court ; but the other difficulty — also a racial one — cannot be 
 overcome without incurring a risk which may or may not be 
 justifiable. A somewhat similar situation has occurred in 
 India, in many parts of which racial animosities exist which 
 are no less bitter than those in Cyprus. Time will show how 
 far it is politic to move in Cyprus, but riots which occurred in 
 Limassol so recently as 1912, resulting in some bloodshed, show 
 that the feeling between the two elements of the population 
 is one with which it is necessary to reckon, and that caution 
 is required if the local government is to carry out successfully 
 its important duty of preserving law and order in the island. 
 One more representation by the Greek members of Council 
 deserves notice. The constitution of the Supreme Court has 
 frequently been challenged on the ground that two judges are 
 insufficient, and a demand has been made that a third should 
 be added, who should be a Cypriot. The matter was considered 
 when the constitution of the new courts was under discussion, 
 and Lord Kimberley then wrote : "I have decided to adhere 
 to the view . . . that the Supreme Court shall be composed 
 of two EngUsh judges, though, had the finances of the island 
 permitted it, I should have preferred a Court of three judges 
 for the purpose of appeals." * So long as the work of the 
 Supreme Court can be adequately performed by two judges 
 the appointment of a third would merely cause an additional 
 
 * Despatch from Lord Kimberley to Sir R. Biddulph, April 14, 1882. — 
 Parliamentary Paper C. 3384.
 
 120 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 and unnecessary expense to the taxpayer. If there is any 
 justification for the argument sometimes put forward that it 
 is inadvisable to constitute a Court of two judges only, on 
 account of the possibility of a difference of opinion arising 
 between them, there should be no difficulty in giving one of 
 the other judges in the island a temporary commission to act as 
 a judge of the Supreme Court, as is in fact done when one of the 
 Supreme Court judges is absent from the island. The number 
 of judges in Cyprus is already so large in comparison with 
 the population that the proposal to add yet another is unlikely 
 to receive much sympathy from those responsible for the 
 finances of the island ; nor would there seem to be any 
 adequate reason for acceding to such a demand, although the 
 addition to the Supreme Court of a Cypriot judge would not 
 on other grounds appear to present any insuperable obstacle.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 IT has been remarked that under the Turkish administration 
 no expenditure was made from public funds in respect of 
 education. But the statement requires modification, for a sum 
 of about £400 was in fact at the time of the British occupation 
 expended annually by the Turks from the revenues of the 
 island in the form of grants to certain schools. These grants 
 were, however, confined to Moslem schools, and no money 
 whatever was provided from public funds for the encourage- 
 ment of education amongst the non-Moslem population of 
 the island. The Christian schools were maintained and sup- 
 ported entirely by voluntary subscriptions by the Christian 
 inhabitants, supplemented by donations from Church funds 
 and monasteries. 
 
 The new administration lost no time in turning its attention 
 to the important subject of education, and Commissioners 
 were directed to enquire into and report upon the schools and 
 the system of education which they found in existence in their 
 districts. These reports, received in 1879, disclosed the exist- 
 ence of 140 schools, of which 76 were Christian and 64 Moslem. 
 In the latter the principal subject of instruction was the recita- 
 tion of the Koran, but the Christian schools gave a far more 
 liberal education, embracing in all cases arithmetic, geography, 
 and modem Greek. " These reports," wrote the Director of 
 Education in 1902, " written at the close of the first year of 
 the occupation of Cyprus by the British . . . call up a vivid 
 picture of the contrast between the two races : the Moslems, 
 conservative, contented with little, but with some organization ; 
 and the Christians, eager after some new thing and alive to 
 
 131
 
 122 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 the advantages of a liberal education, but hampered in their 
 schemes by want of proper arrangements to secure the working 
 of their schools, or even the payment of the salaries due to the 
 schoolmasters." * 
 
 In 1880, at the request of the High Commissioner, an inspec- 
 tion of a number of the schools in the island was undertaken 
 by an English clergyman, who had been sent out to Cyprus by 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at the time of 
 the British occupation and had taken a great interest in the 
 education of the people, and the report submitted by him was 
 enclosed in a despatch written by Sir R. Biddulph on July 22, 
 1880. f In this despatch Sir R. Biddulph strongly advocated 
 the formation of a training college in Cyprus imder an English 
 master with assistants acquainted with Turkish or Greek, 
 and qualified to teach EngUsh. " I am of opinion," he wrote, 
 " that a mere money grant to the existing schools will be pure 
 waste. ... It must be laid down as an axiom that the teach- 
 ing of the English language is the first step towards advance- 
 ment in the higher subjects, and I state this from no political 
 motive, but on purely educational grounds .... By teaching 
 them English we open to them the door to every species of 
 modern learning and advancement, for we shall thus give them 
 the means of access to every branch of human knowledge." 
 The inspection of the existing schools led to the discovery of 
 many grave defects, although the children were reported as 
 intelligent and quick to learn : there was a frequent change of 
 masters ; there was no system in their appointment, which was 
 " in many cases merely the result of a bargain between the 
 Church Committee and the cheapest person whom they could 
 find." 
 
 The result of these enquiries was the appointment in 1880 
 of an English Director of Education, and the establishment 
 under his immediate supervision of an EngHsh school in 
 Nicosia; and in the following year proposals were sent home 
 
 * The system of Education in Cyprus. — Parliamentary Paper 6656, 
 published in 1902. 
 
 t Parliamentary Paper C. 2930.
 
 EDUCATION 123 
 
 for the establishment of English schools in two other towns, 
 the provision of English teaching in existing native schools, 
 and the payment of Government grants-in-aid under certain 
 conditions to approved elementary schools. These proposals 
 were carefully considered, and the decision of the Secretary 
 of State was conveyed to the High Commissioner in an 
 important despatch, dated June 10, 1881.* In this despatch 
 Lord Kimberley, after expressing his appreciation of the efforts 
 already made by the inhabitants, in spite of the prevailing 
 poverty, to promote education, which he described as " highly 
 creditable to the various communities in the island," trusted 
 that the prospect of receiving some moderate though appreci- 
 able aid from the Government would stimulate these local 
 efforts. " The assistance of the Government," he continued, 
 " will, however, be rendered useless, and even injurious, if it 
 leads the communities to discontinue wholly or partially their 
 voluntary expenditure for the support of education. The 
 supervision and control which the Government could exercise 
 over the schools cannot be as effective as that which can be 
 exercised by local bodies directly interested in, and responsible 
 for, their efficiency." Lord Kimberley was unable to agree 
 with the High Commissioner's views as to the prominence to 
 be given to English teaching, the making of it the vehicle of 
 education, or " placing it as a language for general use in any 
 way on a level with the two ancient languages of the island." 
 " Considering the rich and varied literature of ancient Greece," 
 he wrote, " and the great progress which modem Greece has 
 made in the work of education since the war of independence, 
 it seems to me beyond a doubt that Greek, which is the lan- 
 guage of the majority of the inhabitants of Cyprus, regarded 
 as a vehicle of education, affords ample means, not only for 
 an ordinary education, but for the attainment of a high degree 
 of mental culture." f 
 
 The conclusion arrived at, therefore, was that the most 
 practical object to which the small available resources of the 
 
 * Parliamentary Paper C. 2930, p. 136. t Ibid.
 
 124 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Government could for the present be devoted was the improve- 
 ment of the country elementary schools. " I need not remind 
 you," wrote Lord Kimberley, " of the general reasons for 
 regarding the care of elementary education as one of the first 
 duties of a Government, but the condition of Cyprus appears 
 to me to present features which render this duty specially 
 imperative. Amongst the great mass of the inhabitants there 
 is an absence of any spirit of enterprise or industrial progress. 
 The methods and instruments of cultivation are rude and imper- 
 fect, no permanent agricultural improvements are attempted, 
 the means of internal communications are of the most primitive 
 character, and the inhabitants make no effort to preserve or 
 improve them, but in every affair look helplessly to the Govern- 
 ment, which, over-weighted as the finances are by the ' tribute ' 
 to the Porte, is not in a position to incur any considerable 
 expenditure to aid them. There can be no question that this 
 backwardness is in a great measure to be attributed to the 
 backwardness in education ; ordinary sanitary precautions 
 must be ascribed to the same cause. Besides, the Government 
 is impeded in its ordinary work and in efforts at reform by the 
 difficulty of finding educated men to fill subordinate posts in 
 the administration, and by the inability of the great body of 
 the people to understand and appreciate the aims of the 
 Government measures. It is therefore an object of the 
 highest importance to the welfare of the island that the 
 present elementary education should be greatly improved and 
 its advantage more widely diffused." * It was suggested that 
 a Board or Council of Education should be formed to advise 
 the Government on educational matters, and that the District 
 Councils should also interest themselves actively in the subject. 
 The present system of education in Cyprus is largely the 
 result of the proposals contained in the despatch just quoted. 
 The title of the Director of Education was changed to that of 
 " Inspector of Schools," and in February, 1881, a circular letter 
 was sent by the Government to every village in the island 
 
 * Parliamentary Paper C. 2930, p. 136.
 
 EDUCATION 125 
 
 setting forth the conditions on which grants-in-aid would be 
 paid to village schools. These conditions were, briefly, that 
 in every case where a grant was applied for, a School Committee 
 elected by the community, consisting of not less than three or 
 more than seven persons, should be formed, if not already in 
 existence, which should be responsible for collecting the sums 
 due for the schoolmaster's salary and other expenses, and for 
 appointing a suitable master. There was, unfortunately, at 
 first considerable reluctance on the part of the Greek 
 community to avail themselves of the assistance thus offered, 
 and it soon became apparent that the reluctance arose from a 
 misunderstanding as to the aims of the Government, The 
 Greek Orthodox Church in Cyprus has always shown itself 
 exceedingly suspicious of attempts on the part of other branches 
 of the Christian Church to interfere with its religious tenets. 
 This entirely unfounded suspicion was allayed to a great 
 extent by the creation of a Christian Board of Education, and 
 the relegation of the duties of the Government Department 
 connected with Education to inspection of the schools. 
 
 The system at present in force, which, with certain modifi- 
 cations, is identical with that introduced in 1882, has aimed at 
 grafting order and management, conforming to modern needs, 
 on to the original stock, leaving the actual control of the schools 
 in the hands of local committees in each village. It is briefly 
 as follows : — 
 
 In May of each year the villages which are to be compelled 
 to support a school during the ensuing school year (September 
 to July) are prescribed by notice in the Government Gazette. 
 The Village Committee in any village thus prescribed is elected 
 by the taxpaying inhabitants of the village every two years, 
 at a meeting summoned by the Mukhtar or headman. Its 
 duties are to appoint or dismiss the teacher, to fix his or her 
 salary, and to assess the sum required for salary and general 
 school maintenance among the resident taxpaying inhabit- 
 ants of the village, according to their means. These " school 
 fees " are afterwards collected by the Government Tax
 
 126 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Collector and paid into the District Treasury. Appeals from 
 decisions of the Village Committee lie, in certain cases, to the 
 District Committee, which is elected in each district by a 
 method of indirect election every two years by the villages 
 which support schools, the Commissioner being ex oficio 
 Chairman. Its duties are to supply any omissions of the 
 Village Committees ; to hear appeals from their decisions ; 
 and every year to submit to the Board of Education a list 
 showing the villages in its district which in its opinion should 
 be compelled to support schools during the ensuing school year. 
 
 Christian and Moslem schools are necessarily kept quite 
 distinct, and there are two Boards of Education, one Christian 
 and the other Moslem. They are chosen every two years and 
 consist of (i.) certain ex officio members of native communities ; 
 (ii.) a member elected by each District Committee ; (iii.) mem- 
 bers elected by the Legislative Council from among its own 
 members ; (iv.) the Chief Secretary to the Government, who is 
 ex officio Chairman. The Inspector of Schools is not a member 
 of either Board, but has a right to be present at its meetings 
 and to give his opinion whenever he is invited or wishes to 
 do so. The main functions of the Board are (i.) to advise 
 the High Commissioner, after a consideration of the recom- 
 mendation of the District Committees, what villages should be 
 prescribed to support schools during the year ; (ii.) to receive 
 and consider the reports of the Inspectors of Schools, and to 
 recommend to the Government the grant to be allowed to each 
 school ; (iii.) to prescribe the curriculum to be followed and 
 the books to be used in the schools ; (iv.) to hear appeals ; and 
 (v.) generally to deliberate on matters connected with education. 
 In practice the Boards of Education and the District Com- 
 mittees meet two or three times in each year with reference 
 to the distribution of grants, the prescription of schools, and 
 the appointment of teachers. 
 
 The curriculum in Christian schools is embodied in regula- 
 tions formulated by the Board of Education, which has drawn 
 up an analytical programme of the lessons to be taught in all
 
 EDUCATION 127 
 
 Christian public elementary schools in the island. The course 
 of lessons is prescribed with great exactness, the hours at which 
 each shall be given, and the method to be employed by the 
 master in teaching and questioning the pupils. The subjects 
 taught are religion, the Greek language, mathematics, natural 
 history and philosophy, history, geography, singing, cali- 
 graphy, and gymnastics. The full course lasts six years, and 
 pupils are not to be taken below the age of six. 
 
 The Inspector of Schools has a staff of Greek and Moslem 
 Inspectors, by whom all the schools in the island. Christian 
 and Moslem, are visited at least twice in the year. On the 
 reports furnished by the Inspectors, and on the monthly returns 
 which the teachers are required to render to the Inspector of 
 Schools, showing the average attendance of the pupils on the 
 rolls of their schools, is based the amount of the grant-in-aid 
 of each school, which is recommended to the Government 
 every six months by the Board of Education after considera- 
 tion of the sum proposed by the Inspector of Schools, 
 
 It will be seen that the elementary schools in Cyprus are 
 thus supported by local contributions assessed by Village School 
 Committees, supplemented by a system of Government grants- 
 in-aid. There are at present in existence 699 of these schools 
 with 865 teachers and 39,567 scholars, the average attendance 
 being estimated at 35,701, which works out at about 84 per 
 cent, in Moslem, and 92 per cent, in Christian schools.* 
 These schools are maintained at present at an expense of 
 £32,641, of which £24,446 is raised locally by assessments, 
 contributions from religious funds and individuals, and £8,195, 
 which is contributed by the Government. The Government 
 grant-in-aid is voted annually in the Budget, and is distributed 
 between Christian and Moslem schools in the proportion of 
 about four to one. In 1883 it was fixed at £2,000 per annum, 
 but it has since received various increases in order to provide for 
 the establishment of new schools and the increase in population. 
 The total amount voted in the Estimates for Education, 
 
 * Cyprus Annual Report for 1916-17. — Parliamentary Paper Cd, 8^3.^.
 
 128 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 including the cost of the Inspection Staff, was £1,429 in 1881 ; 
 in 1891 it had risen to ;^3,ooo ; in 1911 to £5,400 ; and 
 for the current year (1917-18) it has reached the figure of 
 
 Few subjects have formed the occasion for more Hvely 
 debates in the Legislative Council than education. Complaints 
 regarding the levying of " school fees " have been frequent, 
 and the system by which the assessment is left in the hands of 
 a few persons in each village, who are called upon to decide 
 the sum which each taxpaying inhabitant is able to pay, is 
 admittedly unsatisfactory, and leads to many accusations of 
 favouritism and unfairness. Elected members have again 
 and again demanded that " school fees " should be aboHshed 
 and the whole cost of elementary education defrayed from the 
 revenue, but they have failed to show how such a large increase 
 in expenditure could be met without the imposition of further 
 taxation. The Greek members, however, in making their 
 demands have repeatedly asserted that they will on no account 
 admit of teachers becoming Government servants, appointed 
 and dismissed by the Government, though this would be the 
 natural result of a change whereby the Government would be 
 forced to assume sole financial responsibility for elementary 
 education in the island. Prolonged correspondence on the 
 subject has taken place at various times between the Colonial 
 Office and the island Government. Until the year 1907 
 the sum voted annually in aid of elementary schools received 
 small increases each year, varying from £37 to £52, but in the 
 year 1907-1908 and the two succeeding years an annual increase 
 of £500 was granted. In 1910, however, the Secretary of State 
 decided not to sanction any further increase in the annual 
 grant-in-aid of elementary schools without a report from an 
 independent person on the state of education in the island. 
 The decision provoked a strong protest from the Greek Board 
 of Education, which put forward at the same time a formal 
 claim that the entire cost of teachers' salaries should be 
 defrayed from the Estimates.
 
 EDUCATION 129 
 
 Finally, in 1913, as a result of these discussions, two gentle- 
 men, lent for the purpose by the Board of Education in 
 England, were sent out to Cyprus by the Secretary of State 
 to consult with the local authorities and report generally on 
 the state of education in the island, and to make at the same 
 time suggestions regarding questions of administration and 
 finance. The investigation was carried out with great 
 thoroughness, and whilst certain defects in the present system 
 were pointed out, valuable suggestions were made for 
 remedying them and for placing the whole system on a more 
 satisfactory basis. 
 
 One of the main defects in the system of elementary educa- 
 tion in Cyprus brought to light by the report is that, while 
 the administrative control by the existing law is dis- 
 tributed among three popularly elected authorities, no one 
 of them is held explicitly responsible for the efficiency of 
 the teaching given in the schools. Further, the conclusion 
 was arrived at that there was a strong case for a substantial 
 increase in the amount devoted to public education out of 
 revenue. The teachers' salaries, varying from £10 to £84 
 per annum, were considered insufficient, and the average 
 palpably inadequate : the salaries are subject too to fluctua- 
 tions from year to year, owing to the peculiar method of 
 yearly appointments, common in the Levant, but manifestly 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 To remedy the chief defects the report put forward three 
 alternative schemes, besides making various suggestions 
 as to the training and classification of teachers, the establish- 
 ment of a system of pensions, limitation in the number of 
 pupils taught by any one teacher, and so forth. The first 
 alternative scheme was that the Government should pay the 
 whole cost of teachers' salaries, school furniture, books, etc., 
 and should appoint and dismiss the teachers in accordance 
 with conditions laid down in an authorized list, the curriculum 
 and choice of books being controlled by the Christian and 
 Moslem Boards of Education.
 
 130 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 The second alternative scheme was that the Government 
 should pay half the cost of teachers' salaries, and the whole 
 cost of school furniture, books, etc., the remaining half of 
 the teachers' salaries being met by local funds raised by a rate 
 on the immovable property in each community ; the Greek 
 Christian teachers to be appointed and dismissed, as at present, 
 by the Village Committee, but subject to confirmation by the 
 District Committees ; and the Government to have power to 
 make such deductions from the grants as it might think fit 
 on educational grounds. 
 
 The third alternative scheme was that a plebiscite should be 
 taken of the taxpaying inhabitants of each village to decide 
 whether they desired to accept the first or second alternative 
 scheme, a three-fourths majority being required to signify 
 acceptance. 
 
 The additional sum to be provided on the Estimates in case 
 of adoption of the first scheme was estimated to amount to 
 about £29,000, and of the second to about £12,000. 
 
 On its financial side the first alternative scheme would 
 more than meet the demands of those who claim that the cost 
 of teachers' salaries should be defrayed from general revenue ; 
 but the Greek members of Council have again and again 
 declared that they would sooner dispense with State aid alto- 
 gether than surrender to an alien Government the control 
 of the teachers, which, they assert, they have always possessed, 
 alike under Turkish and British rule, and which they deem to 
 be vital to their political aspirations. The objection to Govern- 
 ment control of the teachers on the part of the Greek com- 
 munity is, in fact, not reHgious, as they would like to have it 
 imagined, but political. This was clearly indicated by a frank 
 statement made to the authors of the report by the leader of 
 the Greek party in the Legislative Council at their last confer- 
 ence with the Greek Board of Education. " We cannot deny," 
 said this gentleman, "that school teachers are factors in the 
 country, socially and politically. No one could deny this, or 
 that the teachers have helped us in our controversies with the
 
 EDUCATION 131 
 
 Government. They have, for instance, helped to bring about 
 the reduction of the 'tribute ' to Turkey {sic), and there are 
 subjects in which we are still at variance with the Government. 
 They have in this way educated the people in fighting for their 
 political rights. The teachers in our hands are a weapon 
 difficult to fight against, and we don't want to hand them over 
 to the Government. If they were under the sway of the 
 Government some would resign, while others would feel timid, 
 and would not work for the support of the country." * 
 
 This quotation demonstrates very clearly the root difficulty 
 encountered by the British administration in deahng with 
 the educational problem in Cyprus, so far as the Greek popula- 
 tion is concerned. The Moslems have no religious or political 
 fears, and would willingly hand over complete control of their 
 teachers to the local Government, if thereby they could secure 
 better education for their children and a more equitable method 
 of raising the necessary funds. But with the Greeks bent on 
 utilizing the elementary school teachers for the advancement 
 of their propaganda for union with Greece and educating the 
 children throughout the island to look upon the cessation of 
 the British administration of Cyprus as their political ideal, 
 it is clear that a proposal that the whole payment of salaries 
 should be borne by the Government whilst the complete 
 control remains in the hands of local Greek authorities, is 
 inadmissible. As it is, the Greek elementary schools are used 
 largely for fostering the Hellenic idea ; there is hardly a school 
 in the island whose walls are not adorned with portraits of 
 the Greek royal family ; Greek flags are displayed on all occa- 
 sions, and Greek Independence Day celebrated every year 
 with great fervour ; Greek schoolmasters present florid 
 addresses to the High Commissioner when he visits their 
 villages, in which union with Greece is represented in flowing 
 periods as the predominant ideal filling the breasts of all the 
 villagers, and the school children are marshalled in an imposing 
 
 * Report on Education in Cyprus by Messrs. T. E. Talbot and F. W. 
 Cape. 1913.
 
 132 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 phalanx, and taught to shout in unison " Zeto Enosis " 
 (Long live Union), as the High Commissioner approaches. 
 What the leaders of the Greek community fear is that, if the 
 appointment and dismissal of school teachers were handed over 
 to the Government, an end would be put to all this propaganda, 
 and they would be deprived of " a weapon difficult to fight 
 against " upon which they rely to " help them in their con- 
 troversies with the Government." 
 
 The views held by the teachers themselves are difficult to 
 gauge, but there is evidence that, if left alone by political 
 agitators, they would welcome a change which, whilst placing 
 them under Government control would secure for them ade- 
 quate pay and some security of appointment, subject to an 
 efficient discharge of their scholastic duties and general good 
 behaviour. But such a change would require legislative sanc- 
 tion, and it is unlikely that the Greek members of Council 
 would consent to vote for a measure framed on these lines. 
 The second alternative scheme proposed in the report would 
 seem to be the best which could, under the circumstances, be 
 devised, and the most likely to command the assent of the 
 Legislative Council. In drafting the law care would have to 
 be exercised to ensure that, whatever proportion of the 
 teachers' salaries were paid by the Government, the latter 
 should have complete control of the money furnished by it. 
 Above all, it is essential that the grants paid by the Govern- 
 ment should be subject to such deduction, on educational 
 grounds, as the Education Department might think fit. This 
 condition is not only just in principle, but is obviously necessary 
 if the Education Department is to be held responsible for seeing 
 that the work of the schools is reasonably efficient. 
 
 The mode of assessing local contributions by means of a rate 
 on immovable property would do away with the present unsatis- 
 factory system of obliging the Village Committee to assess their 
 fellow-villagers by a mere guess at what they think they can 
 afford to pay. The system — common as it is in the Levant — 
 is highly unpopular both with the villagers and the Committees
 
 EDUCATION 133 
 
 themselves, and some less arbitrary method of assessment is 
 urgently required. 
 
 It would not be impossible by some readjustment of taxa- 
 tion to provide the additional sums which would be required 
 if any of the three alternative schemes were adopted. The 
 subject of elementary education is so important that no pains 
 should be spared to improve the present unsatisfactory condi- 
 tion of affairs. It would be unworthy of any administration 
 to shirk so important a problem merely because its solution is 
 found to involve grave difficulties. 
 
 The report of 19 13 was printed and laid before the members 
 of the Legislative Council for their consideration, but unfor- 
 tunately the outbreak of war in 1914 prevented any action 
 being taken to carry into effect any of its suggestions, although 
 pending some action the annual increase of £500 to the grant- 
 in-aid for elementary education has been sanctioned, and the 
 sum pro\ided for the current year amounts to £8,200. 
 
 As regards secondary education, this is not at present 
 directed or controlled by Government, and there is no inde- 
 pendent provision for the training of teachers apart from that 
 afforded in the higher classes of certain secondary schools in 
 Nicosia. The Moslems have, in the capital, an admirable insti- 
 tution called the Idadi School, which was, in the days before 
 the British occupation, controlled and supported by the 
 Turkish Government, and now receives an annual Government 
 grant of £384. It is controlled by a governing body, and the 
 course of instruction includes the Turkish language, Persian 
 and Arabic, English, and modern Greek. Mathematics are 
 taught on a modern and Western system, and history and 
 geography are included. No pupil is accepted below the age 
 of twelve, and the pupils remain at the school to the age of 
 seventeen or eighteen. 
 
 The Greeks possess, in the Cyprus Gymnasium, founded in 
 1893, by far the largest and most important of the- higher 
 educational institutions in the island. It is managed by a 
 committee of which the Archbishop is President and is
 
 134 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 supported by school fees paid by the pupils, by voluntary 
 contributions, especially from the Church and principal monas- 
 teries and by individuals, and by a levy on the amount assessed 
 in support of village elementary schools throughout the 
 island. It also receives a grant of ;^200 per annum from the 
 Government in consideration of the services rendered by it 
 in training masters for the elementary schools. The pro- 
 gramme of studies has been framed with a view to preparing 
 students for the University of Athens, and the course of instruc- 
 tion shows that the Greek Cypriots have realized more fully 
 than the Moslems the need of making the teachers proficient 
 in the more practical subjects of the elementary school curri- 
 culum. Modelled on the Cyprus Gymnasium are five " High 
 Schools " in the principal towns of the island, which provide 
 secondary education for boys who have passed through the 
 elementary schools. The report of 1913 pronounces strongly 
 in favour of the establishment by the Government of training 
 colleges, both Moslem and Christian, for elementary school 
 teachers, pending which it recommends that the Government 
 grant to the Gymnasium should be increased. 
 
 There is also in Nicosia an excellent institution known as 
 the " Enghsh School," estabHshed in 1900 on the fines of 
 an English Grammar School, with over one hundred pupils, 
 both boarders and day boys, representing every community 
 in the island, and attended by Enghsh, Turkish, Greek, 
 Armenian, Syrian, and other boys, including pupils from Egypt 
 and neighbouring countries. There is an excellent curriculum, 
 particular attention being given to modern languages and 
 commercial subjects, such as shorthand, typewriting, book- 
 keeping, etc. The usual English games are played keenly and 
 well, and a school magazine helps to maintain an admirable 
 esprit de corps. Boys are prepared for Enghsh public schools, 
 for the Beyrout College, for the Cyprus Government service, 
 and for commercial careers, and the school has already gained 
 in Cyprus and elsewhere in the Levant a high reputation for 
 the moral and intellectual qualities of its scholars.
 
 EDUCATION 135 
 
 There is great need for some means of instruction of the 
 Cypriot youth in agriculture and industrial subjects. Cyprus 
 is pre-eminently an agricultural country, and the science of 
 agriculture has in the past been sadly neglected, a fact to which 
 the backwardness of agriculture and the primitive methods by 
 which it is conducted bear eloquent witness. The establish- 
 ment by the Government in 1913 of an Agricultural College 
 in Nicosia marks an important departure from the old neglect 
 of agriculture, and an attempt has been made to encourage the 
 study of agriculture in the elementary schools by means of 
 school gardens, and by instituting a course in agriculture for 
 elementary school teachers at the college. The provision 
 of technical instruction for boys after leaving the elementary 
 schools, though a most desirable object, can hardly be under- 
 taken by Government, but the estabHshment of trade schools 
 in the large towns would be a fitting object for private munifi- 
 cence. Here they could be given a special training in the chief 
 trades of the locality, combined with some continuation of the 
 general education which they have received in elementary 
 schools. A belief that private munificence for such an object 
 may in time be forthcoming is warranted by the fact that a 
 public-spirited Cypriot has recently established in Cyprus, by 
 the generous gift of £16,000, a finely designed commercial 
 school, providing accommodation for thirty boarders and a 
 hundred day boys. There is no doubt that the importance of 
 education is fully realized by the Cypriots of all classes, 
 and legislative measures for improving the present system 
 should no longer be delayed.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FORESTS. 
 
 ^ I Tradition asserts that Cyprus was in former times a 
 -*• densely-wooded country, with forests stretching from the 
 interior to its very shores, and we read in Strabo that ' ' in ancient 
 times it was impossible to till the land on account of the quantity 
 and extent of wood." Yet at present the forests are confined 
 to the chain of hills in the south-west of the island, and even 
 here the more dense and better growth is restricted to the less 
 accessible parts of the loftier ranges and higher slopes. Few 
 sights are more depressing than the barren hills over which 
 the road from Larnaca to Nicosia runs, or the great expanse 
 of treeless plain traversed by the narrow-gauge railway con- 
 necting the port of Famagusta with the capital. The present 
 scarcity of trees as compared with former times is attributed 
 partly to the immense demands made on Cyprus in olden days 
 for timber for ship-building, and partly to the neglect of the 
 forests by the Turks during their three hundred years of 
 occupation. Certainly the Turks did little to prevent the 
 wholesale and wanton destruction of trees which was carried 
 out before the British occupation by the thriftless villagers. 
 "The Cypriot," wrote a visitor to the island in 1879, "will 
 fell a large pine for the sake of the base of five or six feet m 
 length that will afford him a wooden trough either for water 
 or to feed his pigs. A great number of the larger trees are cut 
 and partially scooped for four or five feet before their destruc- 
 tion is determined upon, as the carpenter wishes to prove the 
 quality of the heart. Many are rejected, and the operation 
 proceeds no further ; but the tree remains mutilated for ever. 
 Should a straight pole be required for any special purpose, a 
 large pine is found, and the tapered, pointed top is cut off to 
 a convenient length, the great spar being rejected and left to 
 decay on the ground." * 
 
 • " Cyprus as I Saw It in 1879," by Sir Samuel Baker. 
 136
 
 FORESTS 137 
 
 One of the first acts of the British administration was a 
 stringent provision against the felUng of any tree throughout 
 the island, or the cutting of any wood for the burning of char- 
 coal. But the mere enactment of a law is of no avail, unless 
 there is machinery for enforcing it. The Ottoman Government 
 had, five years before the British occupation of Cyprus, pro- 
 mulgated a Forest Law regulating the felHng and sale of wood, 
 and had appointed a Sub- Inspector to the charge of the forests 
 of Cyprus, with three guards to watch over them. After a 
 period of three years the services of the Sub-Inspector were 
 dispensed with, the guards alone remaining. These were 
 practically the sole agents available for enforcing the regula- 
 tions at the time of the British occupation. 
 
 The British administration lost no time in seeking expert 
 advice, and the services of an officer of the Indian Forest 
 Department were obtained in 1878 to inspect and report on 
 the forests in Cyprus. In his report, submitted early in 1879, 
 he recorded his opinion that the chief causes of the great reduc- 
 tion in forests which had evidently taken place in Cyprus were 
 the extension of vineyards, the absence of control and super- 
 vision which led to indiscriminate fellings, the prevalence of 
 fires caused by the carelessness of shepherds, and the wasteful 
 methods of extracting resin. He described the wanton manner 
 in which fellings had been carried on as " almost beyond beHef," 
 and characterized the establishment placed in charge of the 
 forests as utterly inadequate to protect the forests efficiently 
 " even if it had been their duty." The forest round Troodos 
 presented " a picture of the most wanton and unwarrantable 
 destruction. . . . One cannot imagine a more wasteful use 
 of timber," he wrote, " than this, when, to procure a small 
 trough which could easily be put together by four slabs of 
 planks of half-inch thickness, it is necessary to fell a pine tree 
 150 years old." * 
 
 Sir Garnet Wolseley, shortly after his arrival in Cyprus as 
 
 • Report by Mr. A. E. Wild oa the Forests in the Island of Cyprus, 
 1879. — Parliamentary Paper C. 2427.
 
 138 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 High Q)mmissioner, secured from Tasmania a number of seeds 
 of Eucalyptus glohuhis, and a contract was entered into with 
 a private firm for the planting of ten thousand of these trees 
 in and around Nicosia and Larnaca. But the most pressing 
 need was not so much the planting of fresh trees as the preser- 
 vation of those already in existence. With this end in view 
 a law was passed in 1881 providing for a delimitation of the 
 State forests in the island. Two years previously a member 
 of the French Forest Department, M. Madon, had been 
 appointed Principal Forest Officer, and had already put into 
 execution various measures for the conservation of existing 
 forests and the planting of fresh areas. " If care be not 
 taken," wrote Mr, Madon caustically, " the Mediterranean 
 will soon count one island less and one rock more." " A desert 
 has, in fact, replaced the ancient forest vegetation of Cyprus," 
 wrote another authority. 
 
 One of the greatest enemies to the forest in Cyprus is the 
 goat, and as early as 1881 M. Madon pointed out that it would 
 be useless to carry out any measure of planting unless some 
 remedy could be found against the damage done by this 
 destructive animal, which not only destroys freshly grown 
 plants, but browses on the young branches of older trees and 
 kills by its poisonous saliva what its teeth spare. Cyprus con- 
 tains more goats in proportion to its area and population 
 than any country in the world, the number at present in the 
 island being upwards of 250,000. " Unrestrained goat-grazing 
 and forests cannot exist together in the same place, any more 
 than a cat and a mouse in the same room," is the verdict of a 
 recent authority on Forestry.* It was, however, useless to 
 expect the Legislative Council to pass any drastic 
 measure for diminishing the number of goats in the island in 
 view of the dependence of the inhabitants on these animals for 
 certain necessary articles of food and raiment. f The delimi- 
 
 ♦ Report on Cyprus Forestry, by Mr. D. E. Hutchins, F.R.G.S. 1909. 
 
 t A law prohibiting the importation of goats into Cyprus and empowering 
 the High Commissioner under certain conditions to increase the tax on goats 
 was, however, passed in 1888, and has remained in force ever since.
 
 FORESTS 139 
 
 tation of the State forests, the regulation of the grazing of 
 animals therein, and the creation of an adequate staff of guards 
 to ensure obedience to the Forest Laws were the first and 
 most necessary steps that could be taken, and they were carried 
 out with expedition and a fair measure of success. 
 
 Conservation of existing forests is, however, an easier and 
 much less costly problem than the afforestation of fresh areas, 
 or the reafforestation of the older tracts. M. Madon had 
 proposed a programme of planting which was estimated to 
 cost £600,000, a sum quite beyond the resources of the island. 
 Yet circumstances existed which made some extension of the 
 forest area a highly desirable object. The rainfall of Cyprus 
 is small and variable, amounting on an average to about 
 twenty-three inches in the year, and it is confined almost 
 entirely to the winter months. The effect of forests is to retain, 
 for a time at least, a considerable portion — stated by some 
 authorities to be as much as one-third — of the water precipi- 
 tated on a given surface in the form of rain, and they have, 
 moreover, a profound effect on the climatic and meteorological 
 conditions of a country.* The need for the expenditure of 
 money on afforestation was brought to the notice of Mr. 
 Winston Churchill when he visited the island in 1907, and in 
 the following year the appropriation of a sum of £5,000 for 
 afforestation purposes was sanctioned, the following words 
 being used by the High Commissioner in a despatch to the 
 Secretary of State when putting forward the recommendation : 
 
 " The deplorable condition of the Cyprus forests and the 
 inability hitherto of the Island Government to do more than to 
 preserve as far as may be possible the remnant which has not 
 been destroyed, have been so frequently brought to the notice 
 of His Majesty's Government that no argument of mine is 
 needed to support the proposed appropriation of £5,000 for 
 
 ♦ The late Kiamal Pasha, more than once Grand Vizier of the Ottoman 
 Empire, a Cj'priot who was born and spent his youth in Nicosia (where he 
 died on his return in 19 13), remarked to the writer shortly before his death that 
 he noticed a great change in the climate of Nicosia, which he attributed to 
 the tree-planting which had taken place since the British occupation.
 
 140 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 afforestation purposes. The time has at last come when the 
 Island Government, after thirty years of enforced inactivity, 
 is placed in a position to undertake a work which perhaps more 
 than any other is calculated to restore Cyprus to the height 
 of her Mediaeval prosperity, and I apprehend with confidence 
 that His Majesty's Government will share the satisfaction 
 with which the local Government contemplates the oppor- 
 tunity now offered." * 
 
 Since these words were written considerable sums of money 
 have been devoted each year to tree-planting throughout the 
 island, and great progress has been made. The Principal 
 Forest Officer now has at his disposal a staff of two Inspectors, 
 five Forest Officers, and seventy Forest Guards, of whom twelve 
 are mounted men, whilst the total expenditure allowed to the 
 Forest Department for the current year f amounts to no less 
 than £35,643. The importance of the forests in Cyprus has 
 been brought into great prominence by the fact that for the 
 last three years, on account of the war, the importation of 
 timber from Asia Minor and Austria has ceased, and the island 
 has not only been obHged to obtain its supplies from its own 
 forests, but has exported large quantities of fire-wood to Egypt 
 for the use of the troops there. The forest revenue, which 
 in 1916 amounted to £17,600, is estimated to produce during 
 the current year f a sum of no less than £47,000, and there 
 is no reason to suppose that this will have a deleterious effect 
 on the resources of the forests. During the last ten years 
 roads have been constructed into hitherto inaccessible portions 
 of the pine forests in the hiUs occupying the western half of 
 the island, and saw-mills erected. These forests cover some 
 three hundred square miles, so that a rotation of a hundred 
 years would permit the cutting of three square miles each year : 
 with the two saw-mills at present at work, a third of a square 
 mile can be cut over each year, representing about ten thousand 
 cubic feet of timber per month. Eighteen more saw-mills, 
 
 ♦ Despatch from Sir Charles King-Harman to Lord Elgin, January lo 
 1908. — Parliamentary Paper C. 3996. 
 t Viz., the financial year 1917-18.
 
 FORESTS 141 
 
 would provide ninety thousand cubic feet of timber per month 
 and would just suffice to cut over the three square miles avail- 
 able. Reafforestation would, of course, be carried out simul- 
 taneously in the areas cut over, and the forests thus be pre- 
 served intact for futurity. 
 
 Finally, the difficult goat question has been attacked by 
 the passing in 1913 of an important law, designed to reduce the 
 number of goats in the island by excluding them altogether 
 from villages which elect to do so. On petition from a number 
 of the inhabitants of any village the High Commissioner is 
 authorized to order a ballot to be held amongst the taxpaying 
 inhabitants, and if the majority is in favour of the exclusion 
 of goats, the village is scheduled, and twelve months are given 
 for it to get rid of its goats. At the termination of this period 
 the Government is obliged to purchase at a price fixed by arbi- 
 tration any goat found within the village boundaries, and 
 henceforth any goat so found is confiscated. The obhgation 
 thus imposed on the Government involves a certain financial 
 liability which might at any time become inconvenient, but 
 no expenditure from pubhc funds on the purchase of goats has 
 so far proved necessary, as the owners of goats in scheduled 
 villages have hitherto always disposed of their animals before 
 the expiration of the prescribed period. The result of the 
 law has already proved highly satisfactory, goats being entirely 
 excluded, owing to its operation, from upwards of a hundred 
 village areas in the island, to the great benefit of the trees, 
 vineyards, and crops. In Greece and other neighbouring 
 countries which suffer from the goat evil the measure has 
 excited considerable interest, and it is by no means improbable 
 that it will be imitated. Should this prove the case Cyprus 
 will be entitled to the credit of having framed and put in force 
 legislation of a novel and original kind, enabling rural areas 
 to get rid of their goats by a system of local option without 
 having recourse to confiscation or oppressive measures against 
 the owners.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 AGRICULTURE. | 
 
 f 
 
 IT is much to be regretted that agriculture has not till late 
 years received in Cyprus anything like the attention which 
 has been bestowed on forestry. Cyprus is pre-eminently an 
 agricultural country, and the great majority of the inhabitants 
 depend entirely upon agriculture for their livehhood. The 
 soil of the Mesaoria plain is, to a depth of many feet, a rich 
 sandy loam, and the cereals of Cyprus enjoy a good reputation, 
 the barley especially being favourably reported on in England, 
 where it is said to be peculiarly suited for malting. In ancient 
 times the island was famed for its cotton, and even in mediaeval 
 times the plant was extensively cultivated, whilst as late as 
 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries large quantities 
 were exported. The Abbe Mariti, writing on Cyprus in 1767, 
 states : " Among natural products the chief is cotton, reckoned 
 the finest in the Levant for its whiteness, substance, and fength 
 of staple. . . . Barley throughout the island is of excellent 
 quality, and is chiefly sent through European merchants 
 to the coast of Spain." * 
 
 At the time of the British occupation the attention of the 
 authorities was chiefly devoted, so far as agriculture was 
 concerned, to combating the locust pest, which from year to 
 year devastated the island and caused great damage to the 
 crops. The Turks had by no means neglected the matter, 
 and one of the few able Governors of Cyprus, Said Pasha, had 
 done much to eradicate locusts from the island some years 
 before the occupation by instituting a system of purchasing 
 
 • ' ' Travels in the Island of Cyprus." Translated from the Italian of 
 Giovanni Mariti, by C. D. Cobham. 
 
 142
 
 AGRICULTURE 143 
 
 and destroying the eggs. A scheme was devised in later 
 years by an Itahan gentleman who was the owner of a large 
 landed estate in Cyprus. Observing that locusts in their march 
 never turned back, he arranged canvas cloths two feet in 
 breadth which were tied to small stakes, stuck into the ground, 
 and stretched across the march of the locusts on either side, at 
 an angle of about 135° ; to the top of the cloth was sewn three 
 inches of oil-cloth. At a distance of about one hundred feet 
 apart pits were dug five feet in length, three feet in depth, and 
 two and a half in breadth. After vainly trying to surmount 
 the cloth barrier the locusts fell into the pits, where they were 
 buried alive and destroyed in masses. 
 
 During the year 1880 much damage was done to the 
 crops in Cyprus by locusts, and the British administration 
 decided to carry out a vigorous campaign in the hope of ridding 
 the island altogether of the scourge. A sum of no less than 
 £27,250 was advanced by the Island Treasury for the purpose, 
 and in 1881 two laws were passed, one conferring on the High 
 Commissioner wide powers in respect of locust destruction, 
 and the other imposing special taxation to meet the cost. 
 The methods of purchasing locusts and their eggs and of con- 
 structing traps were both employed, and, owing to the vigorous 
 measures carried out, by the year 1884 the scourge was so far 
 abated that the campaigns of subsequent years were limited 
 to the purchase by Government of live locusts, which were 
 caught by sweeping the ground with nets each spring. The 
 costly system of purchasing locusts and their eggs has lately 
 been superseded, however, by a more scientific and less expen- 
 sive method, adopted from South Africa, by which the ground 
 on which the young locusts are hatched is sprayed with a 
 I solution of arsenite and soda and molasses, which destroys the 
 jl insects before they arrive at maturity. This method has 
 .reduced very considerably the expenses involved by the 
 j. destruction of locusts, and renders the continuation of 
 Especial taxation for the purpose unnecessary. 
 ''[ The locust pest was, however, by no means the only
 
 144 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 disability from which the agriculture of Cyprus suffered. 
 Periodic droughts and the absence of rainfall except during the 
 winter months presented serious problems which at once 
 invited the attention of the authorities. Various schemes were 
 put forward for improving the supply of water to the arable 
 lands, both by utilizing the existing streams and sources of 
 water, instead of allowing them to run to waste, and by artesian 
 well boring. The expense involved by such schemes was, 
 however, an insuperable barrier to their adoption, and it was 
 not till many years later that funds were made available for 
 the purpose. Some irrigation works were carried out in 1883, 
 but it was not till 1896 that any real system of irrigation could 
 be introduced. In that year a loan of £60,000 was granted by 
 the Colonial Office, and with this sum works were carried out, 
 under the superintendence of a capable engineer in the plains 
 of the Mesaoria, designed to form large reservoirs whence the 
 water could be distributed by channels and conduits to the 
 neighbouring districts. These works have not unfortunately 
 proved financially successful, and hardly pay their working 
 expenses, and the suggestion has even been made that they 
 should be abandoned. Better results have been obtained by 
 the introduction of air motors, which are now in common use 
 throughout the island. A system of conducting water by 
 means of a chain of wells, sunk about thirty feet apart, and 
 connected by an underground channel, has existed in Cyprus 
 for untold years, and is still in general use both for purposes 
 of irrigation and for providing the towns mth their water 
 supply. Various experiments in artesian well boring have 
 been carried out by Government in recent years, but so far 
 little success has been attained, although experts sent out from 
 time to time have reported favourably on the possibility of 
 obtaining water in this manner. 
 
 It must not be imagined that the Cypriot has been indif- 
 ferent to the need for a vigorous agricultural policy to develop 
 the resources of the island. Numerous proposals have been 
 made from time to time for the improvement in agriculture,
 
 AGRICULTURE 145 
 
 and a deputation which visited England in 1889 to lay before 
 the Secretary of State representations concerning the affairs 
 of the island put forward a number of proposals with this end 
 in view, such as the formation of an Agricultural Department, 
 the establishment of an Agricultural Bank, and the mainten- 
 ance of a model farm or farms. The Secretary of State in 
 reply stated that he was not then prepared to agree to the 
 establishment of an Agricultural Department, although he 
 considered that a small Board might well be constituted com- 
 posed partly of officials and partly of native gentlemen who 
 had paid special attention to agriculture, the duties of such 
 Board being partly advisory and partly executive. He 
 expressed himself not unfavourable to the principle of an Agri- 
 cultural Bank, although of opinion that the general revenue of 
 Cyprus could not be pledged for the interest and repayment of 
 the capital subscribed for such a bank. He signified his willing- 
 ness, however, to agree, if the Legislative Council so desired, 
 that the surplus of the locust taxes should be constituted a 
 special fund out of which a deficiency of interest, below an 
 agreed minimum, should be made good to the shareholders in 
 case the profits did not suffice for the purpose. As an alter- 
 native, however, he suggested that the surplus proceeds of the 
 locust taxes should be simply left as a fund in the hands of 
 the Government, and that from this fund loans might be made 
 to villages, or groups of villages, for accommodation-roads and 
 irrigation, and advances might be made on a small scale to 
 villagers to buy animals or implements or seed-corn. He did 
 not consider that any appreciable good would result from the 
 maintenance of model farms, even if they could be maintained 
 at a fair profit. " The example of what a Government with 
 the advantage of credit, resources, and intelligence could do," 
 he wrote, " would be of Httle practical value to an embarrassed 
 peasantry. And farms carried on at a loss would be useless, 
 for every farmer knows how to lose money in farming." * 
 
 * Despatch from Lord Knutsford to Sir Henry Bulwer, March 22, 
 1890. — Parliamentary Paper C. 6003. 
 
 K
 
 146 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 In spite of the recognized importance of agriculture, it was 
 not till many years later, however, that definite steps were 
 taken to encourage this vital industry. In 1903 a farm was 
 purchased by the Government close to Nicosia, and formed into 
 an experimental station under the charge of a practical agricul- 
 turist ; this was later converted into a stock-breeding estab- 
 lishment, where stock is reared and distributed over the island. 
 At the same time a Director of Agriculture was appointed 
 and a Board of Agriculture formed under the chairmanship 
 of the Chief Secretary to Government, of which the new 
 Director was a member. In 1904 Professor Wyndham 
 Dunstan, F.R.S., Director of the Imperial Institute in London, 
 visited Cyprus at the request of the Colonial Ofhce, to report 
 on the agricultural resources of the island, with special reference 
 to cotton. He reported favourably on the agricultural possi- 
 bilities of Cyprus, which, he declared, would, under a proper 
 system of irrigation, become " a splendid field of agricultural 
 enterprise." * He advocated the formation of an Agricultural 
 Department at whose head should be an ofhcer of experience 
 in agricultural teaching and research and fully conversant 
 with modern methods, with a staff consisting of a chemist 
 to conduct all analyses required, and a chief agricultural 
 adviser with three assistants, of whom one should have special 
 knowledge of botany, another of cotton growing, and the third 
 should be an entomologist. The principal business of the 
 Department would be, in his opinion, to conduct agricultural 
 experiments and to study native methods of agriculture 
 throughout the island, with a view to their improvement in 
 the light of modern knowledge. 
 
 Unfortunately poHtical considerations interfered with the 
 formation of an Agricultural Department on the lines advo- 
 cated by Professor Dunstan. The systematic experimental 
 work necessary to ascertain the possibilities of the soil and 
 acquire definite knowledge with regard to the agricultural 
 
 • " Report on the Agricultural Resources of Cyprus," by Professor 
 Wyndham Dunstan, F.R.S. 1905.
 
 AGRICULTURE 147 
 
 capabilities of the island could only be successfully under- 
 taken by an agriculturist thoroughly trained in modern 
 methods. " The requirement is not likely to be met," wrote 
 Professor Dunstan, " by the appointment of a Greek agricul- 
 turist as head of the Agricultural Department. Agriculture 
 in Greece is in a backward state, and the agricultural schools 
 of that country do not rank with our own, or with those of 
 other European nations." But he warmly approved of the 
 proposal to appoint a Greek agriculturist with Greek or Cypriot 
 assistants to travel in the island and instruct the natives in 
 matters of practical agriculture, and induce them, as far as 
 possible, to take advantage of modern methods, with which 
 they are little famiUar. 
 
 The Greek members of Council could hardly be expected to 
 endorse Professor Dunstan's views with regard to the qualifica- 
 tions of agriculturists trained in Greece, and they were bent 
 on obtaining a Greek as head of the new Department, and until 
 1910 the post was so filled. In that year, however, the Greek 
 Director of Agriculture resigned the post on account of ill- 
 health, and the appointment remained unfilled for some years ; 
 but in 1912 the services of a capable olhcial of Greek nation- 
 ality from the island of Crete were obtained as Inspector of 
 Agriculture, and a number of promising young Cypriots were 
 sent to Europe at Government expense about this time to 
 attend courses in France, Italy, Greece, and other countries 
 in agriculture, botany, viticulture, sericulture, entomology, and 
 other practical subjects. 
 
 As time goes on, the farmer all over the world is becoming 
 more and more dependent on the botanist, the chemist, and 
 the zoologist. He sows and reaps his crop each year, and 
 yet his mere empirical knowledge has long since proved inade- 
 quate. To meet the situation the Government decided in 
 1912 to establish at the capital an Agricultural College, and 
 a well-designed building was erected the following year, with 
 class room and laboratories, and instruction has since been 
 regularly given by members of the staff to some thirty lads.
 
 148 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 who come from all parts of the island. Government Nursery 
 Gardens have also been established in various places through- 
 out the island, and district overseers appointed to travel 
 about amongst the villages and advise the villagers on agri- 
 cultural matters. An agricultural chemist and an entomolo- 
 gist are attached to the staff of the director, and in the labora- 
 tories of which they have charge much useful work is carried 
 on. In short, a vast amount of leeway has been made up 
 during the last seven years, and the sum allocated to the Agri- 
 cultural Department now amounts to over ;^io,ooo per annum. 
 
 Besides cereals the most important products of Cyprus are 
 the carob bean, the grape, and the olive. Large quantities 
 of carob beans are exported every year to England for the 
 manufacture of cattle food, the total value of this export 
 amounting to nearly £250,000 per annum. The Agricultural 
 Department has done much useful work in investigating the 
 life-history of an insect which has in the past done much 
 damage to the carob trees in the island, and there is every 
 hope that in course of time the pest may be altogether eli- 
 minated. The vine-industry, which has suffered greatly from 
 the blight known as Oidium tiickeri, has been benefited by the 
 importation by Government of large quantities of sulphur, 
 which has been distributed in the island and sold to villagers 
 at cost price and applied by them to their vines in accordance 
 with instructions issued by the Department. 
 
 The export of live-stock from Cyprus to Egypt and elsewhere 
 forms one of the principal sources of revenue, and stock farms 
 established in various districts have done an incalculable amount 
 of good. Some valuable thoroughbred stallions and a number 
 of Devon bulls and milch cows were purchased and imported 
 from England in 1913, and accommodated at the Government 
 Stock Farm.* The result has been the introduction into the 
 
 * Two famous stallions were amongst the stock purchased in England 
 by the Cyprus Government at this time and imported into the island, viz., 
 Huckle-my-Buff, by Isinglass out of Snip by Donovan out of Isabel (dam of 
 St. Frusquin) ; and Timiraire^ by Greyleg out of Tereska by Isonomy out of 
 Violetta by Hermit.
 
 AGRICULTURE 149 
 
 island of first-class stock and the consequent improvement of 
 the existing stock. Hitherto the island has been famed 
 mostly for its mules, which are of an excellent stamp, not 
 inferior to those bred in Spain and Sicily. But horse and cattle 
 breeding have now received a considerable impetus from the 
 action of the Government, and in course of time Cyprus stock 
 will be in great demand in the Egyptian and other markets. 
 
 What is chiefly wanting in Cyprus, however, is capital to 
 enable the small farmer — who constitutes the bulk of the popu- 
 lation — to carry on and develop his business. Centuries of 
 oppression have left the people backward, thriftless, and unen- 
 terprising, and the wealth which has been slowly accumulat- 
 ing during the past forty years has tended to find its way into 
 the hands of the usurers, who are unscrupulous in their dealings 
 with the peasantry. Attempts have been made from time to 
 time to establish an Agricultural Bank, and proposals were 
 made, as has been seen, in 1889 with this object. A vivid 
 picture of the condition of the peasants is to be found in a 
 letter written to the Government in 1889 by a Cypriot gentle- 
 man residing in Limassol, when submitting a scheme for the 
 establishment of an Agricultural Bank. " When a peasant 
 wants money. ... he is compelled to have resource to the 
 usurer," wrote this gentleman, " who usually lends him 
 money with the following condition : — Interest to be twenty- 
 four per cent.; the payment to be made in kind, with a dis- 
 count of fifteen per cent, from the current price ; the interest 
 to be paid entirely, even if the ingathering of the produce is 
 approaching ; a juggling theft at the time the produce is 
 weighed ; and moreover when the entries are made in the book, 
 if the produce that is given to the peasant or credit is barley, 
 which is worth one piastre the kile it is put down at three 
 piastres ; if it is rice worth '^d. the oke, at 9^., and so forth in 
 the same proportion, the capital being also charged with 
 interest." * 
 
 * Letter from Mr. Pilivachi, August 22, 18S9.— Parliamentary Paper 
 C. 6003.
 
 150 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 In order to meet the necessity for providing some means of 
 obtaining small loans for agriculture and other industrial 
 purposes a law was passed by the Legislative Council in 1897 
 establishing a Public Loan Fund. A Board termed the Loan 
 Commissioners was set up and empowered to utilize certain 
 Government funds, including the surplus locust fund, for making 
 loans on approved security to the Government, to municipal 
 and village authorities, to bodies of not less than five persons 
 for agricultural or irrigation purposes, or under certain con- 
 ditions to individuals, at a rate of interest not exceeding seven 
 per cent. The Commissioners consisted of the High Commis- 
 sioner, the Chief Secretary, the Treasurer, the Director of 
 Agriculture, and four of the elected members of the Legislative 
 Council. Money was also to be advanced by the Commis- 
 sioners to the Treasurer for making loans of seed-corn to 
 indigent farmers, and by a law passed the following year seed- 
 corn loans might be repaid in kind the following year on the 
 threshing floor, with an addition of twenty-five per cent, by way 
 of interest, the apparently high rate of interest being justified 
 by the great risk run owing to the fluctuating price of corn. 
 The law has proved very useful, and a large number of peasants 
 are assisted every year by means of the seed-corn loans, 
 although the system has led to some abuse, and the loans have 
 become in many cases simply short cash loans, the corn being 
 converted into money, and not used as seed. The vast number 
 of applications for such loans, however, has proved how real 
 is the need amongst the poor agricultural population for short 
 loans even at a high rate of interest to save them from the 
 exactions of the grasping usurer, who is as common a feature 
 of village hfe in Cyprus as in India. Various demands have 
 been made to Government from time to time for the establish- 
 ment of Co-operative Societies on the well-known lines 
 adopted in Germany, Italy, and elsewhere, but it was not till 
 1913 that a law was passed providing for the establishment of 
 Agricultural Co-operative Societies of the Raffeisen type, that 
 is to say, with unlimited liability of all the members. A copy
 
 AGRICULTURE 151 
 
 of the law, to which Regulations were subsequently appended, 
 is to be found in the Appendix, and although the conservative 
 peasantry have so far been slow to avail themselves of its 
 provisions, there is every hope that it will eventually prove as 
 successful a means for rescuing the Cypriot from the grasp of 
 the usurer as similar measures have proved in India and else- 
 where. Once the principle of co-operation has been grasped 
 and the system learned, the law may be extended to other forms 
 of co-operation, but experience has shown that a modest 
 beginning is the safest method of introducing this most 
 successful incentive to thrift, and that the motto festina lente 
 is peculiarly applicable in this case. If the more intelUgent 
 members of the community could be induced to form a society 
 on the lines of the Agricultural Organization Society in Ireland 
 for promoting co-operation amongst the villagers, now that 
 Government has done its duty by enacting the necessary legis- 
 lation, agriculture in Cyprus should in a short time assume a 
 position which it is difficult to over-estimate. What the farmer 
 in Cyprus requires is, first, capital, secondly, some rudimentary 
 knowledge of the science of agriculture. Co-operative Credit 
 Societies should now enable him to procure the former, whilst 
 the Agricultural College and the Agricultural Department pro- 
 vide him with the latter. It only remains for him to avail 
 himself of the opportunities thus offered.
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 HARBOURS, RAILWAYS, AND COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 \T the time of the British occupation Cyprus possessed 
 -^^- no harbours, no raihvays, and only one road, twenty-six 
 miles in length, which connected the port of Larnaca with the 
 capital. At Larnaca itself there was nothing but an open 
 roadstead, sheltered to some extent to the north and east, 
 but otherwise so exposed that even in moderately rough 
 weather the landing of passengers and goods was difficult, 
 whilst in westerly and southerly gales it was impossible 
 without grave risk to life and property. Yet this was the port 
 through which practically the whole of the commerce of the 
 island passed. It was at Larnaca that the foreign consuls were 
 stationed and the shipping agents had their offices, and it 
 was here that the Turks maintained their Commercial Court. 
 A small portion of the commerce of the island passed through 
 the port of Limassol, also an open roadstead without any 
 adequate landing facilities, and exposed to the weather.* 
 
 In order to provide some landing accommodation at these 
 two places estimates were prepared in 1880 for the construc- 
 tion of iron piers, about six hundred feet in length, at which 
 lighters could land and discharge cargo, and these works in 
 due course were carried out. In recent years a further sum of 
 £27,000 has been expended in extending the pier at Larnaca 
 and providing it with a sheltering arm, but in rough weather 
 
 * Sir R. Biddulph, in a despatch of January lo, 1881, to Lord Kim- 
 berley, stated that "in 1879 the trade was carried on almost entirely at 
 the open roadsteads of Larnaca and Limassol." Of the imports, nearly 
 three-fourths came to Larnaca and nine-tenths of the remainder to Limassol ; 
 of the exports, nearly half were shipped at Larnaca and nearly three-fourths 
 of the remainder at Limassol. — Parliamentary Paper C. 2930. 
 
 152
 
 HARBOURS, RAILWAYS, AND COMMUNICATIONS 153 
 
 landing is still difficult, and steamers are obliged to lie some 
 distance out, as there is no safe anchorage close inshore. 
 
 It was clearly impossible, without the expenditure of large 
 sums of money, to provide accommodation at either of these 
 ports which would enable large vessels to lie alongside and 
 discharge their cargo direct, without the use of lighters. Atten- 
 tion was, therefore, directed to the remains of the ancient 
 harbour of Famagusta, which in Venetian times had been 
 the main port of Cyprus. The harbour is completely sheltered 
 from all winds, except those blowing from the north-east, and 
 as the east is not the prevailing wind no heavy sea is ever 
 experienced. A reef of rocks running north and south forms 
 a natural breakwater, and it was found that without any great 
 expenditure of money a commodious inner harbour could be 
 constructed which, by means of dredging, could be made to 
 accommodate vessels drawing twenty-eight feet of water ; these 
 could then lie alongside the wharf and discharge their cargoes 
 direct on the shore. An estimate was accordingly made in 
 188 1 by the Government engineer for the construction of a 
 breakwater, harbour, and quay wall at a cost of about 
 £140,000, and an alternative scheme more ambitious in design 
 was drawn up at the same time of which the estimated cost 
 amounted to £340,000, whilst a third alternative scheme, 
 providing for a harbour and quay wall only, at a cost of £50,000, 
 was also put forward. Cyprus had not then, however, at its 
 disposal the funds requisite for carrying into effect even the 
 most limited of these proposals, and Lord Kimberley wrote : 
 " I do not consider that the circumstances would justify an 
 application to ParUament to supply funds for the construction 
 of a commercial harbour, in addition to the heavy annual 
 charge which in the present financial position of the island must 
 be borne by the Imperial Treasury in aid of local revenue." * 
 The project was therefore abandoned for the time being, and 
 the commerce of the island continued to be conducted through 
 
 * Despatch from Lord Kimberley to Sir R. Biddulph, February 22, 
 X882. — Parliamentary Paper C. 3384,
 
 154 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 the medium of the two southern ports of Larnaca and Limassol 
 with their open roadsteads. 
 
 In 1895, however, on the appointment of Mr. Chamberlain 
 to the office of Secretary of State for the Colonies, with far- 
 reaching ideas as to the commercial development of the Crown 
 Colonies, the question of harbour facilities in Cyprus once more 
 came to the fore, and in 1899 a loan of £254,000 was granted 
 under the Colonial Loans Act, 1899, for the construction of a 
 harbour and quay at Famagusta, and a narrow-gauge railway 
 to connect that port with the capital. The work on the har- 
 bour was begun in 1903, and in the following year the con- 
 struction of a two feet six inch railway from the harbour to 
 Nicosia, a distance of thirty-six miles, was also put in hand. 
 The harbour works were completed in June, 1906, and the rail- 
 way, extended a further twenty-five miles to Morphou near 
 the western extremity of the Mesaoria plains, was opened for 
 traffic in 1907. The harbour is an excellent one, and was 
 described a few years ago by a naval authority as being capable 
 with a little further expenditure of being converted into the 
 best harbour of the Near East. Steamers of considerable 
 burden can lie alongside and discharge their cargo by means 
 of cranes on the quay, where it is loaded on the railway trucks 
 and transported into the interior of the island. 
 
 Whether it is, however, the extreme conservatism of the 
 Cypriot which makes him reluctant to abandon the old methods 
 to which he has been used for centuries, or whether it is external 
 causes which have militated against the success of the har- 
 bour and railway, the fact remains that until quite recently 
 the results of the enterprise have been disappointing. The 
 railway has until a few years ago not only failed to pay any 
 part of the interest or sinking fund on its capital expenditure, 
 but its receipts have not even sufficed to cover the working 
 expenses. The villagers have been indisposed to abandon the 
 old primitive methods of transporting their produce — and 
 themselves — in country carts and on camels, mules, and 
 donkeys, and have been content to gape at the passing train, as
 
 HARBOURS, RAILWAYS, AND COMMUNICATIONS 155 
 
 if it were intended to afford amusement rather than be of use. 
 With the exception of the weekly subsidized mail steamer 
 vessels have for the most part neglected to make Famagusta a 
 port of call, and have continued as before to confine their visits 
 to the open roadsteads at Larnaca and Limassol. The vested 
 interests of Larnaca also have proved too strong in spite of 
 the many facilities offered by the new harbour, and commerce 
 has tended to follow its old route and prefer the cumbrous 
 cartage on shore to the quick methods of discharge by lighter, 
 and ready methods suppHed by a harbour, quay, and railway. 
 Of late, however, matters have improved considerably. On 
 the outbreak of war the foreign lines which used to call at 
 the southern Cyprus ports on their way to and from the coast 
 of Syria ceased to visit the island, and practically the whole 
 commerce of Cyprus has been in the hands of the vessels 
 belonging to the line which holds the mail contract, and which 
 under its agreement call at all the ports. Commerce is 
 being gradually diverted to Famagusta, and the railway, whose 
 welfare is bound up with that port, has benefited accordingly. 
 An extension of about fifteen miles made in 1914 from Morphou 
 to the villages at the foot of the Troodos hills, following the 
 advice of a railway expert sent to the island in 1913, has 
 brought more traffic on to the line, and for the current year a 
 railway revenue of £18,000 is estimated, against an expenditure 
 of ;iri4,ooo, and there is no reason why further progress should 
 not be expected. 
 
 It has often been suggested that a coasting service round 
 Cyprus should be instituted, Famagusta being made the sole 
 port of call for the mail steamer connecting with Egypt. The 
 present mail contract, which expires shortly, provides for a 
 steamer of not less than 1,850 tons, steaming at a speed of not 
 less than twelve knots an hour, to convey mails, passengers, 
 and cargo between the ports of Alexandria and Port Said in 
 Egypt and Famagusta, Larnaca, Limassol, and Paphos in 
 Cyprus, according to a scheduled itinerary laid down in the 
 contract. The large number of ports of call involve numerous
 
 156 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 delays, although the arrangement satisfies to some extent 
 the requirements of the various localities. The ideal system 
 would be for a fast, well-equipped steamer to run between Port 
 Said and Famagusta, carrying passengers and perishable cargo, 
 whilst an additional steamer performed the round trip, visiting 
 all the ports and picking up and discharging cargo for and 
 from Egypt. The subsidy required under such an arrangement 
 would, however, at present be very heavy, and no considerable 
 departure from the present system seems practicable for 
 some time. The hill-station of Troodos, five thousand feet 
 above sea-level, situated amongst pine trees and enjoying a 
 cool, pure air in the hottest of summers, forms an admirable 
 sanatorium and a delightful resort for those who wish to avoid 
 the heat of an Egyptian summer. It is mainly the discomfort 
 of the journey, involving a sea- voyage of a day and a night in 
 a small steamer, followed by a hot, weary drive of thirty-five 
 miles up a steep, dusty road, that has prevented this ideal 
 resort from being more largely patronized than it has been. 
 Now that the railway has been extended to the foot of the 
 Troodos hills, and the road to the summit made suitable for 
 motor-cars, the journey from Egypt has lost much of its dis- 
 comfort, and improved sea communications would diminish 
 it still further. It is not too much to say that the future pros- 
 perity of the island depends largely on its communications with 
 Egypt. The latter country has advanced enormously in wealth 
 during recent years, and it forms a splendid market for the 
 produce of Cyprus. Egypt will take all the fruit, vegetables, 
 and live-stock which Cyprus can produce. 
 
 The cost of the latest extension of the railway was defrayed 
 from surplus revenues of the island, and the expenditure 
 is likely in time to prove a profitable investment. It has 
 brought the railway within a few miles of the asbestos mines 
 which are being worked by a private company on the slopes 
 of the Troodos hills. Hitherto all the machinery for these 
 mines has been landed at Limassol and transported by road in 
 country carts a distance of forty miles, whilst the output of
 
 HARBOURS, RAILWAYS, AND COMMUNICATIONS 157 
 
 the mines has been sent down by the same means to the same 
 port and shipped from there. When the war ends and normal 
 conditions are restored, the asbestos will in all probabiUty be 
 sent over the railway and shipped from Famagusta. The 
 oranges and other fruit which are grown in great quantities 
 in the adjacent valleys, and the timber from the forests, will 
 also follow the same route, and there is every prospect of so 
 large an increase of traffic that it may in the future prove 
 necessary to double-track the line. 
 
 A further development which will benefit the railway is 
 the recent grant of a mining lease to an American syndicate 
 to work some copper deposits close to the present terminus 
 of the railway. These deposits were worked by the Romans 
 and probably the Phoenicians before them, and there are traces 
 of their old shafts and galleries ; many old coins have been 
 found, and an interesting and almost perfectly preserved old 
 Roman ladder was recently found embedded in the soil. Most 
 of the more valuable ore has been worked out, but a large 
 deposit of low-grade ore exists, which contains certain valuable 
 by-products in addition to the copper. The problem of profit- 
 able working depends mainly on economy in transporting the 
 mineral to England, and in order to reduce the cost of trans- 
 portation to the lowest possible figure a light railway line has 
 been constructed from the mine to the nearest point on the 
 coast, where it is the intention of the company to construct 
 a pier from which the ore can be discharged direct from the 
 trucks into the ship's hold. The outbreak of war just as the 
 fine was being completed has unfortunately prevented the 
 export of mineral and suspended for the time being the work 
 of the company, but with the cessation of hostiUties an energetic 
 resumption of mining and the completion of the arrangements 
 for transportation may be expected. 
 
 With regard to interior communications, the twenty-six 
 miles of road which were all that existed in the island at the 
 time of the British occupation have now been increased to 
 nearly eight hundred, and in addition there are upward of
 
 158 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 a thousand miles of secondary roads, making a total of nearly 
 two thousand miles over which wheeled traffic is possible. 
 The eight hundred miles of main roads are maintained by 
 Government at an annual cost of £ii,ooo, whilst ;f 3,000 is 
 allotted each year for the improvement of the remaining roads, 
 which are maintained to a great extent by village labour 
 provided under a law passed in 1900, obliging every able-bodied 
 villager to give six days' labour annually to whatever road or 
 other work of public utility is decided upon by the Village 
 Committee or local authority. The island has, in fact, been 
 covered since the British occupation by a complete network 
 of roads, and more than two thousand bridges and culverts 
 have been constructed. 
 
 Of the main roads, over three hundred miles are already fit 
 for motor traffic in all weathers, and the remainder are being 
 rapidly improved. In 1911 a contract was entered into by 
 the Government with a private company for the conveyance of 
 mails daily between Nicosia, Larnaca, and Limassol by motor- 
 cars fitted for passenger accommodation, and by this means 
 the journey from Limassol to Nicosia, which had up till then 
 involved a long and tedious journey of some twelve hours in 
 a carriage, was reduced to one of about five hours. There is 
 no doubt that the development of motor traffic in the island 
 is the solution of a number of problems. The western district, 
 with its chief town of Paphos, has long felt itself cut off from 
 the rest of the island owing to the long distance — over a 
 hundred miles — which separates that town from the capital, 
 and the bad state of repair of the roads, parts of which during 
 the winter rains were almost impassable. A considerable sum 
 of money has recently been devoted by Government to improv- 
 ing the road between Limassol and Paphos. Several diver- 
 sions have been made to avoid the steep gradients with 
 their hairpin turns which existed in the old road, which was 
 merely constructed along the track of old foot-paths instead 
 of being properly laid out after a careful survey of the terrain. 
 A further sum of money has been devoted to the improvement
 
 HARBOURS, RAILWAYS, AND COMMUNICATIONS 159 
 
 of the road connecting Troodos with Limassol, which is being 
 converted into a well-graded and properly foundationed and 
 metalled highway, fit for rapid motor traffic in all weathers. 
 When these works have been completed, and the motor mail 
 service extended from Limassol to Paphos, thus enabUng 
 the journey between the latter town and Nicosia to be per- 
 formed with case in a day, the communications of the island 
 will be greatly improved, and commerce will receive a consider- 
 able impetus. 
 
 It is possible that a small branch of the railway running from 
 the neighbourhood of Famagusta to a point at the base of the 
 Carpas peninsula, and connecting with the road running to 
 the extremity of the peninsula (which would require improve- 
 ment, so as to fit it for motor transport) would be of material 
 advantage by enabhng the valuable produce of the Carpas 
 to be brought down cheaply and rapidly to the port of Fama- 
 gusta. At the same time the improvement of the road run- 
 ning along the north-western coast of the island, from Polls 
 to Morphou, so as to fit it for motor transport, would bring 
 the somewhat lonely and backward district which it traverses 
 into communication with the rest of the island, and act as a 
 feeder to the railway. These are projects which might well 
 be carried out with the surplus funds which are now becoming 
 available. If telegraphic and telephonic communication 
 within the island were at the same time extended and developed 
 Cyprus would be in a position to make the most of her 
 resources, and, with the large Egyptian market at her doors, 
 could hardly fail to make rapid progress in prosperity.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE HELLENIC IDEA. 
 
 ^ I ^HERE is a Greek word which figures very largely and is 
 -■- used with peculiar emphasis in many of the leading articles 
 which appear in the Greek newspapers published in Cyprus : it 
 is seldom omitted from the poUtical harangues which the Greek 
 C5^riot loves to deliver on every possible occasion : it is to 
 be heard in the Greek Orthodox churches, in the sermons 
 preached on the occasion of each national festival : clubs 
 endeavour to obtain members, and newspapers subscribers 
 by adopting the word as their official designation : and it is 
 to be found in practically every one of the many Memorials 
 which have been submitted from time to time by the leaders 
 of the Greek community in Cyprus either to the local or to the 
 Imperial Government. The word in question is " ENOSIS," 
 meaning " Union," and it is used to designate the poHtical 
 aspiration for the union of Cyprus with the Kingdom of Greece 
 which is professed by a large portion of the Christian popula- 
 tion of the island. 
 
 This political aspiration dates back from before the time of 
 the British occupation ; but it received a considerable impetus 
 from that event, since the Turkish domination was thereby 
 partially removed from the island. When Sir Garnet Wolseley 
 landed at Larnaca in 1878 he was waited upon by a Greek 
 deputation headed by the Archbishop, who, in the course of 
 an address welcoming him to the island, used these words : 
 " We accept the change of Government inasmuch as we trust 
 that Great Britain will help Cyprus, as it did the Ionian 
 Islands, to be united with Mother Greece, with which it is 
 nationally connected." In a Memorial presented to Mr. 
 
 160
 
 THE HELLENIC IDEA i6i 
 
 Winston Churchill when, as Under Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, he visited Cyprus in 1907, the Greek members of the 
 Legislative Council proclaimed their national aspirations in 
 the following words : 
 
 " The Cypriot people has solemnly declared its glorious 
 descent and strong national aspirations to the magnanimous 
 English nation from the first day of the British occupation 
 through the mouth of its highest ecclesiastical chief, and has 
 never ceased since declaring pubHcly on every occasion given 
 by various Memorials to the Home Government and through 
 its Representatives in the Legislative Council. 
 
 " In expressing this desire to-day with greatest joy and 
 sacred enthusiasm for the last time, as we venture to hope, 
 we must above all declare that the Cypriot people unhesi- 
 tatingly believes its realization as the only basis and 
 inexhaustible source of its true prosperity and as the only 
 final goal of its historical career, from which no interest and 
 no power either moral or material can ever possibly keep it 
 away. 
 
 " We confidently expect the realization of this desire as 
 soon as possible from the magnanimous English nation, which, 
 continuing its liberal traditions, as formerly in the Ionian 
 Islands, and adding another immortal page to its glorious 
 history, and attracting the eternal gratitude not only of the 
 people of Cyprus, but of all Hellenism all over the world, will 
 restore this island to whom it belongs, viz. : to the beloved 
 Mother Greece, in the bosom of which only will it enjoy the 
 blessings of Uberty on which every people has imprescriptible 
 rights, and especially a people by reason of descent, language, 
 religion, and civilization, forming as it does an integral part 
 of the immortal Greek race, which has born and promoted 
 civilization and developed humanity."* 
 
 On what grounds is this claim of a section of the community 
 based ? Neither on historical nor on geographical grounds 
 would there seem to be any real connection between Cyprus 
 
 * Correspondence relating to the Affairs of Cyprus. — C. 3396 (1908).
 
 i62 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 and modern Greece. A usually well-informed English news- 
 paper, dealing in 1912 with the question, which had come into 
 some temporary prominence owing to certain incidents which 
 had taken place in Cyprus, referred to it as the question of 
 " the return " of Cyprus to Greece. The expression is wholly 
 inaccurate, as will be seen from the historical sketch given in 
 Chapter II. Cj^rus has belonged in the past to Egypt, to 
 Persia, to Assyria, to Rome, to Venice, to Genoa, to the Otto- 
 man Empire, but never to Greece.- Nor can it, by the widest 
 stretch of imagination, be said to form geographically one of 
 the Greek islands. 
 
 On national grounds the case is stronger. The people 
 inhabiting the island when the Egyptians invaded and conquered 
 it, and when the Phoenicians colonized it, were, as has been 
 shown, in all probability of Javanian or Ionian origin, and 
 repeated immigrations from Greece took place before the 
 Christian era. The present Greek-speaking population is of 
 mixed blood, and contains in its veins the blood of all the 
 nations which from time to time conquered and colonized it. 
 But that the Greek element has proved by far the strongest 
 and most enduring is beyond doubt : the Greek tongue has 
 alone survived, and with it the Greek traditions have descended, 
 and have obliterated all others. The Greek-speaking inhabit- 
 ants have learnt through their language to venerate the 
 memory of ancient Greece and the glories of the Greek age, 
 and to regard themselves as the lineal descendants of the race 
 of heroes, philosophers and sculptors whose matchless con- 
 tribution to modern civilization is recognized by the whole 
 world. 
 
 That a people should be infused with ancient and noble tradi- 
 tions, and that its children should be educated to regard such 
 traditions as a precious heritage, is nothing but good ; ideals 
 are powerful factors in the development of the human race. 
 But national aspirations are wont at times to clash with political 
 realities, and the practical idealist is not infrequently obliged 
 to revise his ideaUsm in the light of material considerations.
 
 THE HELLENIC IDEA 163 
 
 Cyprus passed three hundred years ago to the Ottoman 
 Empire by right of conquest, and in handing over to Great 
 Britain, nearly forty years ago, the administration of the island, 
 Turkey in no way abrogated her sovereignty over it. England 
 was debarred by treaty obligations from tampering with the 
 rights of the Porte in respect of the island, even had she wished 
 to do so, and this was the unanswerable and consistent reply 
 to all the representations of the Greek-speaking community. 
 " I think it only natural," wrote Mr. Winston Churchill in 
 1907, " that the Cypriot people, who are of Greek descent, 
 should regard their incorporation with what may be called 
 their mother-country as an ideal to be earnestly, devoutly, 
 and fervently cherished. Such a feeling is an example of 
 the patriotic devotion which so nobly characterizes the Greek 
 nation ; and while I trust that those who feel so earnestly 
 themselves will not forget that they must show respect for the 
 similar feelings of others, I say that the views which have been 
 put forward are opinions which His Majesty's Government 
 do not refuse to regard with respect. On the other hand, the 
 opinion held by the Moslem population of the island, that the 
 British occupation of Cyprus should not lead to the dismember- 
 ment of the Ottoman Empire, and that the mission of Great 
 Britain in the Levant should not be to impair the sovereignty 
 of the Sultan, is one which His Majesty's Government are 
 equally bound to regard with respect." * 
 
 The annexation of the island by Great Britain on the out- 
 break of war with Turkey in 19 14 caused an important change 
 in the situation, and left England free to do with Cyprus what 
 she would. The following year Cyprus was offered to Greece 
 on certain conditions. The offer was refused, and lapsed. But 
 the incident showed that England was prepared to recognize 
 that on national grounds the claims put forward by the Greek- 
 speaking Cypriots that the island should be united with Greece 
 were not considered unjustifiable. Yet there remains the fact 
 that a^uartfr of^nepopulation of the island consists of Turks 
 
 * Correspondence relating to the Affairs of Cj'prus. — C. 3396 (1908).
 
 i64 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 who have been established there for centuries, who have owned 
 and tilled a large portion of the soil, and who have been con- 
 sistently loyal to the British regime ever since the occupation 
 in 1878, and who are bitterly hostile to the mere idea of becom- 
 ing subject to Greek domination. This minority has its rights, 
 and is entitled to a voice in the selection of the Government 
 under which it desires to live. The Turks in Cyprus have 
 repeatedly protested against any idea of handing the island 
 over to the Greek Government, and have declared that such an 
 action would " bring about their ruin." * They have resisted 
 in the Legislative Council and elsewhere any measure tending 
 in their opinion in the remotest or most indirect way to sub- 
 stitute Greek for British domination. The Greek community 
 has never denied the existence amongst the Turks in Cyprus 
 of the strongest feelings in regard to this matter, but they 
 assert that, since the Moslem element forms a comparatively 
 small portion of the population, it has no right to interfere with 
 the political aspirations of the majority. Their attitude is 
 expressed in the following words used in the Memorial to Mr. 
 Winston Churchill already quoted : — 
 
 " The recognition and fulfilment of the historical national 
 right of the Cyprus Hellenes, the small Mahomedan minority 
 might disapprove, actuated, no doubt, by religious rather than 
 racial feeling : but its numerical existence in the island is not 
 so strong as to entitle it to dispose of the national fate of this 
 most Hellenic island, nor can it be alleged that its real activity 
 in civilizing and economical progress is possessed of any signi- 
 ficance. Trade, Science, Arts, Letters, Industry, and every 
 work connected with mental or economical progress are almost 
 exclusively exercised by the Cyprus Hellenes. 
 
 "It would be a great injustice to the cohabiting majority 
 and a flagrant denial of the sacred right of nationahties, were 
 it hampered by a small alien minority from its highest national 
 rights and the fulfilment of its great mission. The Mahomedan 
 
 * Telegram from Turkish notables to the High Commissioner, April 12, 
 1881. — Parliamentary Paper C. 2930.
 
 THE HELLENIC IDEA 165 
 
 minority will not be prejudiced by follomng the national fate 
 of the Hellenic majority ; but, on the contrary, ^vill in a good 
 many respects be benefited, as the Hellenic race has practically 
 exhibited a remarkable religious tolerance and a tendency to 
 communicate its own blessings to the foreign races, from the 
 remotest years up to to-day, as in Thessaly, Epirus, Crete, and 
 elsewhere." 
 
 It may be pertinent to enquire whether the clamour for 
 annexation to Greece represents the spontaneous desire of 
 the masses to live under a Greek rather than a British adminis- 
 tration, or whether it is merely due to an ambition on the part 
 of a small, but vociferous, educated class. The question is a 
 difficult one to answer, and even those who have spent many 
 years in the island and moved freely amongst the people 
 may well hesitate to attempt it. It is extremely doubtful 
 whether in any country the mass of the population, whose 
 horizon is bounded by the necessity for satisfying its material 
 wants, is ever deeply stirred by any political considerations 
 save the desire for good government which will ensure them 
 protection, security from oppression, and as light and equit- 
 able taxation as possible. It is inefficient and unjust adminis- 
 tration which breeds the desire for a change of government, 
 not political aspirations. One of the greatest of our modern 
 historians expresses somewhat the same idea in the following 
 words : " It may be remarked that the mere passion for free- 
 dom in the abstract has never produced a great popular move- 
 ment. Long habit has made Englishmen, Swiss, and Americans 
 think liberty essential to national happiness ; yet liberty has, 
 in general, been desired rather as a means than as an end ; 
 and there must always exist, in order to rouse a nation to dis- 
 affection or insurrection, either such a withdrawal of rights pre- 
 viously enjoyed as wound its pride and its conservative feeling, 
 or else the infliction by the governing power of positive evils 
 which affect the subject in his daily fife, his religion, his social 
 and domestic relations." * The Cypriot in 1878 exchanged an 
 
 * Lord Btyce in " The Holy Roman Empire,"
 
 i66 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 admittedly inefficient and oppressive administration for 
 an unquestionably efficient and liberal one, and the peasant 
 has, since then, acquired a prosperity and a material improve- 
 ment in the conditions of his daily hfe which he can and does 
 appreciate. But it would be absurd to suppose that material 
 comfort is the sole ambition of even the most backward and 
 ignorant people, and the higher a people progresses in the scale 
 of civilization the wider become its desires. The government 
 of a people by a race alien in language, reUgion, ideas, and social 
 standards can manifestly never be as desirable as an equally 
 efficient government carried on by persons who speak the same 
 language, profess the same religion, embrace the same ideas, 
 and conform to the same social standards. Even if the latter 
 be considerably less efficient it will nevertheless be preferred, 
 and only if it proves oppressive or mischievous will the idea of 
 alien domination be welcomed or entertained. 
 
 It has been asserted that the Cypriot would prefer to live 
 under the domination of a rich Power rather than under that 
 of a small and poor one. Mr. Chamberlain used this argument 
 in a speech made in the House of Commons in 1902, and the 
 following reply was made by the Greek deputies in a Memorial, 
 already quoted, dealing with the speech in question : — 
 
 " What has above all affected most deeply the Greek popu- 
 lation of Cyprus is the statement made by you in Parliament 
 to the effect that the cession of Cyprus to Greece would not 
 meet with our general approval, and further that most of us 
 would prefer to be governed by a rich Government than be 
 annexed to a poor State. 
 
 " This latter insinuation has touched the most sensitive 
 chord of the heart of the Greek Cypriotes, who felt themselves 
 offended to the inmost, as the casting of a doubt on the genuine 
 and general aspirations of the Greek Cypriotes for their union 
 with Mother Greece constitutes the greatest insult against 
 them. It was, therefore, but natural that as soon as the 
 Greek population of Cyprus took cognizance of the statement 
 made by you officially in Parliament, they rose in one body in
 
 THE HELLENIC IDEA 167 
 
 order to protest strongly and declare for the thousandth time 
 in the presence of the whole civilized world that their ardent 
 and inextinguishable desire is to be united with Greece, in 
 the same way as it is the desire of the whole enthralled 
 Hellenism. And we beg to submit on our behalf and on behalf 
 of every educated Cypriote that we heard this insinuation with 
 the same equanimity as one who would hear his own individu- 
 ality doubted by another. Should the authorities like to put 
 to the test this genuine desire, they have but to ask the opinion 
 of the Greek people of Cyprus and they will get as many 
 affirmative replies as there are Greek Cypriotes in the island. 
 
 "If obstacles beyond our control prevent the approach- 
 ment of the blessed day of our union, we consider, neverthe- 
 less, that our national feelings and aspirations deserved greater 
 respect by our rulers. It is true that the people of Cyprus 
 are poor and small in number, but it must not be forgotten 
 that in spite of its smallness it has contributed to the propa- 
 gation of civilization in Europe, and it has shown itself a hero 
 for the preservation of its own nationality. It is a well-known 
 fact that the Christian civilization was transmitted from Asia 
 to Europe through Cyprus, and that the people of Cyprus are 
 worthy of the estimation and admiration of the world for having 
 preserved their language, their religion, and their national 
 conscience so vividly through many centuries of servitude and 
 persecution, and that as soon as the muzzle of servitude has been 
 relaxed since the English occupation of Cyprus, the first 
 phrase that came out of their breast was their desire for their 
 union with Mother Greece. 
 
 " You are aware, we hope, that as soon as the Turkish flag 
 was hauled down and the English flag hoisted up in its stead, 
 the late Archbishop of Cyprus, vSophronius, in greeting the 
 English Governor, said : 
 
 " ' We accept the change of Government inasmuch as we 
 trust that Great Britain will help Cyprus, as it did the Ionian 
 Islands, to be united with Mother Greece, with which it is 
 nationally connected.'
 
 i68 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 " These words have been said on behalf of the whole Greek 
 population of Cyprus through their primate immediately after 
 the occupation, and ever since the same population has never 
 lost an opportunity to declare openly that neither the riches 
 of their protectrix dazzles them nor the poverty of Greece 
 frightens them, but that their only wish and their only dream 
 is their union with Greece, which they anticipate as soon as 
 possible from the great and magnanimous English nation." 
 
 There is nothing whatever to show that the Cypriot 
 peasantry is discontented under British rule : on the contrary, 
 there is every evidence that the reverse is the case. On the 
 other hand, it would be futile to deny that the educated Greeks 
 in the island are sentimentally enthusiastic with regard to 
 their Hellenic aspirations, and find a ready support amongst 
 their co-religionists in the towns and villages. Opinion amongst 
 the former is divided as to the benefits which they think 
 would accrue if the British were replaced by a Greek administra- 
 tion. Some candidly admit that they believe that the material 
 prosperity of the island would be adversely affected by the 
 change, although they consider that the moral and spiritual 
 results would more than compensate for any such material 
 disabiHty. Other more sanguine enthusiasts maintain that 
 the island can never fulfil its destiny under alien domination : 
 that it would be more economically administered if Greek were 
 the sole official language and if the Government were carried 
 on by Cypriot officials, with perhaps a few Greek officials 
 filling some of the higher posts. 
 
 Herein lies in all probability the real driving force of the 
 agitation and the propaganda which sustains it. There is a 
 bitter feeling that all the higher posts in the island are given 
 to Englishmen and that the educated Cypriot has little or no 
 voice in the government of the island. Elected members of 
 the Legislative Council may come to the capital once a year 
 and make speeches and pass resolutions, but the whole 
 machinery of government and the whole executive is British 
 to the core, and shows no sign at present of ever being any-
 
 THE HELLENIC IDEA 169 
 
 thing else. The clerical and subordinate posts in the island 
 may be, and are, held by Cypriots, but every head of depart- 
 ment is an Englishman. Government is carried on through 
 the medium of interpreters, and there is hardly an English 
 official to whom the villager can speak in his own tongue, for 
 few Englishmen take the trouble to learn Greek or Turkish so 
 as to be able to converse freely in those languages. 
 
 The objections to the present rSgime thus stated are very 
 clear, and a remedy would not be far to seek if the population 
 of Cyprus were racially homogeneous. Unfortunately, how- 
 ever, as we have seen, a quarter of the population is neither 
 Greek nor Christian, but Turkish and Moslem, and thus 
 separated from the remainder by the most marked difference 
 in race and creed. The hostility of the Moslem Turk towards 
 Greek domination is infinitely more deep-seated than any 
 feeling of the Greek Christians towards British rule. It has 
 already been remarked that the Turkish community has been 
 unflinchingly loyal to the British administration since the 
 occupation, and even since war broke ont between the Otto- 
 man Empire and England the Turks in Cyprus, although 
 naturally sympathizing with the struggles of their compatriots 
 outside the island, have remained loyal and law-abiding sub- 
 jects of the British Empire. It is mainly because of the fierce 
 objections of the Turkish community in Cyprus to be placed 
 under Greeks that the principal Government posts in the island 
 have been filled by Englishmen ; and it is the existence of 
 nearly sixty thousand Turks — now British subjects — in the 
 island which constitutes a serious factor in the consideration 
 of any scheme for handing Cyprus over to the Hellenic Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Uncertainty as to the future of the island has been the most 
 unfortunate of all the causes which have adversely affected 
 Cyprus during the past forty years. Until the annexation in 
 1914, Cyprus was only provisionally administered by England, 
 and by the terms of the Convention was to be returned to 
 Turkey should certain eventualities arise ; and although as
 
 170 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 the years passed it became more and more unlikely that a return 
 of the island to Turkey would ever take place, the Convention 
 remained a constant reminder that the English occupation was 
 merely provisional and conditioned. The Greek community 
 in Cyprus has been again and again informed in reply to com- 
 munications made by them that no change in the political 
 status of the island was contemplated,* but the fact that such 
 declarations were from time to time necessary is proof of the 
 uncertainty which reigned. Since the annexation in 1914, 
 and the offer of Cyprus to Greece in 1915, the uncertainty has 
 still further increased, and it forms a disturbing element not 
 only in the island but amongst foreigners who may be inclined 
 to make investments or establish business relations in Cyprus. 
 A declaration that Cyprus is to remain definitely a part of 
 the British Empire would be received enthusiastically by the 
 Turkish community and philosophically by the great majority 
 of the Greeks, who naturally devote all their energies towards 
 insisting on their demands so long as any uncertainty exists. 
 The matter will, no doubt, come up for consideration at the 
 close of hostilities : Cj'^prus is one of a score of geographical 
 i entities in the Near East which are peopled by mixed races, 
 and no Utopia can even be conceived which would confer on 
 these places a form of government satisfactory to all the 
 inhabitants. It is not sufficient to say that the minority, if 
 dissatisfied, might go elsewhere : even safeguards providing for 
 their being adequately represented in any form of government 
 which might be adopted would be only a palHative, for when 
 it becomes a question of counting heads a minority has little 
 assurance of being able to protect itself against a majority 
 and has every prospect of remaining hopelessly submerged 
 and politically impotent. 
 
 It is difficult for anyone who has lived in Cyprus and mixed 
 
 * Thus in 1881 there were rumours that Cyprus had been offered to 
 Greece, and telegrams of thanks were sent by a number of Greek Cypriots 
 to Mr. Gladstone, who rephed that Cyprus was held by England as a part 
 of the Ottoman Empire under the Convention with the Porte, and that " pro- 
 posals which would be a violation of that Convention cannot be discussed." — 
 Parliamentary Paper C. 2730.
 
 THE HELLENIC IDEA 171 
 
 freely with the people to resist the conclusion that the clamour 
 for " Union with Greece " on the part of the Greek-speaking 
 community arises less from an ambition to exchange British 
 domination for that of Greece than from a desire that 
 the administration should be conducted in their own language 
 by officials for the most part sharing their ways of thought and 
 used to the same social standards. The English officials in 
 the island hold aloof from the rest of the community, partly 
 owing to their ignorance of the language, partly by reason of 
 the difference in social standards and customs. It 
 must be admitted that there is amongst the majority of 
 English officials a spirit which can best be expressed by the 
 Greek word vfjpis, a kind of contemptuous arrogance, which 
 forms a barrier greatly resented by the educated Cypriots, 
 from whom the elected members of the Legislative Council 
 are drawn. This attitude is by no means unknown in other 
 parts of the British Empire, and is no less deplorable because 
 it is for the most part unconscious. The EngHshman is 
 incorrigibly insular, and the characteristic is more ai>parent 
 when he leaves his island than when he remains in it. The 
 educated Cypriot when he visits England is treated with defer- 
 ence, courtesy, and sympathy, and is received everywhere on 
 terms of complete social equality ; it is not surprising that 
 when he returns to Cypnis and experiences once more the 
 barrier which exists between the English community there 
 and his fellow-Cypriots he is filled with angry resentment and 
 joins whole-heartedly in the cry for union with Greece. 
 
 As soon as the time comes, as come it must, when Cypriots 
 are admitted to important posts under Government, the barrier 
 which now exists between them and the EngHsh community 
 will begin to disappear. But so long as it remains, " ENOSIS " 
 will continue to be the gospel of the educated Cypriot, preached 
 to the peasant, encouraged in the schools, and given daily 
 prominence in all the Greek newspapers.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ANNEXATION IN I914, AND CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 ON November 5, 1914, war broke out between England and 
 Turkey, and the same day the island of Cyprus was 
 formally annexed to the British Empire. The following Order 
 by His Majesty the King in Council was issued, and copies 
 in all three languages were posted up in all the principal 
 places throughout the island : — 
 
 ORDER IN COUNCIL BY THE KING. 
 
 Whereas, by virtue of the Convention of defensive alliance 
 between Her Majesty Queen Victoria and His Imperial 
 Majesty the Sultan signed on June 4, 1878, the Annex to the 
 said Convention signed on July i, 1878, and the Agreement signed 
 on behalf of Her Majesty and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan 
 on August 14, 1878, His Imperial Majesty the Sultan assigned 
 the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by 
 England upon the terms and conditions specified in the said 
 Convention, Annex, and Agreement : 
 
 And whereas, by reason of the outbreak of war between 
 His Majesty and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, the said 
 Convention, Annex, and Agreement have become annulled, 
 and are no longer of any force or effect : 
 
 And whereas it has, for the reasons hereinbefore appearing, 
 seemed expedient to His Majesty that the said island should 
 be annexed to and should form part of His Majesty's 
 Dominions, in order that proper provision may be made for 
 the government and protection of the said island. 
 
 Now, therefore, His Majesty is pleased by and with the advice 
 
 173
 
 ANNEXATION IN 1914 : CONCLUDING REMARKS 173 
 
 of His Privy Council, to order and it is hereby ordered as 
 follows : — 
 
 1. From and after the date hereof the said island shall be 
 annexed to and form part of His Majesty's Dominions, and the 
 said island is annexed accordingl3^ 
 
 2. Nothing in this order shall affect the validity of any 
 instructions issued by His Majesty under the Royal Sign 
 Manual and Signet to the High Commissioner and Commander- 
 in-Chief of Cyprus, or of any Order in Council affecting Cyprus, 
 or of any law or proclamation passed or issued under any such 
 instructions or order, or of any act or thing done under any 
 such instructions, law, or proclamation, save in so far as any 
 such Order in Council, law or proclamation may be repugnant 
 to the provisions of any Act of Parliament which may, by 
 reason of the annexation hereby declared, become extended to 
 Cyprus, or to any order or regulation made under the authority 
 of any such Act or having in Cyprus the force and effect of any 
 such Act. 
 
 3. His Majesty may from time to time revoke, alter, add to, 
 or amend this order. 
 
 4. This order may be cited as the Cyprus (Annexation) 
 Order in Council, 1914. 
 
 And the Right Honourable Lewis Harcourt, one of His 
 Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary 
 directions herein accordingly. 
 
 Dated November 5, 1914. 
 
 With this Order was published a proclamation by the High 
 Commissioner of Cyprus to the following effect : — 
 
 " Ottoman subjects born in Cyprus and now resident in 
 Cyprus are British subjects. Ottoman subjects not born in 
 Cyprus who are now resident in Cyprus are allowed one year 
 from the date of this Proclamation within which to leave 
 Cyprus. Ottoman subjects mentioned in this paragraph who 
 do not leave Cyprus within the said period of one year will 
 on the expiration of the said period be British subjects."
 
 174 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 This proclamation was subsequently replaced by another 
 extending to all Ottoman subjects resident in Cyprus on 
 November 5, 1914, whether born in the island or not, the status 
 of British subjects, but providing that any Ottoman subject 
 desirous of retaining his Ottoman nationality should, within 
 one month of the date of the proclamation, submit in writing 
 to the High Commissioner a statement declaring such desire, 
 in which case he would be permitted to retain his nationality, 
 but would be required to leave the island within a specified 
 time. There is some ambiguity attached to the exact mean- 
 ing of the word " resident," and care will be necessary that the 
 advantages of British nationality are not obtained by the terms 
 of this proclamation by Syrians and other Ottoman subjects 
 who were temporarily resident in Cyprus on the date of annexa- 
 tion, though having no real connection with the island. 
 
 The annexation of the island was hailed with delight by the 
 Christian community, who welcomed the final disappearance 
 from the island of Turkish sovereignty. The Turkish element 
 received the news with Oriental resignation ; the majority 
 of the Turks in fact disapproved whole-heartedly of the policy 
 which had led the Ottoman Government to join Germany and 
 Austria in the war, and accepted without demur their new- 
 status as British subjects. Only about a dozen Ottoman sub- 
 jects made application to retain their nationality, and these 
 were all either temporary residents from Ottoman territory 
 or visitors to the island : no Cypriot Ottoman subjects appHed, 
 and all therefore became British subjects. 
 
 How far has England fulfilled the expectations aroused in 
 1878, when she assumed control of the administration of 
 Cyprus ? Broadly speaking, it may be said that by reducing 
 and simplifying the taxation, by introducing an extremely 
 just and impartial administration, and by enforcing and main- 
 taining law and order, she has greatly ameliorated the lot of 
 the peasantry and of the people generally, and has rendered 
 material progress possible. To produce these results and to
 
 ANNEXATION IN 191-4 : CONCLUDING REMARKS 175 
 
 evolve order out of the chaos which prevailed in 1878 the 
 services of a trained bureaucracy were necessary. The 
 financial position was such that a rigid economy and a careful 
 husbanding of resources were imperative, and they were 
 enforced with firmness. The smallest item of expenditure 
 proposed by the local Government was subjected first to care- 
 ful scrutiny at the hands of the Colonial Ofiice, and then to 
 an even more careful scrutiny at the hands of the Treasury. 
 Cyprus affairs were in fact managed by an efficient and con- 
 scientious bureaucracy, and if the island suffered from the 
 evils inherent in bureaucratic government it secured all the 
 undoubted advantages of the latter, as the flourishing condi- 
 tion of its finances now shows. This is hardly the place to 
 discuss the virtues or vices of a bureaucratic system of govern- 
 ment ; like most other things bureaucracy has the defects of 
 its qualities. Its machinery, when efficient, is an almost 
 unqualified asset in the administration of a community at a 
 certain stage of its development ; its elaborate system of check 
 and counter-check prevents any hasty and ill-considered 
 measures from being adopted, whilst the public funds are 
 safeguarded from expenditure on unwise or unnecessary pro- 
 jects ; and its respect for precedent ensures that no violent 
 departure from the general scheme of administration will be 
 made. But this very respect for precedent acts as an obstacle 
 to progress. The habit of referring every question that arises 
 to some similar question which arose possibly years before, and 
 of lengthy cogitation over opinions expressed long ago by other 
 persons, not only precludes the fresh and untrammelled con- 
 sideration of the subject but atrophies the thinking powers of 
 those whose duty it is to arrive at a decision. It follows that, 
 no matter how circumstances may change, the tendency will 
 be towards unenHghtened conservatism, if not reaction. The 
 more efficient the system the more pronounced will be the 
 conservatism. It is, unfortunately, the essence of a machine 
 to be mechanical : an office which devotes its energies mainly 
 to preserving, fifing, docketing, indexing, and pigeon-holing
 
 176 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 its records will inevitably tend in the main merely to preserve 
 continuity and to maintain everything as it has been in the 
 past, and will endeavour to avoid the consideration of new 
 problems or the reconsideration of old ones, even though they 
 may have been materially affected by a change of circumstances 
 or conditions. 
 
 The Colonial Office is a vast bureaucracy with ramifications 
 extending into every corner of the Empire. The staff is by 
 no means large ; it is exceedingly efficient and conscientious, 
 recruited from the cream of our public schools and universities. 
 But the atmosphere of Downing Street is hardly conducive to 
 imaginative thinking. " A man who mechanically manipulates 
 dead matter in however ingenious a way," writes an 
 authority on education, " is by that very fact cut off from the 
 direct human sympathy that is roused by occupations that imply 
 something connected with life." Is the constant reading and 
 writing of despatches, the study of files and blue-books and 
 ever-ready reference to the card index anything but the mani- 
 pulation of dead matter ? Small wonder that the tendency in 
 a Government office is to treat all questions by a reference to 
 " previous papers " and veto anything which seems to entail 
 a departure from precedent.* Nor is it surprising that the 
 type of Colonial administrator most in favour at Downing 
 Street is one who may be trusted to propose no startling new 
 departure, make no important innovations, and nurse the 
 expenditure of the colony with unimpeachable economy ; who 
 writes well-phrased despatches garnished with copious explana- 
 tory enclosures, and has the Colonial Regulations at his finger 
 ends. The natural result is that the local administration in 
 
 * The following incident illustrates this tendency very clearly : A Cyprus 
 official, Z, arrived in England on leave at a time when there was some unrest 
 in Cyprus and the Greek deputies were raising various complicated questions 
 and making numerous demands for constitutional and other changes. In 
 accordance with custom he reported himself at the Colonial Office, and was 
 duly received by the official X, who was in immediate charge of the branch 
 dealing with Cyprus affairs. " I am afraid," said Z, " that Cyprus affairs 
 have been giving you a good deal of trouble lately." " Not at all, not at 
 all," replied X, airily. " All these things have happened before, and we 
 have nothing to do but look up our files of fifteen or twenty years ago, and 
 reply accordingly ! "
 
 ANNEXATION IN 1914 : CONCLUDING REMARKS 177 
 
 each colony endeavours to conform to these ideals, bases its 
 poUcy on previous rulings, and devotes its attention to carry- 
 ing out to the letter every instruction contained in " Colonial 
 Regulations," submitting its returns and reports punctually 
 and in exact accordance with precedent, and above all culti- 
 vating a fluent style in despatch-writing. The policy of such 
 an administration will be marked by extreme conservatism, 
 caution, and readiness to adapt itself to the Colonial Office 
 points of view. 
 
 This has been in the main the trend of administration in 
 Cj^rus since it came under the Colonial Office in 188 1. The 
 tendency in the island has been to excessive centralization at 
 head-quarters ; not a sparrow can fall to the ground without 
 a report of the circumstances — probably in triplicate — even- 
 tually appearing on the table of the Chief Secretary to the 
 Government, and being submitted to the High Commissioner 
 for his information ; it is then in all probabiUty forwarded to 
 the Treasurer for advice as to the vote to which the financial 
 expenses should be charged andto the legal adviser to know 
 whether a charge lies against any individual under the Ottoman 
 Penal Code. It will be lucky if long correspondence does not 
 ensue between the Treasury and the District Commissioner 
 regarding the amount paid for the obsequies. In the same 
 way heads of technical Departments like the Forests, Public 
 Works, and Agriculture are kept chained to their desks, making 
 out returns and replying to accounting queries, when they 
 would be far better employed outside their offices. The 
 manager of the Stock Farm will be forced to spend valuable 
 time answering queries from the Audit Department regarding 
 the deficiency of eggs shown on the ledger compared with the 
 number found in the incubators, and explaining that this is 
 due, not to fraud, but to a natural phenomenon which has 
 turned the eggs into chickens. All these things are the 
 necessary concomitant of excess of zeal on the part of a bureau- 
 cracy, but they are sad waste of time, and a sprinkling of some 
 common sense would do away with many of the existing 
 
 M
 
 178 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 absurdities. The whole time of responsible officials is taken 
 up with trivial and petty details of routine which both 
 exhaust and exasperate those who endeavour to devote their 
 energies to constructive and progressive measures for the 
 reform of the educational system, the encouragement of trade 
 and industries, the improvement of agriculture and stock- 
 raising, the development of harbours, railways, roads, 
 telegraphs, and water supplies, the provision of capital on 
 easy terms to small farmers and traders, and other practical 
 matters of a similar nature. The type of Governor required 
 in a Crown Colony like Cyprus is not the efficient and 
 unimaginative office-tied bureaucrat, but a man of the world, 
 with wide human sympathies, broad views, and a shrewd 
 and practical mind, capable of approaching business proposi- 
 tions from a business point of view. He should be served by 
 an efficient secretariat, which, by reHeving him of the mass of 
 petty details of administrative machinery, would enable him 
 to devote his mind and energy to the broader questions of 
 administration and development instead of being obUged to 
 waste them on insignificant questions which can be quite 
 adequately dealt with by his subordinates. It is not only 
 waste of energy to use a forty ton hammer to crack nuts, but 
 it prevents the other far more important work for which it 
 was intended from being done at all. 
 
 The financial arrangement made in 1910 by which the island 
 was finally freed from Treasury control was of immense benefit, 
 if only because it put an end to a vast amount of correspondence 
 and irritating interference on the part of over-conscientious 
 Treasury officials, who considered that a day spent in question- 
 ing the expenditure of half-a-crown was a day well spent. At 
 the same time, Cyprus was at last in possession of surplus 
 revenues. The island up to the year 1907 may be compared 
 to a young man whose necessary expenses exceed his income, 
 and who receives from his father at the end of each year the 
 exact sum required to make good the deficit. Obviously if 
 such a person is given a fixed and regular allowance by his
 
 ANNEXATION IN 1914 : CONCLUDING REMARKS 179 
 
 father he can by the practice of rigid economy and the exercise 
 of skill and foresight save each year a substantial sum which he 
 can devote to improving his earning capacity and adding to 
 the comfort of himself and his dependents. Just such an 
 advantage was obtained by Cyprus when the system of a fixed 
 grant-in-aid was introduced by the Imperial Government, and 
 the result has provided proof of the unwisdom of retaining the 
 old system for so many years. 
 
 One more factor must be mentioned which has delayed pro- 
 gress in Cyprus. Most of the Crown Colonies of Great Britain 
 are situated in the tropics, where climatic conditions are 
 unfavourable to the health of the English official. Cyprus almost 
 alone enjoys a climate where officials and their wives can live 
 and bring up their children in comparative health and comfort. 
 Hence the island has been looked upon by the Colonial Office 
 as a kind of sanatorium where officials whose health has been 
 impaired by long service in tropical cHmates can be sent. This 
 speaks well for the humanity of the Colonial Office, but it has 
 not reacted altogether favourably on Cyprus. It is not to 
 the advantage of any service to be recruited largely from 
 amongst officials physically affected by work in unhealthy 
 localities rather than by young and energetic men in the prime 
 of life. Officials transferred to Cyprus from elsewhere at an 
 age when they are no longer young cannot be expected to learn 
 the language or accommodate themselves easily to new condi- 
 tions. No doubt there is another side to the question, and the 
 experience brought by officials from other colonies is an asset 
 which must not be overlooked. But in the case especially of 
 District Commissioners, whose duty Ues in moving about 
 amongst the villagers and ascertaining their needs, it is obvious 
 that young and energetic men, open to new impressions, are 
 more suitable than older men, whose best work is behind them. 
 In the early days District Commissioners were of the former 
 type ; but as time went on these officials grew older, not 
 younger : some remained in their posts for thirty years and 
 more, whilst others were moved elsewhere and their place
 
 i8o CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 filled in many cases by men who had already passed the prime 
 of life in other colonies, and were neither physically nor 
 mcntall}^ suited to the kind of work they were called upon to 
 perform. The pay was small, the chance of further promotion 
 negligible, and in such circumstances the zeal and energy 
 to be expected could not be great ; yet zeal, energy, and 
 adaptabiHty were just the qualities most necessary. 
 
 It would be a mistake, however, to imagine that either an 
 over-bureaucratic Government or an indifferent choice of 
 officials are altogether responsible for the lack of progress which 
 has characterized Cj^prus during the past forty years. The 
 people themselves have failed to exhibit the qualities that make 
 for progress. Instead of endeavouring to better their own con- 
 dition they have reUed too much on the Government, and con- 
 tented themselves with criticism, instead of combining to think 
 out constructive reforms and submit practical schemes to 
 Government. No doubt the habit of writing petitions to 
 Government on every conceivable subject is due to the Turkish 
 system which encouraged such a practice, and it is chiefly 
 confined to the peasantry. The absolute dependence of the 
 Cypriot on the Government is indicated in a more important 
 manner by the failure of the commercial or other sections of 
 the community to form any sort of combination for the pur- 
 pose of co-operation or for bringing to the notice of the Govern- 
 ment affairs connected with their particular interests. No 
 kind of Chamber of Commerce exists in the island. Each 
 merchant pursues his own separate interests and enters into 
 competition with every other merchant : as a result, no com- 
 bined movement has ever been set on foot for advancing the 
 trade of the island, and the Government has no corporate 
 body to which it can turn for advice on any commercial ques- 
 tion. The Greeks are ready enough to form committees and 
 organizations for political ends and to discuss political questions 
 and pen elaborate Memorials ad nauseam, but they seem unable 
 to co-operate for practical purposes affecting the welfare of 
 the community or of special sections of it, and the Government
 
 ANNEXATION IN 1911- : CONCLUDING REMARKS i8i 
 
 is expected to do everything without any assistance except 
 what may be afforded by the somewhat carping criticism con- 
 veyed in florid speeches mainly composed of political diatribes. 
 The views of Herbert Spencer regarding the functions of 
 Government are nowadays somewhat discredited, though his 
 description of the State-agency as " a cluster of men, a few 
 clever, many ordinary, and some decidedly stupid," is a per- 
 fectly fair description of the average Government. John 
 Stuart Mill, in a well-known passage, declared that " manage- 
 ment by hired servants who have no interest in the result 
 but that of preserving their salaries is proverbially inefficient. 
 The inferiority of government-agency, for example, in any of 
 the common positions of industry or commerce, is proved by 
 the fact that it is hardly ever able to maintain itself in equal 
 competition with individual agency when the individuals 
 possess the requisite degree of industrial entei"prise and can 
 command the necessary assemblage of means. All the facilities 
 which a Government enjoys of access to information, all the 
 means which it possesses of remunerating and, therefore, of 
 commanding the best available talent in the market, are not 
 an equivalent for the one great disadvantage of an inferior 
 interest in the result." * But no matter how great may be 
 the shortcomings of State-agency there can be no question but 
 that a failure on the part of private enterprise to come forward 
 with suggestions and constructive criticisms to aid the Govern- 
 ment in its activities must render its task more difficult and 
 its performance less efficient. Hence the Cypriot, through 
 his failure in this respect, must bear a large part of any blame 
 which may be imputed to the island for tardiness in its rate of 
 progress. 
 
 Critics of the Government may point to the apparent failure 
 of the railway, harbour, and irrigation schemes to provide an 
 adequate return on the capital expended; but such private 
 enterprises as have been from time to time undertaken in Cyprus 
 can show little better results. Money invested in mining 
 
 * John Stuart :\Iill, " Political Economy."
 
 i82 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 operations, motor transport schemes, shipping ventures, tlie 
 grafting of fruit trees, and other enterprises in the island has too 
 often failed to produce any dividend, the companies concerned 
 ending in liquidation. Usually the Government has been 
 blamed : it has been accused of imposing irritable restrictions 
 on, or failing to give support to, many of these enterprises. 
 The shareholders in fact are told that the failure of the enter- 
 prise is due to the inaction or alternately to the interference 
 of the Government — jolie hypothese qui expUqne taut de choses ! 
 In reality it has been more often the innate conservatism and 
 inertia of the Cypriot, who has refused to adopt new contriv- 
 ances or alter his mode of hving and conducting his affairs. 
 The Government has for this reason probably been justified 
 in proceeding cautiously with innovations and in pursuing an 
 unheroic but careful polic}' : in any case, there was not the 
 money to expend on schemes which were Ukely to be carried 
 on at a loss until such time as the people had begun to realize 
 and avail themselves of their benefits. Looking back on the 
 past thirty years, it is apparent that the necessity for stringent 
 economy has been the chief cause of any inaction of which the 
 Government can be accused, and this brings us back to the 
 question of the " tribute," which has already been fully 
 discussed. On the whole, it may be said that progress has been 
 slow, first because of the lack of funds, and secondly because 
 of the lack of initiative on the part of the Cypriots themselves, 
 their want of organization and co-operation, and their innate 
 conservatism. Now that funds are becoming available and 
 the people are better educated and more in touch vnih. the 
 outside world, progress is becoming much more rapid, and lee- 
 way is being made up. 
 
 The most pressing necessity now is to bring the educated 
 Cypriot into closer touch with the Government of the island. 
 So long as Cyprus formed part of the Ottoman Empire and was 
 merely administered by England, there was some reason for 
 entrusting the government to a chque of British officials, 
 subject to such criticism and control as might be exercised by
 
 ANNEXATION IN 1914 : CONCLUDING REMARKS 183 
 
 the elected members in the Legislative Council. But now that 
 the island has become part of the British Empire it is time to 
 consider whether the Cypriot should not be given a more direct 
 share in the administration. It would not perhaps be advis- 
 able yet to appoint Cypriots to the post of District Commis- 
 sioner ; but there is no reason why such Departments as the 
 Post Ofhce or Land Registry Office should not be entrusted to 
 Cypriots who have had a training in those or other branches 
 of the administration. Jealousy will no doubt continue to 
 exist between the different elements of the population, but this 
 must always be the case in mixed communities and is familiar 
 enough in India and elsewhere. Once the principle of 
 admitting Cypriots to the higher administrative posts is con- 
 ceded, its practical application might proceed slowly and ten- 
 tatively as opportunity offered. It is not enough for the edu- 
 cated Cypriot who has travelled in other countries and received 
 part of his education in European centres to become a member 
 of the Legislative Council, where he can merely express his 
 ideas in debate once a year during a period of a few weeks. 
 He desires to devote his talents and energies to the affairs 
 of the island in a much more direct and practical manner, 
 and he has an undoubted claim to do so. A little imagination 
 should make this plain to every EngHshman, and, though the 
 quality is uncommon in our race it has been quickened by the 
 war, and one may hope that it may now be used to the benefit 
 of Cyprus. The situation is very different from what it was in 
 1878, and it is surely preposterous to imagine that the system 
 of administration then introduced, admirable as it was at the 
 time, must be continued unchanged without regard to altered 
 circumstances. Tempora mutantiir. Let us see to it that the 
 rest of the tag holds good — et nos mutamur in illis. 
 
 " New times demand new measures and new men. 
 The world moves on : and in due course outgrows 
 The laws that in our father's days were best. 
 And after we are gone a better scheme 
 Will be devised by wiser men than we."
 
 APPIiNDIX I. 
 
 The Miirquis vj Salisbury to Mr. Lay aid. 
 
 Sir, rorcign Office, May 30, 1S78. 
 
 The progress of the confidential negotiations whicJi have for some time 
 past been in progress between Her Majcst^^'s Governnient and the Government 
 of Russia make it probable that those Articles of the Treaty of San Stefano 
 which concern European Turkey will be sufticicntly modified to bring them 
 into harmony with the interests of the other European Powers, and of England 
 in particular. 
 
 There is, however, no such prospect with respect to that portion of the 
 Treaty which concerns Turke}' in Asia. It is sufficiently manifest that, 
 in respect to Batoum and the fortresses north of the Araxes, the Government 
 of Russia is not prepared tu recede from the stipulations to which the Porte 
 has been led by the events of the war to consent. Her Majestj-'s Go^'ernmcnt 
 have consequently been forced to consider the effect which these agree- 
 ments, if they are neither annulled nor counteracted, will have upon the future 
 of the Asiatic provinces of the Ottoman Empire and upon the interests 
 of England, which are closel}' affected b}' the condition of those provinces. 
 
 It is impossible that Her Majesty's Government can look upon these changes 
 with indifference. Asiatic Turkey contains populations of many different 
 races and creeds, possessing no capacity for self-government and no asjiira- 
 tions for independence, but owing their tranquillity and whatever pro.spect 
 of political well-being they possess entirelj- to the rule of the Sultan. But 
 the Government of the Ottoman dynasty is that of an ancient but still alien 
 conqueror, resting more upon actual power than upon the sympathies of 
 common nationality. The defeat which the Turkish arms have sustained 
 and the known embarrassments of the Government will produce a general 
 belief in its decadence and an expectation of speedy political change, which 
 in the East are more dangerous than actual discontent to the stabilitj^ of a 
 Government. If the population of Syria, Asia INIinor, and Mesopotamia 
 see that the Porte has no guarantee for its continued existence but its own 
 strength, they will, after the evidence which recent events have furnisiied 
 of the frailty of that rehance, begin to calculate upon the speedy fall of the 
 Ottoman domination, and to turn their eyes towards its successor. 
 
 Even if it be certain that Batoum and Ardahan and Kars will not become 
 the base from which emissaries of intrigue will issue forth, to be in due time 
 followed by invading armies, the mere retention of them by Russia will exercise 
 a powerful influence in disintegrating the Asiatic dominion of the Porte. 
 As a monument of feeble defence on the one side, and successful aggression 
 on the other, they Avill be regarded by the Asiatic population as foreboding 
 the course of political history in the immediate future, and will stimulate, by 
 the combined action of hope and fear, devotion to the Power which is in the 
 ascendant, and desertion of the Power which is thought to be falling into decay. 
 It is impossible for Her Majesty's Government to accept, without making 
 an effort to avert it, the effect which such a state of feeling would produce 
 upon regions whose political condition deeply concerns the Oriental interests 
 of Great Britain. They do not propose to attempt the accomplishment of 
 this object by taking military measures for the purpose of replacing the 
 conquered districts in the possession of the Porte. Such an undertaking 
 would be arduous and costl}-, and would involve great calamities, and it would 
 not be effective for the object which Her Majesty's Government has in view, 
 unless subsequently strengthened by precautions which can be taken almost 
 as effectually without incurring the miseries of a preliminary war. The 
 only provision which can furnish a substantial security for the stability of 
 Ottoman rule in Asiatic Turkey, and which would be as essential after the 
 re-conquest of the Russian annexations as it is now, is an engagement, on the 
 part of a Power strong enough to fulfil it, that any further encroachments 
 by Russia upon Turkish territory in Asia will be prevented by force of arms. 
 Such an undertaking, if given fully and unreservedly, will prevent the occur- 
 rence of the contingency which would bring it into operation, and will, at 
 
 ICS4
 
 APPENDIX 1. 185 
 
 the same time, give to the populations of the Asiatic provinces the requisite 
 confidence that Turkish rule in Asia is not destined to a speedy fall. 
 
 There are, however, two conditions which it would be necessary for the 
 Porte to subscribe before England could gi\c such assurance. 
 
 Her Majesty's Government intimated to the Porte, on the occasion of the 
 Conference at Constantinople, that they were not prepared to sanction mis- 
 government and oppression, and it will be requisite, before they can enter 
 into any agreement for the defence of the Asiatic territories of the Porte in 
 certain eventualities, that they should be formallj' assured of the intention 
 of the Porte to introduce the necessary reforms into the government of the 
 Christian and other subjects of the Porte in these regions. It is not desirable 
 to require more than an engagement in general terms ; for the specific 
 measures to be taken could only be defined after a more careful inquiry and 
 deliberation than could be secured at the present juncture. 
 
 It is not impossible that a careful selection and a faithful support of the 
 individual officers to whom power is to be entrusted in those countries would 
 be a more important element in the improvement of the condition of the 
 people than even legislative changes, but the assurances required to give 
 England a right to insist on satisfactory arrangements for these purposes 
 will be an indispensable part of any agreement to which Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment could consent. It will further be necessary, in order to enable Her 
 Majesty's Government efficiently to execute the engagements now proposed, 
 that they should occupy a position near the coast of Asia Minor and Syria. 
 The proximity of British officers, and, if necessary, British troops, will be 
 the best security that all the objects of this agreement shall be attained. 
 The Island of Cyprus appears to them to be in all respects the most available 
 for this object. Her Majesty's Government do not wish to ask the Sultan 
 to alienate territory from his sovereignty, or to diminish the receipts which 
 now pass into his Treasury. They will, therefore, propose that, while the 
 administration and occupation of the island shall be assigned to Her Majesty, 
 the territory shall still continue to be part of the Ottoman Empire, and that 
 the excess of the revenue over the expenditure, whatever it at present may 
 be, shall be paid over annually by the British Government to the Treasury 
 of the Sultan. 
 
 Inasmuch as the whole of this proposal is due to the annexations which 
 Russia has made in Asiatic Turkey, and the consequences which it is appre- 
 hended will flow therefrom, it must be fully understood that, if the cause 
 of the danger should cease, the precautionar}- agreement will cease at the 
 same time. If the Government of Russia should at any time surrender to 
 the Porte the territory it has acquired in Asia by the recent war, the stipulations 
 in the proposed agreements will cease to operate, and the island will be 
 immediatel}' evacuated. 
 
 I request, therefore, your Excellency to propose to the Porte to agree to 
 a Convention to the following eftect, and I have to convey to you full authority 
 to conclude the same on behalf of the Queen and of Her Majesty's Government : 
 
 " If Batoum, Ardahan, Kars or any of them shall be retained by Russia, 
 and if any attempt shall be made at any future time by Russia to take pos- 
 session of any further portion of the Asiatic territories of the Sultan, as fi.xed 
 by the definitive Treaty of Peace, England engages to join the Sultan in 
 defending them by force of arms. In return, the Sultan promises to England 
 to introduce necessary reforms (to be agreed upon later between the two 
 Powers) into the government of the Christian and other subjects of the Porte 
 in these territories ; and, in order to enable England to make necessary pro- 
 vision for executing her engagement, the Sultan further consents to assign 
 the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by England." 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 (Signed) SALISBURY. 
 
 Contained in Parliamentary Paper, Turkey No. 3O (187S), C 2057.
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 Cyprus. No. XIII., 1914. 
 
 A LAW enacted by His Excellency the High Commissioner and Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Island of Cyprus, with the advice and consent of the 
 Legislative Council thereof, 
 
 to provide for the constitution and control of co-operative 
 
 Credit Societies. 
 
 [October 9, 1914. 
 
 WHEREAS it is expedient to encourage thrift, self-help and co-opera- 
 tion among agriculturalists, and for that purpose to provide for the 
 constitution and control of Co-operative Credit Societies. 
 Be it therefore enacted by His Excellency the High Commissioner and 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Island of Cyprus, with the advice and consent 
 of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows : — 
 
 Title and Definitions. 
 
 1. This Law may be cited as the Co-operative Credit Societies Law, 1914. 
 
 2. In this Law, unless the context otherwise requires : — 
 
 (a) " Bye-law " means a registered bye-law for the time being in force 
 
 and includes a registered amendment of the bye-laws. 
 (6) " Committee and Council " mean the governing bodies of a society 
 
 to which the management of the affairs of such society is entrusted, 
 (c) " Member " includes a person joining in the application for the 
 
 registration of a society, and a person admitted to membership 
 
 after registration in accordance with the bye-laws and any rules. 
 {d) " Officer " includes a chairman, secretary, treasurer, member of 
 
 committee, or other person empowered under the bye-laws to give 
 
 directions in regard to the business of the society. 
 (e) " Registrar " means a person appointed to perform the duties of 
 
 Registrar of Co-operative Credit Societies under this Law. 
 (/) " Society " means a co-operative credit society registered under 
 
 this Law. 
 
 Registvation. 
 
 3. The High Commissioner maj' appoint a person to be Registrar of 
 Co-operative Credit Societies imder this Law, and may appoint persons to 
 assist such Registrar, and may, by general or special order, confer on any such 
 persons all or any of the powers of a Registrar under this Law. 
 
 The Registrar shall have an office in Nicosia. 
 
 4. Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained a society consisting 
 of at least twelve persons who are agriculturahsts and are above the age of 
 18 years; operating within a town, or village, or group of villages within 
 a radius of not more than two miles ; and having for its object the creation 
 of funds by loans from the Government or the Loan Commissioners or other- 
 wise or deposits to be lent to its members ; may be registered under this 
 Law. Provided that the Registrar may if he shall think fit in any particular 
 case extend the said radius of two miles. 
 
 5. The words " Co-operative Credit " shall form part of the title of every 
 society. 
 
 6. When any question arises whether, for the purposes of this Law, a person 
 is an agriculturalist and a resident in a town or village or group of villages, 
 or whether two or more villages shall be considered to form a group, the 
 question shall be decided by the Registrar whose decision shall be final. 
 
 7. A person eligible for admission to membership of a society must [a) be 
 above 18 years of age, (6) reside within the area of the society's operations, 
 (c) possess land therein of not less than 2 donums in extent, {d) be an agri- 
 culturalist, (e) not be a member of any other co-operative credit society, and 
 
 186
 
 APPENDIX II. 187 
 
 (/) in the case of a person not being an original member, be elected by the 
 Society in such manner as the bjc-laws shall prescribe. 
 
 8. Any twelve or more persons qualified in accordance with the require- 
 ments of section 7 and agreeing to act in accordance with this Law and any 
 rules and the bye-laws of their proposed society may apply to the Registrar 
 to be registered as a society, and the persons by whom or on whose behalf 
 such application is made shall furnish two copies of the proposed bye-laws 
 of the proposed society together with such information with regard to the 
 proposed society as the Registrar may require. 
 
 9. If the Registrar is satisfied that a society has complied with the pro- 
 visions of this Law and the rules and that its proposed bye-laws are not 
 contrary to the law or to the rules, he may, with the approval of the High 
 Commissioner, register the society and its bye-laws. 
 
 10. A certificate of registration signed by the Registrar shall be con- 
 clusive evidence that the society therein mentioned is duly registered unless 
 it is proved that the registration of the society has been cancelled. 
 
 II.- — (1) No amendment of the bye-laws of a registered society shall be 
 valid until the same has been registered under this Law, for which purpose 
 a copy of the amendment shall be forwarded to the Registrar. 
 
 (2) If the Registrar is satisfied that any amendment of the bye-laws is 
 not contrary to this law or to the rules, he may, if he thinks fit, register the 
 amendment. 
 
 (3) When the Registrar registers an amendment of the bye-laws of a society, 
 he shall issue to the society a cop}^ of the amendment certified by him, which 
 shall be conclusive e\-idence that the same is duly registered. 
 
 12. The Registrar shall prepare and present in each year to the High Com- 
 missioner, a report of his proceedings and of the principal matters transacted 
 during the preceding calendar year, together with a statement showing 
 the financial position of all registered societies on the 31st December last 
 preceding. 
 
 13. The Registrar may, with the approval of the High Commissioner, 
 prepare and cause to be circulated, for the use of societies, forms of bye- 
 laws, accounts, balance-sheets and valuations as models for all societies. 
 
 Rights and Liabilities of Members. 
 
 14. The liability of each member of a society for the debts of the society 
 shall be unlimited. 
 
 15. Each member shall, notwithstanding the amount of liis interest in 
 a society, have only one vote, and shall only be allowed to exercise such vote 
 in person. 
 
 16. All monies payable by a member to a registered society under this 
 Law or under any bye-laws of such society shall be a debt due from such 
 member to the society and shall be recoverable as such at law. 
 
 Duties of Societies. 
 
 17. Every society shall have an address registered with the Registrar to 
 which all communications and notices may be sent, and shall send to the 
 Registrar notice of every change thereof. 
 
 18. Every society shall keep a copy of this Law and of the rules governing 
 such society and of its bye-laws and of its last balance-sheet and any report 
 of the Auditors open to inspection free of charge at all reasonable times at 
 the registered address of the society. 
 
 19. — (i) The Registrar shall audit or cause to be audited by some person 
 authorired by him by general or special order in writing in this behalf the 
 accounts of every registered society once at least in every year. 
 
 (2) The audit under sub-section (i) shall include an examination of overdue 
 debts, if any, and a valuation of the assets and habihties of the society.
 
 i88 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 (3) The Registrar or any person authorized by general or special order in 
 writing in this behalf by the Registrar shall at all times have access to all 
 the books, accounts, ])apcrs and securities of a society, and every officer of 
 the society shall furnish such information in regard to the transactions and 
 working of the society as the person making such inspection may require. 
 
 (4) Subject to the general directions and instructions of the Registrar, 
 the Commissioner of the District in which the society is carrying on business 
 shall be deemed to be a person authorized within the meaning of the 
 preceding sub-section. 
 
 Privileges of Registered Societies. 
 
 20. The registration of a society shall render it a body corporate by the 
 name under which it is registered, with perpetual succession and a common 
 seal, and with power to hold property, to enter into contract.'^, to institute 
 and defend suits and other legal proceedings and to do all things 
 necessary for the purposes of its constitution. 
 
 21. Subject to any prior claim of the Government, or of a landlord in 
 respect of rent or any money recoverable as rent, a society shall be entitled 
 in priority to other creditors to enforce any outstanding demand due to the 
 society from a member or past member : — 
 
 {a) in respect of the supply of seed or manure or of the loan of money 
 for the purchase of seed or manure — upon the crops or other agri- 
 cultural produce of such member or person at any time within eighteen 
 months from the date of such supply or loan ; 
 
 {b) in respect of the supply of cattle, fodder for cattle, agricultural or 
 industrial implements or machinery, or raw materials for manufacture, 
 or of the loan of money for the purchase of any of the foregoing things 
 — upon any such things so supplied, or purchased in whole or in 
 part from any such loan, or on any articles manufactured from raw- 
 materials so supplied or purchased. 
 
 22. The liability of a past member for the debts of a society as they existed 
 at the time when he ceased to be a member shall continue for a period of 
 two years from the date of his ceasing to be a member. 
 
 23. The estate of a deceased member shall be liable for a period of one 
 year from the time of his decease for the debts of a registered society as they 
 existed at the time of his decease. 
 
 24. Any register or list of members kept by any society shall be prima 
 facie evidence of any of the following particulars entered therein : — 
 
 {a) the date at which the name of any person was entered in such register 
 
 or Ust as a member ; and 
 [b) the date at which any such person ceased to be a member. 
 
 25. A copy of any entry in a book of a society regularly kept in the course 
 of business shall, if certified in such manner as may be prescribed by the rules, 
 be received in anj' suit or legal proceeding, as prima facie evidence of the 
 existence of such entry, and shall be admitted as evidence of the matters, 
 transactions and accounts therein recorded in every case where and to the 
 same extent as the original entry itself is admissible. 
 
 26. The High Commissioner in Council may, by notification in the Cyprus 
 Gazette, in the case of any society remit the stamp duties or fees with which, 
 under any law for the time being in force, instruments executed by or on 
 behalf of a society or by any officer or member and relating to the business 
 of such society or any class of such instruments are respecti\ely chargeable. 
 
 Property and Funds of Societies. 
 
 27. A society shall not make a loan to any person other than a member. 
 
 28. Save with the sanction of the Registrar, a society shall not lend money 
 on the security of movable property.
 
 APPENDIX II. 189 
 
 29. No person other than a member of the society shall be accepted as 
 surety for a loan. 
 
 30. A society may obtain loans from Government or the Loan Commis- 
 sioners or otherwise on such terms as to interest or otherwise as the bye- 
 laws shall provide, and the Government or the Loan Commissioners , if 
 they shall think fit, may grant such loans accordingly. All applications 
 made by a society to the Government or Loan Commissioners or to other 
 persons must be reported immediately to the Registrar by such officer of the 
 society as the Registrar may prescribe. 
 
 31. A society may receive and pay interest on deposits from members 
 to such extent and under such conditions as shall be provided by the bye- 
 laws. 
 
 32. No loan shall be made except for an approved purpose connected 
 with some agricultural operation which by its profits should, in the opinion 
 of the committee, enable the borrower to repay the loan, or for the redemption 
 of land from an existing mortgage, or for the liquidation of debts of any kind 
 whatsoever existing at the time of the admission of the borrower as a member 
 of the society. The agricultural operations referred to above shall include 
 the extension or improvement of the borrower's holding, and the purchase 
 of manure, seed, cattle and implements or other similar purposes. 
 
 33. A society may deposit its funds or any part thereof in the Government 
 Savings Bank or in such other banks as may be approved for this purpose 
 by the Registrar. 
 
 34. No di\^dend or payment out of profits shall be paid to a member 
 of a society, except as provided in Section 31, but all profits shall be carried 
 to a fund to be called the Reserve Fund. 
 
 35. — (i) The Reserve Fund shall not be divided among the members, 
 but may be applied to meet occasional deficiencies incurred bj' the society, 
 and in case of dissolution any balance of the Reserve Fund after liquidation 
 shall be invested as the Registrar may direct and the income derived there- 
 from shall be devoted to some useful purpose in the same District in which 
 such society operated, in accordance with the bye-laws of such society, or 
 in the absence of any such bye-laws in such manner as the Registrar shall 
 determine. 
 
 (2) The principal of such Reserve Fund shall remain intact and so invested 
 until such time as another society shall be established in the same area, when 
 such principal may then be transferred to such new society for the purpose 
 of forming a Reserve Fund under the conditions provided under this Law ; 
 provided that if after a period of five years has elapsed from the date of 
 dissolution no such new society shall have been established as aforesaid the 
 Registrar may apply the whole or any part of the said Reserve Fund to some 
 useful purpose within the district in which such dissolved society operated 
 in such manner and under such conditions as he may think fit. 
 
 Inspection of Avails. 
 
 36. — (i) The Registrar may of his own motion or on the application of 
 the Commissioner of the District, and shall on the application of a majority 
 of the committee, or of not less than one-third of the members, hold an 
 inquiry or direct some person authorized by him by order in writing in this 
 behalf to hold an inquiry into the constitution, working and financial condition 
 of a registered society, and shall communicate the result of such incjuiry 
 to the person (if any) desiring him to hold such inquiry and to the Committee. 
 
 (j) All officers and members of the society shall furnish such information 
 in regard to the affairs of the society and shall produce all such books as the 
 Registrar or the person authorized by the Registrar may require. 
 
 37. — (i) The Registrar shall, on the application of a creditor of a society, 
 inspect or direct some person authorized by him by order in writing in tliis 
 behalf to inspect the books of the society ;
 
 igo CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 Provided that — 
 
 (a) the apphcant satisfies the Registrar that the debt is a sum then due, 
 and that he has demanded payment thereof and has not received 
 satisfaction within a reasonable time ; and 
 
 (b) the applicant deposits with the Registrar such sum as security for 
 the costs of the proposed inspection as the Registrar may require. 
 
 (2) The Registrar shall communicate the results of any such inspection 
 to the creditor. 
 
 38. Where an inquiry is held under section 36 or an inspection is made 
 under section 37, the Registrar may apportion the costs, or such part of the 
 costs, as he may think right, between the society, the members or creditor 
 demanding an inquiry or inspection (if any), and the officers or former officers 
 of the society. 
 
 39. Any sum awarded by way of costs under section 38 may be recovered 
 on appUcation to the proper District Court. 
 
 Dissolution of Society. 
 
 40. — (i) If the Registrar, after an inquiry has been held under section 
 36 or after an inspection has been made under section 37 or on receipt of an 
 application made by three-fourths of the members of a registered society, 
 is of opinion that the society ought to be dissolved, he may cancel the registra- 
 tion of the society. 
 
 (2) Any member of a society may, within two months from the date of an 
 order made under sub-section (i) appeal from such order. 
 
 {3) Where no appeal is presented within two months from the making of 
 an order cancelling the registration of a society, the order shall take effect 
 on the expiration of that period. 
 
 (4) Where an appeal is presented within two months, the order shall not 
 take effect until it is confirmed by the appellate authority. 
 
 (5) The authority to which appeals under this section shall lie shall be the 
 High Commissioner in Council. 
 
 (6) Any cancellation or the result of any appeal shall be published in the 
 Cyprus Gazette, and be posted up in the town or village or group of villages 
 in which the society has operated. 
 
 41. The Registrar shall, by order in writing, cancel the registration of 
 the society if at any time it is proved to his satisfaction that the number 
 of the members has been reduced to less than twelve. Provided that if the 
 number shall be reduced below twelve by the death of a member, a period 
 of two months may be allowed by the Registrar for the election of a new 
 member. 
 
 42. Where the registration of a society is cancelled the society shall cease 
 to exist as a corporate body — 
 
 (a) in the case of cancellation in accordance with the provisions of 
 section 40, from the date the order of cancellation takes effect ; 
 
 (b) in the case of cancellation in accordance with the provisions of 
 section 41, from the date of the order. 
 
 43. — (i) Where the registration of a society is cancelled under section 40 
 or section 4 1 , the Registrar may appoint a competent person to be liquidator 
 of the society and may remove him. 
 
 (2) A hquidator appointed under sub-section (i) shall have power — 
 (a) to take possession of all the assets of the society and all books and 
 
 documents of such society ; 
 (6) to institute and defend suits and other legal proceedings on behalf 
 of the society by his name of office ; 
 
 (c) to determine the contribution to be made by the members and past 
 members of the society respectively to the assets of the society ; 
 
 (d) to investigate all claims against the society, and subject to the
 
 APPENDIX II. 191 
 
 provisions of this Law to decide questions of priority arising between 
 the claimants ; 
 (e) to determine by what persons and in what proportion the costs of 
 
 the Uquidation are to be borne ; and 
 (/) to give such directions in regard to the collection and distribution of 
 the assets of the society as may appear to him to be necessary for 
 winding up the affairs of the society. 
 (3) Where an appeal from any order made by a liquidator under this section 
 is provided for by the rules, it shall lie to the District Court. Such an appeal 
 shall lie in cases of a decision under sub-section (2) (c), [d], and (c). 
 
 44. Subject to any rules, a liquidator appointed under this Law shall, 
 in so far as such powers are necessary for carrying out the purposes of this 
 Law, have power to summon and enforce the attendance of witnesses, to 
 examine witnesses on oath and to compel the production of accounts, books 
 and documents in the same manner and with the same powers as those 
 possessed by a District Court or a Judge thereof. 
 
 45. Orders made under section 43 shall, on application, be enforced as 
 follows : — 
 
 (a) when made by a liquidator, by any Civil Court having local juris- 
 diction in the same manner as a decree of such Court ; 
 
 {b) when made by a District Court on appeal, in the same manner as a 
 decree of such Court made in any suit pending therein. 
 
 46. Save in so far as is hereinbefore expressly provided, no Civil Court shall 
 have any jurisdiction in respect of any matter connected with the dissolution 
 of a society under this Law. 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 47. All sums due from a society or from an officer or member or past 
 member of a society as such to the Government, including any costs awarded 
 to the Government under section 43, may be recovered in the same manner 
 as arrears of revenue. Sums due from a registered society to Government 
 and recoverable as above may be recovered, firstly, from the property of 
 the society and, secondly, from the members or, if they are deceased, from 
 their estates. 
 
 Rules. 
 48. — (i) The High Commissioner in Council may make rules to carry out 
 the purposes of this Law. 
 
 (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing 
 power, such rules may — 
 
 {a) prescribe the forms to be used and the conditions to be complied 
 with in the making of applications for the registration of a society 
 and the procedure in the matter of such applications ; 
 
 (b) prescribe the matters in respect of which a society may or shall make 
 bye-laws and for the procedure to be followed in making, altering and 
 abrogating bye-laws, and the conditions to be satisfied prior to such 
 making, alteration or abrogation ; 
 
 (c) prescribe the conditions to be complied with by persons applying 
 for admission or admitted as members, and provide for the election 
 and admission of members, and the payment (if any) to be made 
 before the exercise of the right of membership ; 
 
 (d) provide for general meetings of the members and for the procedure 
 at such meetings and the powers to be exercised by such meetings ; 
 
 (e) provide for the constitution, appointment, suspension and removal 
 of the members of the committee and council and other officers, and 
 for the procedure at meetings of the committee and council, and for 
 the powers to be exercised and the duties to be performed by the 
 committee and council and other ofTicers ;
 
 192 CYPRUS UNDER BRITISH RULE 
 
 (/) prescribe the accounts and books to be kept by a society and provide 
 for the audit of such accounts and the charges, if any, to be made 
 for such audit, and for the periodical pubhcation of a balance-sheet 
 showing the assets and liabilities of a society ; 
 
 (g) prescribe the returns to be submitted by a society to the Registrar 
 and provide for the persons by whom and the form in which such 
 returns shall be submitted ; 
 
 (A) provide for the persons by whom and the form in which copies of 
 entries in books of societies may be certified ; 
 
 (?) provide for the formation and maintenance of a register of members ; 
 
 (/) provide that any dispute touching the business of a society between 
 members or past members of the society or persons claiming through 
 a member or past member or between a member or past member or 
 persons so claiming and the committee or any officer shall be referred 
 to the Registrar for decision, or if he so directs to arbitration, and 
 prescribe the mode of appointing an arbitrator or arbitrators and the 
 procedure to be followed in proceedings before the Registrar or such 
 arbitrator or arbitrators, and the enforcement of the decisions of the 
 Registrar or the awards of arbitrators ; 
 
 (k) provide for the withdrawal and expulsion of members and for the 
 liabilities of past members ; 
 
 (/) prescribe the amount, the rate of interest and other conditions upon 
 which a society may borrow loans or accept deposits, and the periods 
 for which such loans and deposits may be accepted and made ; 
 
 (w) prescribe the conditions to be compiled with by the members applj-ing 
 for loans, the period for which loans may be made, and the amount 
 which may be lent, to an individual member or in the aggregate ; 
 
 (w) provide for the formation and maintenance of reserve funds, and the 
 objects to which such funds may be applied, and for the investment 
 of any funds under the control of the society ; 
 
 (o) prescribe the extent to which a society may limit the number of 
 its members ; 
 
 (/)) subject to the provisions of section 43. determine in what cases an 
 appeal shall lie from the orders of the Registrar and prescribe the 
 procedure to be followed in presenting and disposing of such appeals ; 
 and 
 
 ((/) prescribe the procedure to be followed by a liquidator appointed 
 under section 43, and the cases other than those provided in section 43 
 in which an appeal shall lie from the order of such liquidator. 
 49. All rules made under section 48 shall be published in the Cyprus Gazette 
 and on such publication shall have effect as if enacted in this Law. 
 
 Passed in Council the fifth day of J une, in the year of Our Lord one thousand 
 nine hundred and fourteen. 
 
 E. H. Heidenstam, 
 
 Clerk of Council. 
 
 J'rinted in Great Britain for Robert Scott, PMflishtr, Paternoster Row, London 
 ty Jarrolu & Sons, Ltd., Norwich,
 
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