The Pay Was Absurdly Small, And He Was Obliged To Institute
Reforms Both For Sanitary And Municipal Interests Which Necessitated An
Outlay, And Increased The Local Taxation.
The population had been led to
expect a general diminution of imposts upon the suddenly-conceived
British occupation, and
The Cypriotes somewhat resembled the frogs in
the fable when the new King Log arrived with a tremendous splash which
created waves of hope upon the surface of the pool, but subsided into
disappointment; they found that improvements cost money, and that
British reforms, although they bestowed indirect benefits, were
accompanied by a direct expenditure. The calm apathy of a Cypriote is
not easily disturbed; he is generally tolerably sober, or if drunk, he
is seldom the "WORSE for liquor," but rather the better, as his usual
affectionate disposition may be slightly exaggerated, instead of
becoming pugnacious and abusive like the inebriated Briton. There are no
people more affectionate in their immediate domestic circle, or more
generally courteous and gentle, than the Cypriotes, but like a good many
English people, they have an aversion to increased taxation. Thus,
although the British commissioners of districts vied with each other in
a healthy ambition to exhibit a picture of paradise in their special
localities, the people grumbled at the cost of cleanliness and health
within their towns, and would have preferred the old time of
manure-heaps and bad smells gratis to the new regime of civilisation for
which they had to pay.
The Greek element is generally combustible, and before the first year of
our occupation had expired various causes of discontent awakened
Philhellenic aspirations; a society was organised under the name of the
"Cypriote Fraternity," as a political centre from which emissaries would
be employed for the formation of clubs in various districts with the
object of inspiring the population with the noble desire of adding
Cyprus to the future Greek kingdom. Corfu had been restored to Greece;
why should not Cyprus be added to her crown? There would be sympathisers
in the British Parliament, some of whom had already taken up the cause
of the Greek clergy in their disputes with the local authorities, and
the Greeks of the island had discovered that no matter what the merits
of their case might be, they could always depend upon some members of
the House of Commons as their advocates, against the existing government
and their own countrymen. Under these favourable conditions for
political agitation the "Cypriote Fraternity" has commenced its
existence. I do not attach much importance to this early conceived
movement, as Greeks, although patriotic, have too much shrewdness to
sacrifice an immediate profit for a prospective shadow. The island
belongs at this moment to the Sultan, and the English are simply tenants
under stipulated conditions. Before Cyprus could belong to Greece it
must be severed from the Ottoman Empire, and should England be
sufficiently wayward to again present herself to the world as the
spoiled child of fortune, and deliver over her new acquisition according
to the well-remembered precedent of Corfu, the monetary value of all
property in Cyprus would descend to zero, and the "Cypriote Fraternity,"
if householders or landowners, would raise the Greek standard over
shattered fortunes.
The total of population within the entire district of Limasol in 1879
represented 23,530, comprising 12,159 males and 11,371 females, of all
ages.
The following list is the official enumeration of animals and trees
within the same province:--
According to this official statistical representation the cultivated
land would be in proportion to the population about five donums, or two
and a half acres, per individual.
The question of ownership of lands will eventually perplex the
government to a greater extent than many persons would imagine, and the
difficulty attending the verification of titles will increase with every
year's delay.
Before the British occupation, land was of little value, and an extreme
looseness existed in the description of boundaries and landmarks. In the
absence of fences the Cypriote can generally encroach upon any land
adjoining his limit, should it belong to the state. Every season he can
drive his plough a few paces further into his neighbour's holding,
unless prevented, until by degrees he succeeds in acquiring a
considerable accession. The state is the sufferer to an enormous extent
by many years of systematic invasion. Forest land has been felled and
cleared by burning, and the original site is now occupied by vineyards.
The bribery and corruption that pervaded all classes of officials prior
to the British occupation enabled an individual to silence the local
authority, while he in many instances more than doubled his legal
holding. The absence of defined boundaries has facilitated these
encroachments. According to an official report this difficulty is dwelt
upon most forcibly as requiring immediate investigation. The vague
definition in title-deeds, which simply mentions the number of donums,
affords no means of proving an unjust extension; such terms are used as
"the woods bounded by a hill," or "the woods bounded by uncultivated
land," and this indefinite form of expression leaves a margin of
frontier that is practically without limit, unless the invader may be
stopped by arriving within a yard of his nearest neighbour. My
informant, Colonel Warren, R. A., chief commissioner of Limasol, assured
me that some holders of land in his district, whose titles show an
amount of ninety donums, lay claim to ten times the area. There is
hardly a proprietor who does not occupy a ridiculous surplus when
compared with his title-deeds, and the encroachments are even now
proceeding.
This system of land-robbery was connived at by the officials for a
"CONSIDERATION;" old title-deeds were exchanged for new on the
application of the holder, and the seals of the venal authorities
rendered them valid, at the same time that hundreds of acres were
fraudulently transferred from the state.
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