There Is No Necessity For The Government To Embark In Any Uncertain
Enterprise, Neither Should They Interfere With The Native Methods Of
Irrigation; And Above All Things, No Money Should Leave The Island To
Fill The Pockets Of English Contractors In The Purchase Of Pumps, Or
Other Inventions.
All that is required by the Cypriote is capital; lend
him the money at 6 per cent.:
The government will be saved all trouble,
and the profit to all parties will be assured. The money expended in the
erection of water-wheels or other works will circulate throughout the
island in the payment of native labour, and will relieve the wants of
many who, in the absence of land, must earn their livelihood by manual
labour. "Water!" is the cry throughout this neglected island; it has
been the cry in Eastern lands from time immemorial, when in the thirsty
desert Moses smote the rock, and the stream gushed forth for multitudes;
when Elijah mocked the priests of Baal with, "Call him louder!" in their
vain appeal for rain, and the "little cloud, no bigger than a man's
hand," rose upon the horizon in answer to his prayer. In the savage
tribes of Africa, the "rain-maker" occupies the position of priest and
chief. In England, the clergy offer prayers for either rain or for fine
weather. In Cyprus the farmer places the small picture of the Virgin
upon his field, before which he lights his tapers, which the wind
extinguishes; at the same time THE WATER-SUPPLY IS CLOSE BENEATH HIS
FEET, and the expenditure of a few pounds sterling would produce a
permanent blessing and uninterrupted prosperity by practical common
sense and labour, without any miraculous interposition in his behalf.
There are few countries where such facilities exist for irrigation, and
the work should be commenced without delay. Should next year be one of
drought like the spring of 1879, the greatest misery will befall the
population; there is already sufficient disappointment in the want of
progress since the British occupation, and the feeling will be
intensified should the assistance of government be withheld in this
crying necessity of artificial irrigation.
The Cypriote well-sinker is wonderfully clever in discovering springs,
and I have already described the method of multiplying the water-power
of one source by securing and concentrating the neighbouring sources.
This work only requires money, and the inhabitants, without further
assistance than loans secured by a water-rate upon the district, will
rapidly develop the natural supply. There should be a special commission
appointed, in each of the six districts of Cyprus, to investigate and
report officially upon this subject. In forming the commission, care
should be taken that the native element should predominate, and that no
enthusiastic English engineer, blooming with new schemes, should thrust
into shadow the Cyprian intelligence upon the working of their own
systems. If I were an English engineer employed in any work, I should
probably have the natural failing of enforcing my own opinions; but from
many years' experience I have come to the conclusion that the
inhabitants of a country are generally better qualified than strangers
for giving practical opinions upon their own locations.
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