If Cyprus Belonged To England Or Any Other Power, It Would Be A Valuable
Acquisition.
We have seen that under the Turkish administration it was a
small mine of wealth, and remains in the same position to its recent
masters.
We pay 96,000 pounds sterling per annum to the Turks, out of an assumed
revenue of 170,000 pounds. Therefore, without any trouble or risk, the
Turk is receiving 3.25 per cent. interest upon three millions. This
establishes an unfortunate precedent in the valuation of the island
should England eventually become a purchaser.
If Cyprus can, without undue taxation, afford a revenue of 170,000
pounds, it is palpable that a large margin would be available for those
absolutely necessary public works--irrigation, the control of the Pedias
river, road-making, harbour-works, bridges, extension of forests and
guardians, and a host of minor improvements, such as district schools
for the teaching of English, &c. &c. In fact, if we held Cyprus without
purchase as a conquered country, such as Ceylon, Mauritius, or other of
our colonies, it would occupy the extraordinary position of a colony
that could advance and pay its way entirely by its own surplus revenue,
without a public loan! This is a fact of great importance--that, in
spite of the usual Turkish mal-administration, the island has no debt,
but that England has acknowledged the success of the Turkish rule by
paying 96,000 pounds per annum as the accepted surplus revenue of this
misgoverned island!--which holds upon these data a better financial
condition than any of our own colonies.
If the total gross revenue is 170,000 pounds a year, and we can afford
to pay 96,000 pounds to the Porte, and at the same time allow the home
government to boast in the House of Commons of "a surplus," Cyprus is
one of the most lucrative positions, and the Turks can fairly claim a
success instead of admitting the blame of mal-administration.
If the Turks by mismanagement can obtain a nett revenue of 96,000 pounds
a year, how much should England obtain by good management?
The fact is that, as usual, the English government has been hoodwinked
in their hasty bargain. The island can pay its way, and, if free from
Turkey, would become most prosperous; but we have inherited an estate so
heavily mortgaged by our foolish Convention, that the revenue is all
absorbed in interest, which leaves nothing for the necessities of
development. The commissioners of districts are over-worked and
ill-paid, their allowance of interpreters is quite insufficient to
secure the necessary check; and their position is incompatible with the
importance of their official status. There is no money for any
improvements, and the boasted surplus will just suffice for the payment
of salaries and the absolutely necessary items of carrying on a
government more in accordance with the position of Greece or Denmark
than with the historical reputation of Great Britain.
This financial embarrassment has disappointed the expectations of the
inhabitants, who naturally had anticipated brilliant advantages from the
reform between Turkish and English administrations.
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