ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE IN CYPRUS FOR 1878-79.
Memorandum on the Revenue and Charges of the Island of Cyprus for the
Five Years from 1873-4 to 1877-8, under Turkish Administration, with an
Estimate for the Year 1878-9, including the Charges of British
Administration of the Island.
In submitting the enclosed statement of the accounts of Cyprus for the
past five years, with the estimate of revenue and expenditure for the
current official year, 1878-79, I propose to describe briefly the
character and operation of the several taxes of the island in the past,
and the considerations that have guided me in framing the estimate for
the present year.
Dimes, or Tithes on Produce of the Land.
This is the Government share of the produce of the land, and constitutes
by far the largest item in the revenue of the island. In the, year 1874
the tithe was raised to an eighth part, or 12 1/2 per cent on the
produce, but that was abandoned in 1876, and the tithe is all that has
been since levied with the sanction of the Turkish Government.
The unit of the Turkish revenue system is the village; then the nahie,
or group of villages; then the caza (canton); then the sandjak
(arrondissement); and, lastly, the vilayet, or province, under a
Governor-General, Director of Finance, and Council of Administration.
Throughout these several stages-from the village to the nahie, caza,
sandjak, and chief place of the vilayet-there are excellent rules for
the check and disposition of the revenues, but they are not observed.
Indeed, in the judicial, as in the revenue and financial administration
of the island, the organisation of establishments and rules of procedure
are commendable in every way, but the rules are unknown to, or ignored
by, the officials employed to administer them.
The tithes are farmed by the Turkish Government to merchants and
speculators in the spring of each year, when the ripening crops enable
all concerned to estimate the extent and quality of the year's produce.
The sale of the tithes (by villages, nahies, or cazas, as may be
preferred) commences in March and ends on the 15th June, and whatever
tithes then remain unsold the Government undertakes to recover through
its own agents.
When the sales are effected the tithe-farmer signs a bond for the
amount, payable in six monthly instalments, commencing from the 1st
August, with interest on instalments not paid at due date. Each
tithe-farmer is required to have a sufficient surety, who also signs the
bond and is jointly and equally responsible with the principal. After
conclusion of the agreement, the tithe-farmer proceeds at once to watch
the fields in which he is interested and to estimate the yield.
