He Could Not Cut His Cauliflowers In Cyprus Until His Crop Of
Unblown Plants Had Been Valued By An Official
And while he might be
waiting for this well-hated spirit of evil, his cauliflower-heads would
have expanded into
Coral-like projections and have become utterly
valueless except for pig-feeding. I cannot conceive a more extravagant
instance of oppression than this system of taxation, which throws
enormous powers of extortion into the hands of the official valuer. This
person can oppose by delays and superlative estimates the vital
interests of the proprietors; if the property is large, the owner will
be only too glad to silence his opposition by a considerable bribe; the
poor must alike contribute, or submit to be the victim of delays which,
with perishable articles such as vegetables, represent his ruin. Is it
surprising that the villages of the desolate plain of Messaria are for
the most part devoid of fruit-trees? We are preaching to the Cypriotes
the advantage of planting around their dwellings, as though they were
such idiots as to be ignorant that "he who sows the wind will reap the
whirlwind." If they plant fruit-trees under the present laws they are
planting curses which will entail the misery of inquisitorial visits and
the most objectionable and oppressive form of an unjust taxation. As the
law at present stands, the amount of fruit is ridiculously small, and
the quality inferior, while cultivated vegetables are difficult to
obtain. Can any other result be expected under the paralysing effect of
Turkish laws?
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