The Amount
Recovered In The First Six Months Of The Current Year Was 743,775
Piastres.
The estimate for the entire year may therefore be safely taken
at 1,102,000 piastres, or 9,500 pounds.
Customs.
We now come to the indirect taxes. I hope on a future occasion to
describe, more fully than time will allow at present, the effect of the
existing customs tariff in the past, and the modifications that may be
made under British administration in this important branch of the public
revenue, and in the excise on tobacco and spirits. It is sufficient to
say at present that the customs revenue is derived from a duty of 8 per
cent. upon imports and 1 per cent. upon exports, and that the receipts
of the last five years give an average of 981,405 piastres, or 8,460
pounds. The increased population and trade consequent upon the British
occupation of the island have already had a sensible effect upon the
revenue. The collections in the first four months of the current
official year under Turkish rule amounted to 268, 718 piastres, or 2,316
pounds. In the next two months of British administration they amounted
to 305,386 piastres, or 2,632 pounds, being an increase of over 127 per
cent., and that without any change in the tariff or the customs
regulations. A continuance of this rate may safely be reckoned upon for
the next six months, and the revenue of the entire year is therefore
estimated at 1,554,400 piastres, or 13,400 pounds.
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