I Closed My Account Of Cyprus In August; Since Which Fruits
Have Ripened And Various Changes Have Developed--All Have Afforded
Information.
Taxation in kind, and Government valuation of produce while growing, has
been a crying evil that I have endeavoured to bring before the public as
one of those instances of injustice which stamps the oppressive system
of the Turkish administration; this unfortunately has not yet been
abolished by the British Government.
I have already described the
arbitrary and unjust laws that fetter the all-important wine trade,
which is the principal industry of Limasol; but since I forwarded the
manuscript to England I have myself witnessed the miserable effects of
the present laws during the advance of the season in ripening the
produce of the vineyards.
Three weeks ago I walked for some hours through the boundless extent of
grape cultivation at the foot of the mountains below the village of
Phyni; at that time the crop was ripe, and should have been gathered.
The bunches of dark red were equal to the finest hot-house grapes of
England, both in weight and in size of berries; the black were about the
average of the Black Hamburg; the white were smaller and about the size
of the common "sweet-water." A day or two ago I again visited the same
vineyards; the grapes had not been gathered, and I computed that at
least one-third of the crop was destroyed by the delay. The magnificent
bunches of dark red were for the most part shrivelled, one-half the
berries upon each cluster being reduced to the appearance of raisins,
and utterly devoid of juice, while many of the other varieties were
completely withered.
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