It is time for the
government to put an end to these grievances, which
indeed threaten to destroy one of the best resources
of the island."
In 1877 Consul Watkins reports:--
"The manufacture of wine here is greatly on the
decrease; for, owing to all sorts of unreasonable
regulations, and to the vexatious mode of their
application, cultivators now prefer making their grapes
into raisins."
Here we have consecutive official reports from three different British
consuls during 1875-1877. The British occupation took place in 1878--I
am writing in 1879--and although the grievances of the Cyprian
wine-growers were sufficiently aggravated to call for the vigorous
reports and protests of three different British consuls during the
Turkish administration, no amelioration of their condition has been
effected during twelve months of British rule.
Captain Savile, in his excellent digest of all that concerns this
island, writes:--
"The grievances connected with the culture of the
vines and the manufacture of wine which are alluded
to in the consular reports, existed as long ago as 1863,
and were then mentioned by Consul White, who says
that the peasants were even then beginning to find it
more profitable to sell their grapes, or to make them
into raisins, rather than, by turning them into wine, to
subject themselves to the duty lately imposed over and
above the tithe and export duties, which were collected
in a very harassing manner. The growers have had
to pay, under the tax called `dimes,' an eighth part of
the produce of grapes to the treasury; but this could
not be taken in kind, so a money value was fixed yearly
by the local medjlis, or fixed tribunal; but as the assessment
was based on the market-price at the chief town
of the district, instead of the value at the place of
growth, this tax, instead of being about 12.5 per cent.,
in reality amounted to over 20 per cent. Then again
when the wine was made, an excise duty of 10 per
cent. was levied, and on export, a tax of 8 per cent.
had to be paid. The natural consequence of these
excessive impositions has been the diminution of a
culture for which the island is particularly adapted.
Consul Lang suggests that it might be wise to free this
production from all tax, except a proper export duty."
How easy it is to be generous at the expense of others!--here are
(including Consuls White and Lang) no less than five British consuls who
have been protesting against this instance of oppression and injustice
since the year 1862, and it would naturally have been expected that one
of our first acts upon assuming the government of Cyprus would have been
to abolish an abuse that had excited the remonstrances of our own
representatives. The fact is that we were reduced to a financial ebb of
the gravest character by the absorption at Constantinople of an unfair
proportion of the revenue, and our government was not in a position to
risk a reduction of income by such an important change in the system of
taxation. The Cypriotes have nevertheless derived a collateral advantage
from the change of rulers, as the extreme grievances to which the
consular reports allude were aggravated by the farmers of taxes, who no
longer exist. These people were extortioners of the worst description,
and the bribes and extra payments extracted from the vine-growers are
represented in the gross sum mentioned as amounting to 40 per cent. upon
the general produce of the vineyard. The reforms already established by
the abolition of the nefarious system of tax-farming have relieved the
vine-growers from the most serious oppression, but sufficient abuses
remain to demand a radical change, if the industry for which Cyprus is
specially adapted by nature is to be encouraged.
As I have described in outline the rude method of cultivation and the
manufacture of wine from the first bursting of the young vines, I will
now examine the system of arbitrary interference to which the vine-
grower is exposed through the successive stages of his employment.
The first tax is perfectly fair, as it is calculated according to the
rateable value of the land, which is divided into three classes. These
qualities of soil vary in the valuation from
No. 1 = 500 piastres the donum (about half an acre) to
No. 3 = 100 piastres the donum
The malliea, or annual tax upon these valuations per donum, is 2 per
cent.
When the grapes are nearly ripe, they must be valued before the
proprietor has a right to gather his crop. He is obliged to present
himself at the government office at Limasol, many miles from his estate,
to petition for the attendance of the official valuer, called the
"mahmoor," upon a certain day. This may or may not be granted, but at
all events one or two days have been expended in the journey.
Should the mahmoor arrive, which he frequently does not, at the
appointed time, the medjlis, or council of the villages, appoints a
special arbitrator to represent their (the vine-growers) interests, and
he accompanies the government official during his examination of the
vineyards. After a certain amount of haggling and discussion, an
approximate weight of grapes is agreed upon, the mahmoor declaring the
ultimate amount far above the actual crop per donum: and the tax is
determined according to their quality, resolved into two classes:--
No. 1, the commanderia, and other superior varieties, pay 25 paras the oke.
No. 2, all other grapes pay 16 paras the oke.
But these taxes. are modified according to the abundance and quality of
the grapes in each successive season, being sometimes more or less than
the figures given.
