HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
uses Google technology and indexes only and selectively internet - libraries having books with free public access
 
  Previous Next  

SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 457

View PDF version of this page

House of Commons of &quot;a surplus &quot; Cyprus is on of the most lucrative positions, and the Turks can fairly claim a success instead of admitting the blamejj of mal-administration. If the Turks by mismanagement can obtain a nett revenue of ,£96,000 a year, how much should England?] obtain by good management ? The fact is that, as usual, the English government has'< been hoodwinked in their hasty bargain. The island! can pay its way, and, if free from Turkey, would become^ most prosperous ; but we have inherited an estate sci heavily mortgaged by our foolish Convention, that thei revenue is all absorbed in interest, which leaves nothing for the necessities of development. The commissioners.] of districts are over-worked and ill-paid, their allowance of interpreters is quite insufficient to secure the necessary check, and their position is incompatible with the importance of their official status. There is no money for any improvements, and the boasted surplus will just suffice for the payment of salaries and the absolutely necessary items of carrying on a government more in accordance with the position of Greece or Denmark than with the historical reputation of Great Britain. This financial embarrassment has disappointed the expectations of the inhabitants, who naturally had anticipated brilliant advantages from the reform between Turkish and English administrations. My own opinion may be valueless, but it is shared by many ; Cyprus should belong absolutely to England, or we should have nothing to do with it. I repeat the dictum expressed in the introduction ; if England is the ally of Turkey and she can depend upon the integrity of that defensive alliance against Russia, there is no need for any station that incurs the

View PDF version of this page


  Previous First Next