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A NEW WAY TO BE DUCE OLD TAXES 119 village of his diocese. Another was thought a model of decorum and discipline because he asked leave, instead of taking it, to keep a couple of mistresses ; and the present Archbishop of Nicosia, who is really a respectable man, is regarded as an absolute saint because no such romances are connected with him. The behaviour of the Turks is in many ways superior to that of the Greeks ; but with regard to the point to which we are now alluding I am not quite sure that their superiority is very decided. The following story makes me feel doubtful. During the early years of the British occupation it fell, Colonel Falkland told me, to the lot of a friend of his to superintend the collection of taxes in certain parts of the island. One day the person in question had been up betimes in the morning, and having visited already two Turkish villages, arrived about noon at a third. Here he was given breakfast at the house of the principal inhabitant, and while the meal was in progress an official report was brought to him of the taxes that still were owing there. Half the people, it seemed, had that j;ear paid nothing. He asked why. He was told that the people were poor. ' Who,' he asked, ' are the richest ? ' The names of the richest were read to him. ' Have these men paid ? ' he asked. The answer was, ' No, not one of them.' ' Well,' he said to his subordinate, ' Ave will begin with them. Make them pay first, and Ave Avili see Avhat Ave will do aftenvards.' His host, who Avas

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