Cyprus, As I Saw It In 1879 By Sir Samuel White Baker





















































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This is for property in land (Arazi).

As to the freehold property (Emlak), the male inhabitants two-thirds and
the - Page 223
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This Is For Property In Land (Arazi).

As to the freehold property (Emlak), the male inhabitants two-thirds and the female one-third; but it is very difficult to enumerate the various shades of division which are always made by the cadis according to the Cheni law; there is no Nizam law in this respect.

All system of endorsment on Kotshan is abolished.

The duty on transfer in succession of a freehold property is half the fees on transfer by sale.

In transferring by sale the fees are 1 per cent. on the value, if this freehold property is a real one (Emlaki Serfi); and 3 per cent. if it is vacouf freehold property (Emlak Meocoofi). Besides this 3 piastres as price of paper, and 1 piastre as clerks' fees (Riataki) are paid for every new Kotshan.

The lands (Arazi) pay 5 per cent. indifferently on transfer by sale and on transfer by succession.

The custom is to value lands at one year's rental, or value of products.

If a house is occupied by the owner no tax on rental is demanded; the only tax demanded in that case being that on the proportionate value.

The proportionate values of real properties are not assessed for a fixed period. Therefore the value, once assessed, can remain the same for many years, or it can be altered in the annual inspections of the Vakouat Riatibs according to an increase or decrease of value that may take place on account of repairs, a general rise of value, or partial or entire destruction by fire, rain, &c.

The poverty of the agricultural classes was so generally acknowledged even by the Turkish administration that it was absolutely necessary to relieve them by some external assistance; it was therefore resolved in 1869 to create an "Agricultural Bank and a Locust Fund;" the principles of this establishment are sufficiently original to attract attention.

In 1871 the Turkish government issued a decree that all cultivators of the ground should pay to the authorities a sum of money equal to the price of one kilo of wheat and one of barley for every pair of oxen in their possession, in order to create a capital for the new bank. The number of oxen would represent the scale of every holding, as they would exhibit the proportion of ploughs required upon the farm, and thus yield an approximate estimate of the area.

This arbitrary call upon the resources of the impoverished farmers was an eccentric financial operation in the ostensible cause of assistance, but it produced a capital of 169,028 piastres. The rate of interest upon loans to individuals, or for particular districts, for the purpose of destroying locusts was 8 per cent. previous to the year 1875, and was increased to 12 per cent. since that period. Receipts for all sums borrowed for the public benefit of locust destruction were signed by the head-men and members of councils of villages.

At first sight the establishment of an agricultural bank sounded propitious as a step in the right direction, but, according to the conditions of all loans, it became usurious, and saddled the unfortunate farmers after a few bad seasons with debts that could never be paid off. If X borrowed 1000 pounds, he received only 880 pounds, as the year's interest was deducted in advance, but he was afterwards charged compound interest at 12 per cent.

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