There Is No Necessity For The Government To Embark In Any Uncertain
Enterprise, Neither Should They Interfere With The Native Methods Of
Irrigation; And Above All Things, No Money Should Leave The Island To
Fill The Pockets Of English Contractors In The Purchase Of Pumps, Or
Other Inventions.
All that is required by the Cypriote is capital; lend
him the money at 6 per cent.:
The government will be saved all trouble,
and the profit to all parties will be assured. The money expended in the
erection of water-wheels or other works will circulate throughout the
island in the payment of native labour, and will relieve the wants of
many who, in the absence of land, must earn their livelihood by manual
labour. "Water!" is the cry throughout this neglected island; it has
been the cry in Eastern lands from time immemorial, when in the thirsty
desert Moses smote the rock, and the stream gushed forth for multitudes;
when Elijah mocked the priests of Baal with, "Call him louder!" in their
vain appeal for rain, and the "little cloud, no bigger than a man's
hand," rose upon the horizon in answer to his prayer. In the savage
tribes of Africa, the "rain-maker" occupies the position of priest and
chief. In England, the clergy offer prayers for either rain or for fine
weather. In Cyprus the farmer places the small picture of the Virgin
upon his field, before which he lights his tapers, which the wind
extinguishes; at the same time THE WATER-SUPPLY IS CLOSE BENEATH HIS
FEET, and the expenditure of a few pounds sterling would produce a
permanent blessing and uninterrupted prosperity by practical common
sense and labour, without any miraculous interposition in his behalf.
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