The excise consists of a per centage on the sale of wine, spirits, shot, lead, earthenware, snuff, tobacco, and salt; of tolls on produce brought into the towns for sale; of fees for permission to distil, to roast and grind coffee, and to be a public weigher; also of a tax on taking animals to the grazing grounds,[J] and of licenses to fish for eels and leeches: these are caught plentifully in the plain of Gabella when flooded, and are of good quality.
Revenue.—The taxes of the province produce annually about 9,135,000 piastres, taking the piastre at 2d. English.
This sum may be divided as follows: viz.—
| Piastres | |
| Virgu | 1,700,000 |
| Tithes | 5,000,000 |
| Monayene-askereh | 1,285,000 |
| Customs | 600,000 |
| Excise | 550,000 |
| ———— | |
| Total | 9,135,000 |
The above shows that the province yields to the imperial treasury a yearly sum of about 79,000l. sterling, from a taxation of about 8s. per head on the population. The amount may appear small; but when it is considered that the taxes are not equitably levied, that the heaviest share falls upon the poorest inhabitants, and that a great part of the amount is in direct taxation, it cannot be considered light. The burden, too, weighs with undue severity upon the faithful subjects of the Porte, since they are compelled to pay the share which would fall upon those who have rebelled against the Turkish authority.
There is one branch of the public administration which eminently requires readjustment. This is the police force. Ill-paid and badly organised, it follows as a matter of course that it is inefficient to perform the duties required of it. It is divided into horse and foot, and is paid as follows per month:—
| Horse | Piastres |
| Binbashee (or Chief Officer) | 1,000 per month |
| Uzbashee (or Captain) | 600 " |
| Tchonch (Corporal or Sergeant) | 250 " |
| Nefer (Private) | 150 " |
| Foot | Piastres |
| Tchonch | 100 per month |
| Nefer | 75 " |
The Zaptiehs have frequently duties to perform which should only be intrusted to men of honesty and sagacity, and it is consequently of great importance to render the service attractive to trustworthy men. To effect this the pay, more especially in the lower grades, should be increased, and circumspection used in the selection of recruits. At present this is far from being the case, many men of notoriously bad character being employed, and these are driven to peculation and theft for the means of supporting life. The mounted portion find their own horses and forage, is very dear in many parts of the province.