The police or zaphtiehs are generally too far from these wild localities to be of any service, and they are at present too few for the proper supervision of the island. A plan is I believe in contemplation to extend this body upon a scale that will render the force efficient as a gendarmerie, which would to a considerable degree relieve the necessity for a permanent European military force. There can be no better soldier than the Turk under British officers. The Christians in Cyprus have an objection to this service, and there is no reason why a military force to combine the duties of police should not be organised, that would be thoroughly acclimatised, and would at the same time be maintained for less than half the expense of English troops. There is nothing to fear from the Turkish population in Cyprus, and they would willingly enlist in our service, and could always be depended upon in case of necessity. The force already organised is an admirable nucleus, and could be rapidly increased; each man finds his own horse and receives two shillings a day inclusive; his clothes and arms being provided by the government. For service in the trying climate of Cyprus the Turk is pre-eminent. I do not see any need for the presence of British troops in this island. The fortresses are all dismantled, the natives are peaceful, and the extremely low price of wine and spirits is terribly adverse to the sanitary condition of the English soldier. The staunch sobriety of the Turk, his extreme hardihood, which enables him to endure great fatigue upon the most simple fare, and his amenity to discipline, together with an instinctive knowledge of arms and a natural capacity for a military profession, render him a valuable material for our requirements in organising a defensive force in Cyprus. Should it be determined that a certain number of British troops shall be retained, they can be spared unnecessary exposure, and retire to the mountain sanatorium during the summer months.
The wages of both artisans and ordinary labourers have risen considerably since the British occupation, as might have been expected. Skilled masons and carpenters can now command from 3 shillings 6 pence to 5 shillings per diem, who formerly could earn a maximum of 3 shillings. Ordinary masons for building walls can even now be obtained for 2 shillings 6 pence and 3 shillings, and agricultural labourers receive 1 shilling. It is probable that should extensive government improvements be undertaken, or large contracts be made by private individuals for public works, the rate will rise from one shilling to eighteen pence, as the demand for labour shall increase. Should schools be established and education become general throughout the island, the result will probably be exhibited by a corresponding advance in wages, as individuals will estimate their value at a higher rate. At present there is no organised system of education for the peasantry, and the few schools are confined to Nicosia, Larnaca, Limasol, Baffo, and Morphu, all of which are supported by original grants, voluntary contributions, the payments of pupils, and by certain sums annually provided by the bishops and monasteries.
The rate of wages should in all countries bear a just proportion to the price of food, and should the habits of the Cypriotes remain unchanged, and their diet retain its simple character, there is no reason to anticipate a rate that would eventually exceed 10 shillings or 11 shillings a week. If we determine upon low wages, we must keep down the price of food. The Turkish administration had peculiar municipal laws upon this subject which are still in force in some localities, but have been abrogated in Limasol. I have already mentioned that the price of meat was fixed at a certain sum per oke, so that good and bad sold at the same figure, and resulted in the inferior qualities being sent to market, while the best never appeared. Fish, fruits, and vegetables were rated in the same manner, and the municipal authorities ruled, and fixed a standard price for everything; good and bad all shared alike. By this extraordinary legislation, which to the English mind is inconceivable, the finest cauliflowers and the most common varieties would sell exactly at the same price; no matter what the quality of vegetables might be, all were reduced to the same level. Fish was simply fish. The best varieties and the most inferior were included in the same despotic law. Salmon and stickleback, turbot and sprat, herrings and soles, would (had they existed) have been sold at so much a pound independent of their qualities. The result was that if your servant went to market to buy a fine species of fish, the seller insisted upon his taking a due proportion of inferior trash that was hardly eatable. "All was fish that came to the net;" little and big, good and bad, fetched the same price.
Such a system would ensure the worst of everything; what gardener would devote his energies to producing fine varieties, if a common field cabbage would rival his choicest specimens at the same price, but at a minimum of labour?
It was evident that the lowest class of vegetables would represent the garden produce, as this absurd rule was a premium for indolence, whereas free competition, that would have assured high prices to the best qualities, would have stimulated the cultivators in their productions. This argument was so indisputable that the chief commissioner (Colonel Warren, R.A.) determined at all hazards to introduce free markets into Limasol; and although opposed to the conservative ideas of his municipal council, he carried out his views of a healthy competition and free and unrestricted trade, which would awaken the Cypriotes to the fact that labour properly directed would ensure the best qualities, that would benefit the producer by securing the best prices.
Self-evident facts in an English community may be utterly misconstrued in Cyprus. The Cypriote has never been accustomed to unrestricted freedom, but like his own ox in the plough, he requires a certain amount of control, and his energies must be directed by a driver or ruler. When the vegetables were assured of a certain fixed price per oke regulated by the authorities, he knew that he would obtain that amount for his produce whether good or bad; accordingly he brought his goods to market. But, when he found that his inferior vegetables would remain unsold, or would realise a mere trifle should a competitor's stall present a superior show, he withdrew altogether from the market, which at length became deserted; and the few who maintained their positions advanced their prices to such an exorbitant degree that vegetables became a luxury in which none could indulge but the rich. The fishermen profited by the reform and only caught sufficient for the minimum demand, but at the same time that they reduced their own labour and consequently the supply of fish, they also took advantage of the new law of free trade, and advanced their prices in extortionate proportion. Instead of the self-evident prosperity that would benefit all classes, the sudden liberty to which the Cypriote was unaccustomed acted diametrically against all English expectations, and for the time ruined the market. This was told me by Colonel Warren himself, and the failure of the apparently wholesome reform is suggestive of the danger that may result in the too sudden enfranchisement of those races which from a long series of oppression are unfit for perfect liberty.
At the same time there can be no doubt that the vexatious and arbitrary systems of taxation pursued in collecting the "dimes" has prevented the extension of market gardens, and were this tax remitted, I cannot imagine any more lucrative occupation than the growth of vegetables of the best quality for the FREE markets of the principal towns.
Some encouragement is necessary in promoting exhibitions, or horticultural shows, accompanied by substantial prizes, in various localities; and I should not be dismayed by the failure of the first well-meant attempt at reform in Limasol.
When I was at Limasol in May the price of cauliflowers was 2 pence the oke (2.75 lbs). Fish was dear at 2 shillings the oke; mutton 8 pence the oke. Beef is seldom eaten by the Cypriotes; potatoes are good, and are usually 1 penny the lb. Flour, best, 8 pence the oke. If a sheep should be purchased alive, and be killed for home consumption, the mutton should not exceed 3 pence per lb. for the best quality, leaving the skin, head, &c., as profit.
There are two varieties of sheep; the fat-tailed species supplies the best mutton, but the wool of both is coarse, and is exported to Trieste and Marseilles to the amount of about 400,000 lbs. annually. A large trade in lamb skins is a necessary result of the slaughter of a considerable proportion of lambs every winter and spring, owing to the usual scarcity of pasturage, which limits the increase of the flocks. The entire yield of skins is absorbed by Trieste and Marseilles.