CO885-(11-13) — Page 526

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

885

12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

That section 20 of the draft corresponded to section 20 of the Act.

That section 21 of the draft was new but seemed to require no particular explana- tion; notwithstanding the power therein given to the High Commissioner to make rules and regulations; it had appeared well to your Lordship to provide generally by section 22, which corresponded to section 21 of the Act, that no officer in the Cyprus service might detain or seize a ship unless in receipt of a yearly salary of not less than 2007., except the High Commissioner directed otherwise,

That sections 23, 24, 25, and 26 of the draft corresponded to sections 22, 23, 24, and 25 respectively of the Act.

That no section corresponding to section 27 of the Act seemed required in Cyprus. That the remaining sections of the draft corresponded respectively to the remaining sections of the Act, save that sections 31, 32, and 33 of the latter were not required to be inserted in the former; that certain definitions had necessarily been omitted from the interpretation clause of the draft while others had been inserted; and that a new clause 31 had been inserted in the draft explanatory of the exemption of national ships from the operation of the draft Order in Council.

That Mr. Wingfield was to request us to take the draft Order in Council into our consideration, together with the papers which had already been before us in the matter and which were returned to us for convenience of reference, and to favour your Lordship with our opinion whether the draft was such as would meet the circumstances of the case, and as could properly be laid before the Queen in Council.

In obedience to your Lordship's commands we have the honour to

Report

That we think the draft (subject to the few alterations we have made in it) will meet the circumstances of the case, and can properly be laid before the Queen in Council. There is however, one provision in it to which we desire to call attention and to submit for consideration whether it might not be desirable to omit it. We refer to the second of the punishment sub-sections in clause 9. Having regard to the questions that have been raised by some foreign Powers with reference to the capitulations and to the trial of causes in which their subjects are concerned in the Courts of the island, we apprehend that the exercise of the power conferred by the sub-sections might give rise to some troublesome controversy with foreign Powers. And the other sub-sections would probably be sufficiently effective without running the risk of complications by detaining foreign ships.

We have, &c., (Signed) HENRY JAMES.

FARRER HERSHELL.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley,

&c.

&c.

&c.

7871.

No. 251.

·

(CYPRUS.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

MY LORD,

We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Herbert's

Temple, 3rd May 1881. letter of the 25th February last, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to refer us to the report of the 21st of August last, which we addressed to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (and copy of which was therewith enclosed for convenience of reference) on the subject of a proposed lease of certain mines in Cyprus.

That, having regard to the opinion expressed in that report, that the lease could not validly guarantee possession for a period beyond the British occupation of the island, and that it would not be binding on the Ottoman authorities in the event of the administration of the island being retroceded to the Porte, it was thought advisable in order to prevent any claims on the part of the lessees for indemnity from Her Majesty's Government, in the event of their eviction by the Turkish Government, either to make the lease determinable on the cessation of the British occupation of Cyprus, or to insert a proviso expressly excluding any guarantee of possession to the Icssees beyond the period of such occupation.

That the intended lessees, however, had in a letter, a copy of which was enclosed, strongly objected to the proposed qualification of their absolute right of possession for the full term of 90 years, which they said would render the lease for all practical purposes valueless, as it would be impossible for them on the strength of a lease giving so uncertain a tenure to raise the capital required to work the mines,

That your Lordship apprehended that if it should be generally understood that the acts of the British Government in the administration of Cyprus in relation to the property of the State in the island, would not be binding on the Ottoman authorities, in the event of the administration of the island being retroceded to the Porte, not only would the investment of capital in the development of the resources of Cyprus be seriously discouraged, if not entirely prevented, but, having regard to the nature of the tenure of land under the Ottoman law, great confusion and uncertainty might be introduced in the rights of private persons to the ownership of land held of the State; and con- sidering the question to be one of vital importance to the future administration of the island, your Lordship was desirous of being more fully advised as to the powers of the British Government of Cyprus under the Convention of the 4th of June 1878, and the Supplementary Agreements with the Porte, and especially as to the effect and validity of its dealings with the property of the State.

That as regarded those portions of the Ottoman law which your Lordship wished us to have before us in considering the questions which were submitted to us in that letter, Mr. Herbert was to transmit to us the accompanying extract of a memorandum prepared in the Foreign Office with reference to another question, summarising briefly those parts of the Ottoman Land Code which gave the categories into which land in the Ottoman empire was divided; and Mr. Herbert was to inform us that by far the greater part of the occupied and cultivated land in Cyprus, as in most other parts of the Ottoman empire, was “ Arizü Mirüe" or State land, which was held under grants issued by the Government in the name of the Sovereign by a tenure in some respects resembling copyhold tenure, carrying with it the right of inheritance under certain conditions, and being subject to forfeiture or resumption by the State in certain contingencies; and that much of the other land of the island was such that although not hitherto cultivated it would in the ordinary course be granted by the State in a similar manner as soon as the people of the island required to bring it under cultivation.

That the references in the margin of the above-mentioned memorandum indicated the sections and pages of the corresponding parts of the Ottoman Land Code, copy of which was therewith enclosed, in case we might wish to consult the actual text of the laws.

That under the Ottoman law mines and minerals were the property of the State, and could only be worked even by the proprietors of the land in, under, or upon which they existed, under a firman of concession from the Imperial Government, see section 107

A

▲ 12916.-934. 25.-12/84.