‘Cyprus.’ [‎54r] (107/184)

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
101
16s. 60 ?. for barley per imperial quarter. By the end of August it became
apparent that a considerable importation of grain from abroad would be
required to carry through the winter—but although imports then commenced,
and prices also began to advance, it was not until the last two months of the
year that any serious rise in prices took place. By the end of the year, and
notwithstanding considerable importations of grain from Turkey, prices here
had risen to £ 2 . 16s. for wheat, and £1. 17s. for barley.” #
u Owing to prices having continuously advanced in Syria, Caramania, and
Anatolia—from whence supplies for Cyprus could be brought—imports not
only cost more money to the importer, but supplies began also to fall off in
quantity, so that by the end of March of the present year stocks in Cyprus
were well-nigh exhausted, notwithstanding that prices had risen to about
£3. 15s. for wheat and £2. 7 s. for barley, with an insufficient supply for the
wants of the island till next harvest. Great numbers of the quasi-starving
peasants were obliged to subsist on the edible roots of such indigenous plants
as they could dig up in the fields, using also locust beans to a large extent in
lieu of cereals. The tithes of the year collected by the Government amounted
to only a small amount, which had all to be given out to the peasant farmers
for seed, without which they had not the means of replanting their fields for
the harvests of 1874.”
“ Altogether, 1873 has proved in every respect one of the most disastrous
years remembered in Cyprus, and, owing to the great scarcity and high price
of food, the borders of famine have been touched, and the hardship and
suffering are great.”
From Consul Riddell’s Report for 1874:—
“The year 1874 will be remembered as one of the greatest abundance
within the memory of any living inhabitant. Generally all the crops of 1874
in this island have been abundant, whilst those of cereals have far surpassed
the most sanguine computation. Both barley and wheat, especially the former,
having met with an active demand for exportation, the produce has been
turned into money as fast as it could be brought to market, and at more
than the usual average prices for Cyprus grain. At the end of the year
there had been exported to Europe alone 48,000 quarters of wheat and
66,800 quarters of barley, besides considerable quantities, of which no cor
rect estimate can be obtained, sent to Syria and Anatolia Peninsula that forms most of modern-day Turkey. , and the year
closed with large quantities of both wheat and barley still existing in the
island for export thereafter. The average price paid for wheat may be
estimated at £2. 3 s. and of barley £1. Is. per imperial quarter, put free on
board ship. A new and remarkable feature in the grain trade of Cyprus is
the quantity of barley exported to England, carried there chiefly by steamers.
Of. the total quantity of barley exported to Europe to the end of 1874,
estimated at 66,800 quarters, and valued at £70,350., no less than 41,300
quarters, valued at £43,365, were sent to England.”
From Consul Riddell’s Report for 1875 :—
“ The crops, though yielding less in quantity than in 1874, were nevertheless
a good fair average, and grain met with an active export demand at fair
prfces ; indeed, at the beginning of the season wheat found numerous buyers
for Italy at exceptionally high prices, though the average figure for the year
is computed at about £1. 12s. per imperial quarter. At the beginning of the
season the Italian demand pushed up the price to about £2 to £2. 2 s. per
quarter. Barley realized an average of about 17s. per quarter. Of barley
there was exported to Great Britain in 1875 about 45,0(X) quarters, against
41,300 quarters in 1874.”
From Consul Pierides’ Report for 1876:—
“ The rainfall during the winter of 1875 and the spring of 1876 was insig
nificant, so that the grain crops of 1876 were very shorthand the exports
amounted to only one-third or even one-fourth of those in 1875, and the
quality of both wheat and barley was poor. The average price for wheat was