‘Cyprus.’ [‎76v] (152/184)

146
CYPRUS.
Consular re
port upon tlie
industrial
classes of
Cyprus.
A report upon the Industrial Classes of C yprus y\ as furnished
by Consul Lang in February, 1872, the substance of which is as
The industrial classes in this island may. be divided into three
categories:—
1. Tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, cart-
wrights, and such like.
2. Labourers, inhabitants of towns, such as porters, boatmen,
domestic servants, &c.
3. Agricultural labourers.
The workmen of the first category supply solely, in their respec
tive departments, the requirements of the population of the island.
Their work is of the simplest character, but suitable to the wants
of a people having few luxurious tendencies, and unwilling as well
as unable to pay for a higher quality of work. Their earnings
range from 3s. to 5s. per diem, varying according to the intelligence
and"activity of the workman.
The labourers of the second category are lower m the social
scale than those of the first, and little or no intelligence is required
of them in the discharge of their occupations. Their earnings,
frequently very uncertain, vary from Is. 6(7. to 2s. 6(7. per diem.
Agricultural labourers are the most numerous class m the
island. Their earnings vary according to the work upon which they
are employed. . .
During harvest time they may perhaps receiye as much as
3s. per diem, but the average of the rest of the year is about 1L7-1°
Is. ‘id. per diem for male labourers, and about half as much for
females. , ^ „
Evidently, when this was written, there was no opening for
European labourers, even in the class of occupations comprised in
the first category, for the superior work of European tradesmen would
not receive its equivalent value, the people being quite contented
with second rate articles at low prices. A European labourer
would moreover, find it difficult and irksome to lead the intensely
simple life, possessing few comforts and no luxuries, to which
Orientals are accustomed. ,
There is at present but little scope for ambition among the
working classes, and the nature of the climate causes the labourers to
be little disposed to exertion, but rather on the other hand to be
inclined to a life of ease. Native labourers do not perform, nor
are they expected to perform, half the work that would be done by
a European. . «
The simplicity and inexpensiveness of the necessaries of life
are greatly in favour of the industrial classes in Cyprus ; the com
forts of a dwelling-house are a secondary consideration with a
people accustomed to spend nine months of the year, day and
night in the open air, and the food on which the peasantry sub
sist, consisting chiefly of bread, olives, onions, oil, cheese, and salt
fish, can be procured at an exceedingly low rate.
Consul Lang at the time when this Report was written, con
sidered that the only opening that the island afforded to Europeans,