Throughout these several stages-from the village to the nahie, caza,
sandjak, and chief place of the vilayet-there are excellent rules for
the check and disposition of the revenues, but they are not observed.
Indeed, in the judicial, as in the revenue and financial administration
of the island, the organisation of establishments and rules of procedure
are commendable in every way, but the rules are unknown to, or ignored
by, the officials employed to administer them.
The tithes are farmed by the Turkish Government to merchants and
speculators in the spring of each year, when the ripening crops enable
all concerned to estimate the extent and quality of the year's produce.
The sale of the tithes (by villages, nahies, or cazas, as may be
preferred) commences in March and ends on the 15th June, and whatever
tithes then remain unsold the Government undertakes to recover through
its own agents.
When the sales are effected the tithe-farmer signs a bond for the
amount, payable in six monthly instalments, commencing from the 1st
August, with interest on instalments not paid at due date. Each
tithe-farmer is required to have a sufficient surety, who also signs the
bond and is jointly and equally responsible with the principal. After
conclusion of the agreement, the tithe-farmer proceeds at once to watch
the fields in which he is interested and to estimate the yield.
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