As the grape cannot be removed
until the claim is settled, the cultivator submits to the exactions of
the tithe-farmers rather than risk the deterioration or loss of his
stock, and is thus practically mulcted in proportions far exceeding a
tenth of the entire produce. The effect of these illegal exactions has
been to reduce the cultivation of the grape throughout the island.
But, though keen in their dealings with the peasantry, the tithe-
farmers are slow in their own payments to the Government Treasury.
These payments are required, under their bonds, in six monthly
instalments from the 1st August; grace is allowed for forty days, and
the instalments are required to commence on the 10th September. They are
delayed, however, on various pretexts, and reclamations and remissions
of revenue are often unjustly obtained through collusion with the local
Kaimakams and Malmudirs. Thus, the tithe-farmer makes his bargain with
the Government when the crops are ripening, recovers his claim directly
they are gathered, indefinitely postpones his own obligations to the
Government and often evades them altogether. Although, under his bond,
interest is payable on overdue instalments, it is never enforced. An
examination of the accounts revealed the existence of considerable
arrear claims extending over several years, and for the most part
irrecoverable now.
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