§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEasked, How it was that the military exemption tax in Cyprus was estimated to produce £8,500 only, whereas when levied upon Christians only it produced between £11,000 and £12,000, and never less than £9,000 a-year?
§ MR. BOURKE,in reply, said, that the poll tax in Cyprus was now to be levied on all the male inhabitants of the Island with the exception of such persons as were exempt under the Turkish law—namely, priests and foreigners. The reason why the estimate of the proceeds of the tax was less than the amount produced by the tax under Turkish rule was that the tax, although nominally levied by the Turkish Government only upon Christians between the ages of 18 and 40, was in reality levied upon almost all Christians, and, probably, upon many persons who ought never to have paid it, and that now it was only to be levied upon the male inhabitants of the Island who were between the ages of 18 and 60. He might add that the estimate was a very low one.