§ MR. E. ROBERTSON (Dundee)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether there is any foundation for the statement in the Phoni tis Kyprou of the 26th June, to the effect that there was a serious error in the basis of the calculation of the average surplus revenue of Cyprus; whether the further statement in the same issue is correct that—
If the difference between the value of gold and paper money were taken into consideration, Cyprus would now be paying to the Porte £40,000 instead of £92,000 per annum;and whether Her Majesty's Government will have the matter investigated?
§ BARON H. DE WORMSThe tribute was fixed at the value of £92,000 by Her Majesty's late Government in 1881–82 upon Reports of Sir Robert Biddulph made after an investigation of the subject both in Cyprus and at Constantinople. Her Majesty's present Government have had occasion to review the question, and are satisfied that the conclusions of their predecessors were correct, and that there has been no such error as the writer in the Cyprus newspaper imagines. As a matter of fact, only a small part of the five years' receipts were encashed in paper, and full allowance was made as to this in converting the payments into sterling.