§ MR. JEFFREYS (Hants, Basingstoke)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the excess of Revenue over Expenditure in the Island of Cyprus last year was calculated at £92,000, which sum was paid, according to the Convention of 1878, as tribute to the Sultan of Turkey; whether, if the above calculation had been made in the paper money in general use in Cyprus, the excess would have been only £50,000; and whether in future these calculations and payments can be made in the ordinary currency of the country?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. S. BUXTON,) Tower Hamlets, PoplarThe surplus of Revenue over Expenditure in the Island of Cyprus last year (1892–3) was £78,539. The amount, has, however, nothing to do with the sum payable annually as tribute, which was fixed many years ago, under the Anglo-Turkish Convention, at £92,799, being the equivalent of the average surplus during the last five years of Turkish administration. In determining that £92,799 was the sterling sum payable, Her Majesty's Government took due account of the fact that a part of the Turkish revenue and expenditure was for a short time received and paid in depreciated paper currency. There is now no paper currency in Cyprus, and the British sovereign is the standard of value.
§ MR. JEFFREYSBut is not the ordinary currency in Cyprus paper money in the form of Turkish Exchequer Bills?
§ MR. BUXTONYes.
§ MR. PIERPOINT (Warrington)And was the total depreciation in this paper currency borne in mind in calculating what the tribute should be?
§ MR. BUXTONYes; the whole question of depreciation was taken into account.