Part 27

The excise duties leviable are: Tobacco leaf, 4-1/2cp. per oke, payable on transfer of leaf from grower to wholesale dealer. Tobacco manufactured in Cyprus, whether made into cigarettes or otherwise, in addition to the import duty or transport duty, pays a banderolle duty of 3s. 6-1/2cp. per oke.

These regulations are a relic of the Turkish times, as in those days the State received a definite due called "City Toll" by charging the tobacco cutters and tobacco sellers with a trade tax. They appear to have been administered with more laxity in Turkish than in post-occupation times, and it is said that the abandonment of tobacco cultivation was mainly due to the severity with which these rather vexatious and irritating regulations were enforced.

For many years the tobacco imported by local cigarette manufacturers came almost entirely from Macedonia. This tobacco was of very superior quality and cheap, and locally grown tobacco could not compete with it. Of late years the price of Macedonian tobacco has risen considerably and the manufacturers have therefore been induced to import Thessalian tobacco instead, which is not of so fine a flavour and approximates more closely to Cyprus produce. Cypriot smokers have thus had their palates prepared for the flavour of the locally grown tobacco.

About the year 1912, when Houry's Cyprus Tobacco Association, Ltd., was formed, a revival in the industry set in. This has since received considerable impetus from the war, which, temporarily, has thrust Macedonian tobacco out of the market. The primary object of the Association was to manufacture tobacco and cigarettes from Cyprus-grown tobacco, although foreign tobacco could also be used. Tobacco then began to be regularly grown by the Association at a Chiftlik near Limassol and elsewhere, and cigarettes made therefrom have had a fair local sale. The arrival of well-to-do refugees from Latakia and other parts of Syria, skilled in tobacco cultivation, led to great extension of this crop. A large part of the produce was at first converted into Latakia tobacco. Owing possibly to the lack of care and skill on the part of native labour, partly perhaps to the unsuitability of the herbs and brushwood used in the fuming, the market was not found sufficiently encouraging and the Latakia, for which at best there is a very restricted market, has almost ceased to be produced. Tobacco for cigarettes, however, continues to be grown on a fairly large scale, but in order that land suitable for corn and other foodstuffs should not be sacrificed to tobacco, the cultivation of the latter is permitted only by special licence. In 1916 and 1917 the industry fell almost entirely into the hands of the richer refugees, who were expert growers, and they contracted with the small farmers and peasants. A number of speculative growers, professional men, merchants, etc., were tempted by the prevailing high prices to embark in the industry, but the licensing system has tended to throw it more into the hands of the bona-fide farmers, who are allowed only to cultivate small areas which can be looked after mainly by their own families. In 1916 the total production was 89,065 okes, and the estimated yield for 1917 is 487,674 okes.

The Agricultural Department has for some five years carried out experimental growings in various districts, and samples of tobacco so grown have been submitted to the Imperial Institute (see BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE, vol. xiii. 1915, pp. 547-550). The two best samples reported on were grown in the Nicosia plain. They were said to conform with the Turkish tobacco as regards size of leaf, but contained too much moisture for the English market. The tobacco was found to smoke rather hot and was only mildly aromatic, but it was believed that these defects would probably disappear with more experience in the curing. The samples referred to were incompletely cured, having been submitted quickly in order to roughly ascertain their quality. The report on the whole was moderately encouraging, and it is hoped that later samples which have been better cured will be found superior.

The tobacco grown in Cyprus is mostly of the Samsoun, Trebizond, Kavalla and Hassan Keff varieties.

The normal importation of tobacco into Cyprus is about 180,000 okes, which produces an import duty of £4,500 a year, at the rate of 4-1/2cp. per oke.

The average amount paid for banderolles on tobacco when issued from factories for consumption is about £30,000 a year, which at the rate of 3s. 6-1/2cp. per oke equals a banderolle duty on 161,000 okes; the difference of about 20,000 okes would be cigarettes exported on which no banderolle duty is paid.

If, then, no tobacco were grown and none imported the Government would lose £35,000 revenue annually. It would appear to be immaterial from a revenue point of view whether tobacco were imported or grown in the Island, since the imposts are the same, viz. on imports 4-1/2cp. per oke import duty and 3s. 6-1/2cp. per oke banderolle duty; on locally grown tobacco 4-1/2cp. per oke transport duty and 3s. 6-1/2cp. per oke banderolle duty. There is, however, this difference, that the money leaves the Island when the tobacco is imported and remains and fructifies when it is locally grown.

Tobacco cultivation is in many ways well suited to this Island, as a great part of its cultivation as well as the gathering may be done by women and children. It need not therefore make any serious demand upon man labour, which is already insufficient, and much of the work can be performed by those who are unfit for heavy field work. It is a summer crop, which is greatly in its favour, the quality when grown "dry" being much finer than when irrigated. Its introduction broadens the basis of cultivation, provides a revenue from land that would otherwise lie fallow and is a useful element in any system of rotation. As it calls for careful preparation and thorough cultivation of the soil it has a great educative influence on a people prone to slovenly, primitive husbandry, and corn crops following tobacco have frequently given a larger, more uniform yield.

At the same time it is an open question whether the crop can be grown and the leaf cured by the Cypriot farmer to produce a tobacco which, under normal conditions, will successfully compete in quality and price with the Macedonian tobacco.

TANNING MATERIALS AND DYE-STUFFS

Tanneries are fairly numerous and large quantities of skins are tanned and sold to native boot-makers. Before the war, goat- and sheep-skins and ox-hides were practically the only kinds handled, the two former being mainly used for the uppers of boots. The top-boots worn by villagers are nearly all made from goat-skin, locally called "totmaria." Since the war pig-skins and dog-skins have been also used. Camel-skins are often employed for making soles.

Pine bark and sumach are the native tanning substances chiefly used in the local tanneries. The pine is one of the commonest forest trees of the Island. Shinia leaves (Pistacia Lentiscus) are also used (see p. 51).

Sumach

The Sicilian, elm-leaved or tanner's sumach (Rhus Coriaria) is a shrub which grows wild throughout a large part of the Island, being principally found among the vineyards on the slopes of the southern range of hills. The leaves are largely used in the leather tanning industry, and a considerable export might have been established to the United Kingdom had it not been for dissatisfaction caused by the excessive presence of impurities, such as lentisc leaves and dust, which were usually found in the consignments sent.

One sample was sent by the Agricultural Department to the Imperial Institute in 1909. This was found to consist wholly of sumach and no lentisc or other leaves, and gave on examination the following results: Moisture, 10.1; ash, 9.8; tannin (by hide-power method), 26.9; extractive matter (non-tannin), 16.7 per cent. The report showed that the leaves produced a good leather, similar in texture and colour to that obtained with Sicilian sumach, and was considered likely to fetch about the same price as a medium quality of Sicilian sumach, which contains from 25 to 30 per cent. of tannin (see BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE, vol. x. 1912, p. 45).

Two further samples were sent in 1916. The first sample "consisted of a finely-ground yellowish-green powder, containing a quantity of sand, small stones and iron dust." The second sample consisted of a "coarsely-ground, yellowish-green powder, containing a quantity of pinkish unground twigs, sand and small stones, together with some iron dust."

The results of examination were as follows:

NO. 1. NO. 2. Per cent. Per cent. Moisture 9.3 9.2 Insoluble matters 53.6 57.8 Extractive matters (non-tannin) 14.6 13.0 Tannin 22.5 20.0 Ash 8.5 12.3 --------------------------------------------------------- Tintometer readings--Red 0.7 1.2 Yellow 2.1 2.5

Both samples were low in tannin, compared with the Sicilian percentage of 25 to 30.

Sample No. 1 was valued at £13, and No. 2 at £12, per ton, with Sicilian sumach at £15 per ton; the lower value being due to the lower tannin contents, owing to the presence of sand, dirt, etc. It may be assumed that if more care in preparing clean samples were taken, Cyprus sumach would greatly improve its market value.

Valonea

There are a few well-grown specimens of valonea oak (Quercus Ægilops) to be seen, but being a slow grower and as it takes many years to reach the stage when it yields a profit, it does not commend itself to the Cypriot tree planter. It prefers deep soil and requires artificial irrigation or a greater rainfall than we have in Cyprus.

It has been tried at Salamis and failed, and also at Machaera with the same result. It has been grown also on Troödos, but after six years' growth attained a height of only 1 foot.

Only an insignificant quantity of Valonea cups are locally produced. These come from the Paphos district and are said to be rather poor in tannin. The bulk comes from Anatolia. The pre-war price for the latter was 5s. per cantar of 44 okes, that for the locally grown was 20 paras per oke on the spot, transport charges bringing up the price to about 1 copper piastre per oke delivered.

Acacia Barks

Acacia pycnantha has been grown in Cyprus, but does not acclimatise well, and neither the soil nor climate seems favourable. A. mollissima also has not shown any very successful growth. A. cyanophylla and A. longifolia, on the other hand, thrive excellently. They are great drought-resisters and grow on almost any soil. They have been very extensively grown by the Forest Department in every district for fuel and along the coast upon sand dunes. They have not been utilised so far for the extraction of tanning, except experimentally. Samples of the barks of the two last-named species were found on examination at the Imperial Institute to be too poor in tannin to be worth exporting, but they should be quite suitable for use in Cyprus (see BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE, vol. xi. 1913, pp. 412-414).