Cyprus under British Rule. By Captain C. W. J. Orr.
(R. Scott. 6s. net.)—Captain Orr gives a lucid and interesting account of our administration of Cyprus from 1878. He is inclined to blame the Colonial Office for moving too slowly, but he admits that the Cypriotes are a highly conservative people who would not use the new railway built for them, and declined to take any effective part in public affairs. As it is, the cautious and thrifty policy of the Government has transformed Cyprus, and since 1907, when tho fluctuating subsidy was converted into a fixed annual grant of £50,000, the beautiful island has made great progress. The forests yield a large revenue now that the plague of goats has been stayed, and during the war the Cypriote farmers have done well. Captain Orr thinks that the hill-station of Troodos will become increasingly popular as a sanatorium for Egyptian residents. He discusses very temperately the agitation among the Cypriote Greeks ; he points out that a fifth of the population is Turkish, and that when the island was annexed, at the declaration of war by Turkey on Novem- ber 5th, 1914, every Turk in Cyprus, except a dozen visitors, opted for British nationality.
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