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for the co-ordination and general supervision of the work of the local representatives of specialist and technical departments such as Health Services, Public Works, Education and Irrigation.

Local Government in the usual sense of the term is in the hands of elected bodies: Municipal Councils in the ten largest towns, Urban Councils in the bigger towns and Town Councils in the smaller, and Village Councils for villages or groups of villages. The staffs of these local authorities with the exception of those at the lower salary levels, are recruited centrally and their terms and conditions of service are centrally regulated by the Local Government Service Commission. Local authorities derive their revenue in part direct, e.g. from the rating of property, and in part from block and specific groups from the Central Government.

Co-ordination between the Provincial Administrations and the Local Authorities is achieved by the District Co-ordinating Committees of which there is one in each Administrative District. These comprise on the one hand the Government Agent and all local Heads of Government Departments and, on the other, representatives of all local authorities in the District together with those members of Parliament whose constituencies lie within the District.

MINISTRIES AND GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS
Secretary to the Governor-General: A. B. Elkaduwa

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CEYLON REPRESENTATIVES IN OTHER
COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES
Britain: Dr M. V. P. Peiris, OBE (High
Commissioner); Canada: L. S. B. Perera
(High Commissioner); Australia: C. O.
Cooray (High Commissioner); New
Zealand: C. O. Cooray (High Commis-
sioner) (resident in Canberra); India: Siri
Perera, QC (High Commissioner); Pakistan:
Sir Razik Fareed, OBE (High Commissioner);
Ghana: C. Mahendran (Acting High
Commissioner); Malaysia: A. C. L. Ratwatte
(High Commissioner).

COMMONWEALTH HIGH COMMISSIONERS
IN CEYLON

Britain: A. M. MacKintosh, CMG; Canada:
J. Timmerman; Australia: G. N. Upton;
New Zealand: B. S. Lendrum (resident in
New Delhi); India: Y. D. Gundevia;
Pakistan: Humayun Khan Panni; Malaysia:
Mohamed Sopiee; Ghana: Major-General
S. J. A. Otu (resident in New Delhi).

CEYLON REPRESENTATION IN NON-
COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES

Afghanistan: (Ambassador) (resident in
Delhi); Belgium: (Ambassador) (resident in

Bonn); Brazil (Ambassador); Burma (Ambassador); Cambodia (Ambassador) (resident in Peking); China (Ambassador); Cuba (Ambassador) (resident in Ottawa); Czechoslovakia (Ambassador) (resident in Moscow); France (Ambassador); Germany (Ambassador); Greece (Ambassador); Indonesia: (Ambassador); Iran (Ambassador) (resident in Karachi); Iraq (Ambassador) (resident in Karachi); Israel (Minister); Italy (Ambassador); Japan (Ambassador); Lebanon (Ambassador) (resident in Cairo); Mexico (Ambassador) (resident in Washington); Mongolia (Ambassador) (resident in Peking); Nepal (Ambassador) (resident in Delhi); Netherlands (Ambassador) (resident in Bonn); Philippines (Ambassador) (resident in Tokyo); Poland (Ambassador) (resident in Moscow); Rumania (Ambassador) (resident in Moscow); Sudan (Ambassador) (resident in Cairo); Switzerland (Ambassador) (resident in Paris); Thailand (Ambassador); United Arab Republic (Ambassador); United Nations (Permanent Representative); United States (Ambassador); U.S.S.R. (Ambassador); Yugoslavia (Ambassador) (resident in Cairo).

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HE island of Cyprus, latitude 35° N., longitude 33° 30′ E., lies in the eastern Mediterranean and has an area of 3,572 square miles. The territory of the Republic of Cyprus comprises the whole of the island with the exception of the two Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in the south, which have a combined area of 99 square miles. These have been retained under British sovereignty. Mount Olympus rises 6,403 feet above sea level and is the

highest peak situated in the Troodos Massif in the south-west of the island. Cyprus has an intense Mediterranean climate with a hot dry summer and a variable winter. July and August are the hottest months with a maximum temperature of 44·5°C (112°F) while December and February are the coldest with a minimum temperature of −5·5°C (22°F). The annual rainfall varies between 27.1 inches maximum and 9.7 inches minimum.

A census was last taken in 1960 and showed a total population of 577,615 consisting of the two major racial communities: the Greek Cypriots 441,656 and the Turkish Cypriots 104,942; Armenians 3,378, Maronites 2,752 and other nationalities 23,887. In December 1968 the population was estimated to be 619,000. The birth rate in 1965 was estimated to be 24-4 and the death rate 6.1 per thousand. The official languages are Greek and Turkish. The main religious groups, with some indication of relative numbers, are Greek Orthodox (441,656), Muslim (104,942), Armenian Gregorian (3,378), Roman Catholic (4,505), Maronite (2,752). Primary education is free and universal and the extent of secondary education is 70 per cent. More than 80 per cent of the population aged seven and over is literate.

For administrative purposes the Republic is divided into six districts which, with populations, are: Nicosia (212,600); Kyrenia (30,900); Famagusta (119,200); Larnaca (59,700); Limassol (111,800); Paphos (59,800). Nicosia (population including suburbs 105,000) is the largest town in Cyprus and is the capital of the Republic. It is situated in the central plain of the Messaoria. Other principal towns are Limassol (48,000); Famagusta (39,000); Larnaca (21,000); Paphos (11,000) and Kyrenia (4,000). Famagusta, Limassol and Larnaca, with nett registered tonnage 1,834,000, 1,743,000 and 519,000 respectively, are all ports of call for ocean-going shipping, but only at Famagusta are there berths at which ships of moderate size (with a draft not exceeding 30 ft) can come alongside.

At Limassol and Larnaca ships anchor in the open roadstead and goods are transported to and from shore by lighters. The Second Five Year Plan, provides for the construction of new ports at Larnaca and Limassol and for extensions and improvements at Famagusta.

Nicosia International Airport is situated five miles from the town centre and has runway lengths of 8,000 and 6,000 feet. The new terminal buildings were opened in March 1968 and there are plans to extend the runway to accommodate more advanced aircraft. The principal airline is Cyprus Airways Limited. There are no public railways in Cyprus (Cyprus Mines Corporation operates a private railway to facilitate its mining operations) and the road mileage consists of 1,933 miles of asphalt and 3,043 miles of gravel. A road development programme provides for the expenditure of £6.2 million. The island's broadcasting and television facilities are supplied by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.

Cyprus is predominantly an agricultural country; agriculture and mining account for more than ninety per cent of exports. Receipts from the supply of goods and services to the Sovereign Base Areas are important to the Republic's economy. The principal agricultural products are wheat and barley, carobs, citrus, grapes and other soft fruits, potatoes, carrots, cauliflowers and other vegetables, olives, almonds, tobacco, hides and skins. Mining is carried on in various parts of the island, the most valuable minerals being pyrites and copper concentrates. Other minerals extracted are asbestos, chrome, gypsum and pigment earths. There is no heavy industry in Cyprus other than electricity generating and cement production although there are plans for an oil refinery at Larnaca

and a fertiliser plant; but there are many small and medium sized industries which manufacture a wide range of foodstuffs and consumer goods. Manufacturing industries will become the cornerstone of the development effort; this sector is targeted to increase its G.D.P. from 12.2 per cent in 1966 to about 14 per cent in 1971. Exports under the Second Five Year Plan are anticipated to expand by 74 per cent, with major industrial projects including meat canning, saw milling, cement, asbestos pipes and the extension of industrial estates.

The tourist industry, which until 1963 had been expanding steadily, suffered considerably as a result of the political unrest. Apart from one-day tourists, the number of visitors fell from 75,900 in 1963 to 16,000 in 1964. With quieter conditions however the industry has gradually regained the ground lost and in 1968 there were 88,000 visitors, a record figure.

The Second Five Year Plan was published in April 1968 and aims at securing an average per caput income of £335 in 1971 compared with £258 at the end of 1966; it also envisages an annual growth rate of 7 per cent and total investment of over £200 million, an unprecedented figure in the island's history. Government development expenditure is projected at £57 million while the private sector is called upon to play a decisive role by investing £136 million. The plan's major objectives offer the prospect of a broad advance in economic development and social progress.

The Government Revenue and Expenditure Estimates for 1968 and 1969 were as follows: Revenue (1968) £24,100,000 and (1969) £27,300,000; expenditure (1968) £20,800,000 ordinary and £8,600,000 development; (1969) £24,500,000 ordinary and £11,800,000 development.

The crude trade deficit continues to be a striking feature of the Cyprus economic scene, but it is comfortably bridged by foreign military expenditure, earnings from tourism, official and private transfer payments and inflow of investment capital. By the end of 1968 Cyprus' foreign exchange reserves had risen to a record level of £73,000,000, representing about twelve months value of exports. Britain continues to be Cyprus' leading trading partner; since independence, Britain's share of the island's import trade has remained fairly constant between 31 and 37 per cent, with British exports in 1968 reaching an estimated total of £26,000,000 compared with £19,000,000 in 1967. Over the past four years, the values of imports and exports were as follows:—

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Extensive archaeological finds going back to the fifth millenium B.C. testify to the existence of cultures in Cyprus in the earliest times. By the beginning of the first millenium, Greek-speaking Achaean colonies had been established, and in the 8th century B.C. the island appears to have been divided into a series of independent Greek and Phoenician kingdoms, tributaries of the Assyrian Empire. From the Assyrians, Cyprus passed successively to the Egyptians and the Persians. In 391 B.C. Evagoras of Salamis, having made himself master of almost the whole of Cyprus, raised the island to a position of virtual independence, but was unable long to sustain his position. On the division of the Empire

of Alexander the Great, Cyprus passed to the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt. It became a Roman province in 58 B.C., was early converted to Christianity and, on the partition of the Roman Empire, fell under the rule of the Byzantine Emperor. From an early date the Church of Cyprus has been autocephalous. In 478 A.D., following the discovery of the remains of St Barnabas, the Emperor bestowed certain privileges on the Archbishop of Cyprus including the right to sign his name in red ink. These privileges have been retained to this day. From the 7th to the 10th centuries Cyprus was ravaged intermittently by the Arabs. Only in 965 A.D. was Byzantine rule re-established, but it endured for another 200 years, a period marked by much church building.

In 1185 Isaac Comnenos usurped the Governorship of Cyprus and proclaimed his independence. In 1191 ships of the fleet of Richard Coeur de Lion, who was on his way to take part in the Third Crusade, were wrecked on the coast of Cyprus and their crews maltreated by Isaac. To avenge the wrongs done to his men, Richard attacked and defeated Isaac and conquered the island. Shortly afterwards he celebrated his marriage to Berengaria of Navarre at Limassol. Richard sold Cyprus after a few months to the Knights Templar, but they found the task of government beyond their powers and the next year with Richard's agreement, it was transferred to Guy de Lusignan, the dispossessed King of Jerusalem. Thereafter Kings of the House of Lusignan ruled Cyprus until 1489, although from 1373 to 1464 the Genoese Republic held Famagusta and exercised suzerainty over a part of the country.

The 300 years of Frankish rule were a great epoch in the varied history of Cyprus. The little kingdom played a distinguished part in several aspects of mediaeval civilization. Its constitution, inherited from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, was the model of that of a mediaeval feudal state. In the Abbey of Bellapaix and in the cathedrals of Nicosia and Famagusta it could boast examples of Gothic architecture without equal in the Levant. But such achievements were only attained through the introduction of an alien nobility and the ruthless subjugation of the Greek Church to a Latin hierarchy. The fall of Acre in 1291 left Cyprus the outpost of Christendom in the Levant. With the diversion of the Syrian trade to its ports, Cyprus prospered for a period and under Pope Peter I Alexandria was sacked and towns on the Turkish coast were occupied. But towards the end of the 14th century, with the Black Death and plagues and the Genoese invasion of 1373, the power of the Lusignans began to wane.

In 1489 Cyprus fell to the Republic of Venice, which held it until it was conquered by the Turks in 1571. The Venetian administration was elaborate, but often inefficient and corrupt. The population increased to about 200,000, but the former prosperity did not return.

The Turkish conquest was welcomed by many Cypriots, particularly since the liquidation of the Latin Church ensued. Serfdom disappeared, the Orthodox Archbishopric was restored after having been in abeyance since about 1275, and the Christian population was granted a large measure of freedom. The power and authority which passed into the Archbishop's hands were particularly significant. As time went on, the Church acquired much influence. In 1821 the Archbishop, Bishops and leading personages of the Orthodox community were arrested and executed on a charge of conspiring with the insurgents in Greece. This proved to be only a temporary check.

In 1878, in exchange for a promise of British assistance to Turkey against Russian encroachment on her eastern provinces, Cyprus passed under the

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