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1148 TURKEY AND TRIBUTARY STATES :—CRETE
CKETE.
The Island of Crete was under Venetian rule from 1211 to 1669, when it
fell beneath the Ottoman power. Thenceforth (with the exception of about
10 years, 1830-40, when it was ruled by the Viceroy of Egypt) it was governed
as a Turkish vilayet. After more than 70 years of almost continuous insurrection,
the 4 Powers—Great Britain, Russia, France, and Italy—intervened,
and constituted the Island as an autonomous State under a High Commissioner
of the Powers, subject to the suzerainty of the forte.
High Commissioner.—Prince George of Greece, second son of the King
of the Hellenes, born June 24, 1869, N.S. ; appointed November 26, 1898 ;
assumed offiee December 21 of the same year. The civil list is fixed at
200,000 gold drachmai.
The constitution of April 28, 1899, provides for an Assembly (Bulo), consisting
of deputies elected in the proportion of 1 for every 5,000 inhabitants,
under an arrangement which assures the representation of minorities, and of
10 deputies nominated directly by the Prince. Deputies are elected or
nominated for a period of 2 years, and the Assembly meets in ordinary Session
once in 2 years. During Session each deputy receives 10 gold drachmai a
day. The Prince is at the head of the executive authority ; he appoints his
Councillors or Ministers, who sit in the Assembly and join in the deliberations,
but do not vote. Questions concerning the foreign relations of Crete
are determined by the representatives of the 4 Powers at Rome.
The Island is about 160 miles in length and from 6 to 35 miles in breadth,
the total area being 3,326 square miles. It is divided into 5 departments,
23 sub-prefectures, and 86 parishes. According to the results of the census
of June 17, 1900, the inhabitants, at that date, numbered 301,273, of whom
267,266 were Greek, 33,281 Musulman, and 726 Jewish. Between 1881 and
1900 the total population had increased by 22,890 ; the Greek element had
increased by 62,256 ; the Musulman element had decreased by 39,955. Not
included in these, numbers were, in 1900, 6,096 foreigners, of whom 3,593
were Greek and 1,071 Turkish. All the inhabitants of the Island speak
Greek. The chief towns are Canea, the Capital, with 21,025 inhabitants ;
Rethymo, 9,311 ; Candia, 22,331. In the Island there are 3,000 Greek and
3 Roman Catholic churches and 150 Turkish djamees. For the installation
of bishops and the appointment of Turkish cadees and muftees the consent
of the Prince is required. Education is nominally compulsory from 6 to 9
years of age. There are 321 communal schools (307 Christian and 14
Musulman) with 3^,540 pupils, 4 secondary schools (gymnasia and progymnasia),
and an ecclesiastical seminary, these 5 institutions having 32
teachers and about 795 pupils. The judicial system, organised by Greek
lawyers, comprises a supreme court, a court of appeal, 5 courts of first instance,
26 justice of peace courts, and 2 criminal courts. On December 31,
1899, the prison population numbered 461. There is a police force of about
1,000, and service in the Cretan Militia is to be obligatory on all Cretans.
For the year 1899-1900 (ending August 31) the revenue was estimated at
5,274,118 drachmai, and the expenditure at the same. The revenue is
derived largely from direct taxes, and taxes on articles of consumption ; the
expenditure is almost entirely for internal administration. Extraordinary
revenue, amounting to 726,797 drachmai, was derived from advances by the
Towers. Of the 4,000,000 drachmai promised, Italy has paid 1,000,000 ;
Russia, 352,500 ; France, 12,500; Great Britain, 12,500. The public debt
amounts to 1,364,000 drachmai.
The chief product of the Island is olive oil, used principally, in the
manufacture of soap, but wine, oranges, carob-beans, chestnuts, silk are also
10.1057/9780230270305 - The Statesman's Year-Book, Edited by John Scott-Keltie
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