Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/505

 TRADE AND COMMERCE. 469

the land for such a length of time as to be tantamount to a sale. All the various forms of ' vacouf ' property are exempt from taxa- tion, and the loss to the treasury, in this respect, is great. Sultan Mahmoud II. meditated at one time the entire reconversion of 'vacouf property into ' miri ' or Crown lands, intending to provide for the religious institutions out of the general revenue ; but pious scruples, or considerations of State policy, interfered to preserve the ' vacoufs.' It is said, however, that the subject is again under consideration by the present Sultan Abdul- Aziz.

The third class of landed property, the land called ' malikaneh,' was originally granted to the spahis, the old feudal troops, in recom- pense for the military service required of them, and for the safe conduct of the caravans of pilgrims on their way to Mecca. This property is hereditary, and exempt from tithes; and the payment of a fee by the heir is all that is required to make the succession valid.

The fourth form of tenure — the 'mulkh,' or freehold property, the tenure most advantageous to occupiers — does not exist to a great extent. Some house property in the towns, and of the land in the neighbourhood of villages is 'mulkh,' which the peasants purchase from time to time from the Government on very moderate terms. To have a valid claim to land held by this tenure, the estate must be registered in books kept for that purpose by the various municipal councils.

Trade and Commerce.

The value of the total imports of Turkey in Europe amounted, on the average of the three years 1866-G8, to 18,500,000/., and of the exports to 10,000,000/., representing a total trade of 38,500,000/. The commercial intercourse of the European portion of the empire is mainly with four coimtries, namely, Italy, Great Britain, Austria, and Russia, and it centres at Constantinople. Of 20,000 vessels that annually enter the port of Constantinople, 2,000 sail under the Italian; 1,500 under the British ; 1,000 under the Austrian ; 700 under the Russian, and the rest under the Turkish, Greek, and other Hags.

The increase in the trade and commerce of Turkey within the last thirty years has been very great. In 1831 the trade with Great Britain and Ireland amounted to 888,684/. ; in 1839 to 1, -430,224/. ; in 1848 to 3,110,365/. ; and in 1860 to 7,768,473/. Thus in thirty years the trade had augmented by 850 per cent. The commercial intercourse between the Ottomam Empire — including the tributarv states in Europe, together with Syria and Palestine, but not Egypt — and the United Kingdom during the ten years 1860 to 1869 is shown in the following table : —