The Ministerial statement made in the Turkish Chamber on Tuesday
by Djavid Bey, Reporter of the Budget Commission, proved to be an extremely lucid and instructive exposition of
the financial situation. After noting that the Budget Com- mission recommended a small reduction of the Government Estimates of revenue—from £T.25,294,151 to £T.25,068,962- Djavid Bey severely criticised the incompetent handling of State resources in the past thirty years, durerig which all the Government resources had diminished save those ceded to the Public Debt Administration, which, owing to good manage- ment, had increased in twenty years by 100 to 200 per cent. While £T.12,000,000 was drawn from the cultivators, who had nothing for which to thank the Government, European residents and the inhabitants of Constantinople were practi- cally untaxed. " He hoped the Powers would agree to pay- ment of taxes by their subjects who resided in the Empire." Djavid Bey turned next to consider new sources of revenue, such as the leasing of mines to Ottoman and foreign concession- 'mires, various State undertakings, and the sale of long-lease State land. The speech was very well received, and seems to show that Turkish statesmen realise the extreme importance of putting and keeping their finances in order.
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