[Distributed to the Council O. 406. M. 128. 1928. II. and the Members of the League.] [F. 560.]

Geneva, August 22nd, 1928. LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Nineteenth Quarterly Report of the Refugee Settlement Commission.

Athens, August 15th, 1928. FINANCIAL SITUATION.

A. S i t u a t i o n o n J u n e 30T H , 1928. Liabilities: £ s. d. Proceeds of the 7 % 1924 L o a n ...... 9,970,016 6 9 Proceeds of the 6 % 1928 L o a n ...... 499,759 17 o Contribution of the Greek Government for the purchase of cereals in 1924 219,61913 o Receipts (interest, etc.)...... 346,692 18 7 Bonds deposited by refugees as security for their debts ...... 171,983 15 o Commitments ...... 167,4997 2 Various per contra accounts ...... 349,126 4 11 T o t a l ...... £11,724,698 2 5 Assets: £ s. d. Balances available at Bank and Head O ffice ...... 979,94213 10 Bonds d e p o s i t e d ...... 171,983 15 0 Recovered advances ...... 4,798 17 9 Expenditure : A gricultural Settlement : £ s. d. £ s. d. Establishment expexpenses . . . 7,944,391 12 9 General e x p e n s e s ...... 780,936 13 11 8,725,328 6 8 Urban Settlement: Establishment expenses . . . 1,185,767 9 4 General e x p e n s e s ...... 22,978 11 1 ------1,208,746 o 5 Service of the indemnification of agricultural refugees . 1,354 9 5 Central Administration: General charges ...... 149,634 5 9 Furniture and fittings ...... 25,145 10 0 11,110,208 12 3 Sums applied to redem ption of the 7 % 1924 L o a n ...... 108,637 I 8 8 Various per contraaccounts ...... 349,126 4 11 T o t a l ...... £11,724,698 2 5 The following notes facilitate the reading of this balance-sheet.

L i a b i l i t i e s . £ s. d. R eceipts...... 346,692 18 7 The analysis of this heading is as follows: £ s- d. Interest on balances...... 263,411 13 8 Caution money fo rfeited ...... 8,646 2 5 Various receipts...... 11,847 8 2 Share of the Refugee Settlement Commission in the payments by refugees (25 per cent of capital repay­ ments and 100 per cent of the payments of interest) 62,787 14 4 T o ta l...... £346,692 18 7

S-d-N. 975 (F.) 775 (A.) 8/28. Imp. Kundig. Publications of the League of Nations II. ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL 1928. II. 41. Of the above sum of £62,787, representing the share of the Refugee Settlement Commission in the payments by refugees, £32,066 was collected before, and £30,721 after the agreement of September 1927 with the Government regulating the employment of these funds. This latter amount has had to be used, as provided in the said agreement, in order to meet the following extra­ ordinary expenditures : ,

1. Purchase of seed, etc., for those districts in affected by £ s. d, drought and h a il...... 28,000 0 0 2. Subsidies to districts whose crops were ruined by floods...... 17,800 0 0 3. Credit for the establishment of dispensaries in the flooded districts . . 2,857 2 10

48,657 2 10

To this amount must be added the sum of 3,500,000 drachmae (£10,000) employed for the organisation of the service of the indemnification of agricultural refugees, undertaken by the Commission for the account of the Government, the cost of which, at the special request of the Government, is to be charged against the receipts in question. £ s. d. Bonds deposited by the refugees in provisional account as security for their debts. . 171,983 15 0

Bonds of the 6% 1923 Loan for the indemnification of £ d. s. immigrants from , 34,904,500 drachmæ . . 87,261 5 o Bonds of the 8% 1926 Loan for the indemnification of exchangeable refugees from , 33,889,000 drachmae 84,722 10 o (Converted on the basis of £2 10s. per 1,000 drachmæ) . 171,983 15 0 £ s. d- Commitments...... 167,499 7 2

(a) Share of the International Financial Commission £ d. s. (75 per cent) of repayments of capital by refugees and 100 per cent of the proceeds of sales to non-refugees...... 108,637 8 (b) Rents to be refunded ...... 3 ,4 3 ! 10 8 (c) Caution money and sundry creditors ..... 55,429 17 10 167,499 7 2

A s s e t s . £ s. d. Balances available...... 979,942 13 10

By balances available we mean the sums which still remain at our disposal at banks and at the Head Office. Naturally, these do not refer to balances available in the budgetary meaning of the word, all the available balances of the Commission being already engaged in order to meet various credits opened. £ s. d. Bonds deposited...... 171,983 15 0 See analysis above (" Bonds deposited by refugees, ” etc.).

Sums applied to extraordinary amortisation of the 7 % 1924 L o a n ...... 108,637 18 8

This sum represents 75 per cent of the capital repayments made by the refugees, in addition to the whole of the sums collected from non-refugees for the value of land sold. The following analysis shows the detail : £ s. d. Paym ents by re fu g ee s...... 107,996 0 1 Payments by non-refugees...... 641 18 7 108,637 18 8 £ s. d.

Various per contra a c c o u n ts ...... 349>12^ 4 11 £ s. d. Value of buildings m ade over by the Caissed’Assistance . 319,708 0 4 Sums to be derived from the sale of urbanproperty . . . 27*945 J3 7 State d e b to rs...... 95 5 0 Various d e p o s i t s ...... x ,377 6 o 349,126 4 11 — 3 —

B . S upplementary C r e d i t s .

During the quarter April-June 1928, the following supplementary credits were granted from the reserve derived from the difference in the exchange : Drachmæ (1a) General expenses of the Colonisation Bureau at ...... 236,920 (6) Agricultural settlement of ten families at Malcrynitsa, near the frontier 200,000 (c) For the refugees of the flooded districts in Macedonia...... 7,030,000 (i) For the construction of a dam against the floods at Karadjakeuy () goo,000 (e) For the service of the indemnification of agricultural refugees (supple­ m entary c r e d i t ) ...... 1,000,000 (/) For the establishment of dispensaries in the flooded districts in Macedonia 1,000,000 (g) For advances to the vine-growers in M a c e d o n ia ...... 2,000,000

11,966,920

C. D istribution o f t h e S upplementary B u d g e t o f £1,000,000.

In our last report we stated that the Commission had applied to the Government for an advance of £1,000,000 from the National Bank of chargeable against the future loan of £2,500,000. The negotiations with the Bank did not meet with success, and therefore, with the consent of the Government, the Commission approached the Chairman of the Financial Committee of the League of Nations in order to obtain an advance of £500,000 from the unused proceeds of the 1928 Stabilisation Loan. It has been agreed that this sum shall be placed at the disposal of the Commission as need arises. In view of the fact that it will certainly be able to obtain a further sum of £500,000 as soon as required, the Commission has already proceeded todistribute among its services supplementary credits for a total amount of £1,000,000. The distribution has been made as follows on the basis of 375 drachmæ to the £ :

A gricultural S ettlement. Drachmæ Drachmae M a c e d o n ia ...... 134,750,000 T hrace...... 15,750,000 Old Greece, and the Islan d s ...... 31,500,000 ------182,000,000 U rban s e ttle m e n t...... 134,750,000 Special service Mytilene-...... 21,075,000 A rts and C r a f ts ...... 1,750,000 Trans- communication w o r k s ...... 35,425,000

375,000,000 D . C o l l e c t i o n s .

Collections credited during the three months April to June 1928 amount to: {a) In cash, £7,763 2s. 6d., of which sum £2,075 os. id. (75 per cent of capital repayments) is payable to the International Financial Commission, for additional amortisation of the 1924 7% loan. (b) In bonds, 11,023,500 drachmæ, or £27,558 15s. 0d. (at the rate of £2 10s. per 1,000 drachmæ). The distribution of these payments between the agricultural and urban refugees is as follows:

Agricultural Urban Total £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. In c a s h ...... 5,223 1 o 2,540 1 6 7,763 2 6 In b onds...... 23,770 0 0 3,788 15 0 27,558 15 o

£28,993 1 o £6,328 16 6 £35,321 17 6

(a) Payments by Agricultural Refugees1. Payments made during the April-June quarter amounted to 11,445,752 drachmæ (in bonds and cash). The receipts for the corresponding quarter of the previous year amounted to 5,794,084 drachmæ. (b) Payments by Urban Refugees. Payments made during the April-June quarter 1928 amounted to 2,457,868 drachmæ (in bonds and cash). Payments for the corresponding quarter of the previous year were 8,405,635 drachmæ.

1 The figures are given in drachmæ, payments actually being made in this currency. - 4 —

There is a remarkable difference in favour of 1927 between the receipts for this quarter and those for the corresponding months of the preceding year. This is attributable to the fact that, during the three months from April to June last year, the Commission began to accept bonds of the loan for the exchangeable refugees from such refugees as guarantee for their debts. The refugees who had then received bonds hastened to deposit them as security for the amount required from them by the Commission. This amount was much higher than the quarterly instal­ ments with which they should pay their annuities. A fresh increase in receipts will occur when the Government pays the supplementary indemnities due to the exchanged refugees and to the Greek subjects who have abandoned their lands in Turkey.

E. A gricultural S e t t l e m e n t .

Four years will soon have elapsed since the Commission was entrusted with the task of agricultural settlement. The main part of the undertaking has been accomplished ; the large majority of refugees are settled and at work, some being engaged in production and others in trade. The heroic period of colonisation is, however, far from being ended and much still remains to be done. The situation on the whole is very satisfactory, and the traveller in the colonised districts, especially in those plains of or Macedonia which were lately almost deserted, is struck by the density of the population, the high state of cultivation and the general life and movement. A close view, however, reveals a darker side to the picture, and it is clear that not all the villages which have sprung up are enjoying an equal measure of prosperity.

* * *

These villages can be divided into three categories. 1. First of all come those the flourishing condition of which can be seen at a glance. On w'orkdays, when the men are in the fields, hardly a sound is to be heard, but on holidays there is singing and dancing and on market-days constant movement. One is reminded of the busy hum of a hive, and the impression is one of confidence in life. Thus in some Thracian or Pontian village, where the farm buildings have just had time to become weather-stained, the cattle already fill the byres and the granaries are overflowing. Inside the farmhouses the women are at their ovens or spin and weave their wool. In this same village some of the settlers have outstripped their neighbours, and by their energy, perseverance and skill have saved money, increased their flocks, and paid part of their debts. A few, especially tobacco-growers, have been so fortunate as to pay off their entire debt and are now in easy circumstances. The colonies which in different degrees have thus become solidly established and are prospering represent nearly one-third of the settlements. 2. The second category, which constitutes about 40 per cent of the settled refugees, is composed of colonies which are not yet firmly established and still need support. Seen at close quarters, these villages have an appearance of comfort which in reality is merely relative in comparison with their former misery. They must still be treated as under tutelage, and only at a later date will it be possible to relieve them of their guardians, whose duty it is to watch over their interests and youthful inexperience. It is regrettable that the efforts made in some of these colonies — not in all — are not always in proportion to the resources furnished to them. This is above all the case with the settlers from certain districts in Asia Minor, who are not hereditarily predisposed to rapid progress. Moreover, the saving spirit is not general here. Despite their- straitened circumstances, rejoicings and merry-making are frequent. The life is not always, strictly speaking, a country life. The noise of the shuttle across the loom is seldom heard, the miserable little village market has fallen a victim to industry, and the impoverished families find themselves involved in expenditure on luxuries which constitutes an increasing toll. 3. There remains the third and last category of our settlers, who represent rather less than one-third o f the farmers installed. The wretched aspect of their settlement is a proof o f the absence of the smallest comfort — of a hard and precarious existence. This is the case with many of the mountain colonies and also with some of the villages in the plains. Either because their lands are poor or because they themselves are unfitted for agricultural work, are inadequately equipped, or lacking in energy, these people have not been able to react sufficiently against ill fortune — bad crops, a poor market for their produce, or the unhealthy condition of the district — and they are still more or less in the same condition as at the beginning. Hunger is a frequent visitor to their homes ; theirs is a hand-to-mouth existence, made up of loans from the moneylender or casual work with their neighbours, and the cultivation of their own fields is neglected.

* * * This inequality of conditions as between the various colonies has an immediate effect on the working of our organisation. In the areas where the situation is favourable, the complaints an d requests for help received by the colonisation offices are becoming fewer and fewer. The refugees purchase their own supplies, increase their cattle or their implements, and often set to work to clear uncultivated ground which is sometimes a veritable thicket, or, again, they attempt to graft wild trees or try to extend their farm buildings. In the sectors, on the other h a n d , where difficulties are rife, one hears nothing but complaints, as in the early days. _ 5 —

One settler seeks to obtain a further loan, another needs seed or forage ; a draught or plough animal has died and must be replaced ; or a man has fallen sick or lost his live-stock in an epidemic. Our offices are not always able to comply with these requests for fear of exceeding the financial limits which have been assigned to them and to which they must keep in order to provide for earlier or more pressing needs. For these different reasons it is regrettable that the total proceeds of the second refugee loan have not been made available to the Commission. However insufficient these funds might have been to cope with the vast needs of the established refugees, they would at any rate have enabled the more urgent cases to be dealt with. Living, so to speak, from hand to mouth on piecemeal credits, the Commission —■ if we may be allowed the comparison — is in the position of a master who, lacking the necessary working capital, runs the risk of seeing his business ruined, or at least threatened by serious loss, if he does not act in time. Here we are speaking only of refugees for whom the Commission is responsible and who must be firmly established and put on a producing basis. But we must remember that these are not the only ones, that the work that has been accomplished so far by the Commission has, of necessity, not been extended to all the refugees who are able to cultivate the land; that there still remain many peasants who are swelling the ranks of the city dwellers, not forgetting the fact that accom­ modation must be found for a large number of these latter. The Commission has been inspired in its task by a fundamental principle — to establish the maximum number of persons with the minimum of expenditure in such a fashion as to render them self-supporting. It was impossible to settle so large a number of persons on the above principle with a sum of thirteen million pounds — the first and second loans. Social, economic and national interests and the interests of the State, the refugees and the people of the country alike demand that there should be as few social parasites and as many producers as possible. This aim can be attained only in so far as the Greek Government chooses to furnish the necessary means.

We cannot, without overloading the present report, give full details of the work carried out during the four years which will shortly have elapsed since the constitution of the Refugee Settlement Commission. In the following pages merely a rapid summary of our recent work will be given, together with a brief retrospect of some branches of our activity as regards agricul­ tural settlement. Number of Families Settled,.

On page 6 of our fourteenth quarterly report, under the heading “ Amounts Recovered ”, we stated that 147,211 families of agricultural refugees had been settled by the Commission by the end of 1926. As regards the number of families settled, the situation has been subject to continual changes. A number of families have left the country for the urban centres, either because they did not belong to the agricultural class, or because they could not accustom themselves to life in the country, or because they could no longer support the unhealthy conditions of certain districts, or, again, because they preferred to enrol themselves amongst the urban settlers and take advantage of the indemnification which the State has granted to urban refugees. The departure for Russian Armenia of 470 Armenian refugee families originally included amongst our settlers must also be mentioned. The figures furnished by our services on the situation as at December 31st, 1927, show a distinct decrease in Macedonia, a slight increase in Thrace and a slight decrease in Old Greece, as follows: Fam ilies Macedonia . . 112,111 T hrace .... 1 6 ,7 5 7 Other 14,144

T otal .... 143,012

This total should be compared with 147,211 families in 1926, and it will be seen that the difference represents less than the 5 per cent of the settlers liable to emigrate from the country to the towns, which we indicated in the report published in volume form 1 (page 122). The general census of the population taken by the Government in June 1928, the final figures of which will be published before the end of the year, will give definite information concerning the present situation, which, as regards our settlers, appears to be practically stabilised.

Area of Lands ceded to the Commission.

The latest figures published 3 date from June 1927. They give a total of 7,409,000 stremmas,

1 Greek Refugee Settlement, League of Nations, Geneva, 1926. 2 Fourteenth Quarterly Report (June 7th, 1927, page 6: Rural Property). — 6 —

of which 4,718,000 are cultivable and 2,691,000 non-cultivable. There has been an increase since then. Our services give us the following figures at the end of December 1927:

Cultivable Non-cultivable Total M a c e d o n ia ...... 3,887,601 2,273,523 6,161,124 T h ra c e ...... 661,706 650,905 1,312,611 Other provinces...... 440,918 211,272 652,190

Total . . . 4,990,225 3 ,1 3 5 ,7 °° 8,125,925

These figures are, of course, not absolutely accurate. Only when the survey work at present in progress has been terminated, as we shall point out later, will the exact area of the lands be known. In any case, whilst the number of families actually working on the land is less than two years ago, the area under cultivation has increased. Nevertheless, as we observe further on, the land placed at the disposal of the refugees is insufficient, and will continue to be insufficient even when they have cleared all the uncultivated land which can be rendered fit for cultivation.

Rural Dwellings.

The construction of rural dwellings was continued in 1927 and 1928, although on a smaller scale than during the preceding years.

Macedonia. — Betw'een 1923 and the end of July 1928, 43,173 1 rxiral dwellings have been built by the Commission; 3,388 new houses are building and to be built out of the 1928-29 budget. Our settlers have also been lodged in the houses which remained vacant after the exchange of the Turks and the Bulgar emigration. Special Commissions are engaged in estimating the value of these dwellings, the precise number of which will then be known. All these houses, however, cannot be used. In many cases they are in a tumbledown condition, if not in ruins, the roofs broken, the walls cracked, the doors and windows off their hinges. Some have been repaired by the Com­ mission and others by the refugees themselves. A large number will certainly collapse sooner or later if suitable measures are not taken, thus creating a fresh housing question for a large number of our agricultural settlers, since the resources of the Commission do not allow it to solve this problem.

Western Thrace. — Nearly a half of the colonists settled in this district have been housed in dwellings built by a State department or in dwellings which remained vacant after the Bulgar emigration and which were repaired at the expense of the Commission. The Commission has extended the housing scheme by building 6,995 houses up to July 1928; 203 others are under construction. About a thousand dwellings still remain to be built in order to complete the programme of agricultural settlement in Thrace. Attention should be drawn to the extremely practical system applied by our Direction in Thrace. It consists in supplying the settler with building material and a horse and cart on condition that he personally undertakes the transport (which constitutes the heaviest expense) and that sufficient funds are provided to pay masons and carpenters. The foundations are traced by our technical service, which also approves the type of house and superintends construction. By.this system, agricultural dwellings in Thrace cost 11,000 or, at the most, 12,000 drachmas; that is, one-half or two-thirds the price of the houses built by contract. They comprise two large rooms, a loft of the same area, stables and such other outhouses a.s the refugee may be able to build out of the resources at his disposal. The majority of these houses have been built with three or four rooms, the settler arranging as regards the extra space. This system has allowed the construction of houses which, far from having the monotonous aspect of mass-production houses built elsewhere by the contractors, have each their special individuality. The village gains in appearance, picturesqueness and character.

Old Greece and the Islands. — Up to July 1928, 7,894 rural dwellings have been built ,"307 are still under construction. The exchange of Moslems left 3,860 dwellings vacant, for the most part in , but in such a ruined condition that repairs were necessary.

Crops.

(1924-27.)

We give below three tables as supplied by our services, which show the progress in cultivation made by the refugees settled by the Commission in Macedonia, Thrace and Old Greece. The areas are in stremmas 2 and the yield in okes 3.

1 Including 3,095 built wholty or partly by the State and taken over by the Commission. 2 10 stremmas = 1 hectare, or about 2% acres. 3 1 olce = 1.28 kilogramme. — 7 —

It should be added that, while the figures for the areas under cultivation are as exact as possible, those for production are certainly under-estimated on account of the general tendency of the farmers to declare less than the true results.

Macedonia.

1923 -24 1924 •25 1925'-26 1926-■27 Crops Stremmas Okes Stremmas Okes Stremmas Okes Stremmas Okes

W h e a t...... 313,925 488,963 34,252,452 510,112 33,737,549 508,676 34,528,165 R y e ...... 47.6^5 98,560 7,193,918 166,477 12,397,867 153,007 9,589,423 B a r le y ...... 166,017 364,757 31,079,201 422,672 33,949,178 409,753 33,011,571 O a ts ...... 25,102 48,094 3,680,484 58,604 3,594.946 72,346 4.905,757 Vetches .... •— 5,392 242,881 4,865 258,302 8,039 287,033 M a i z e ...... 277,897 369,819 27,226,058 357,513 32,474,702 308,692 20,122,295 Millet ...... 13,062 15,927 679,103 14,429 815,932 i i ,445 467,382 O robus...... 9,594 32,096 1,596,756 39,759 2,497,471 55.274 2,966,693 Sesamum .... 32,182 26,917 918,894 29,977 914,416 31,600 472,595 Tobacco .... 93,727 Statistics 187,303 12,723,235 201,060 13.078,577 255,024 i 3,472,542 C o tto n ...... 23,574 for 25,664 1,585,526 28,441 1,842,977 24.043 1,203,666 Hemp 66 production 2,551 98,525 265 4.857 443 19,048 Dry vegetables . 30,I 3I are 61,209 4,110,953 45,487 2,930,717 36,652 1,723,760 Potatoes .... 2,288 lacking 10,746 3,608,075 6,191 1,820,698 3.382 1,211,799 Market-garden produce . . . 6,936 19,973 4,814,841 13,769 6,526,777 11,489 8,615,788 Water-melons . . 15,494 9,729 10,596,153 21,986 10,338,953 19,046 7,802,820 Aniseed .... 533 570 15,075 42 1,015 80 1,113 C lo v e r...... 45 2,082 654,305 983 548,460 1,34° 946,635 F la x ...... ——— 55 2,159 753 24,181 Red Pepper. . . ——— 1,783 138,922 1,362 160,674 Fenugreek . . . ——— 125 2,095 ■— •— Various...... 9 4,201 263,734 68 60,150 1,066 8i ,579 Vines ...... 1,077 13,284 1,240,265 16,395 1,690,907 26,625 1,810,529

Total. . . . • 1,059,354 1,787,837 1,941,058 1,940,137

It can be seen from these figures that, while the area under cultivation in Macedonia doubled between the agricultural years 1923-24 and 1925-26, it remained on the whole practically stationary in 1926-27. With a few exceptions, the increase in yield was only very slight and certain crops have, in fact, suffered a setback, although farming methods have undoubtedly improved in the mean­ while. This situation is due in great measure to bad weather and drought either during the ploughing season or in spring, and also to the heavy rain just before the harvest and other misfortunes to which the crops were subject during the two years preceding the current year.

Western Thrace.

1923-■24 1924- 25 1925-26 1926-2 7 Crops Stremmas Okes Stremmas Okes Stremmas Okes Stremmas Okes

W h e a t...... 92,563 3,565,685 81,525 7,452,790 98,817 8.541,435 99,682 9,059,085 B a rle y ...... 58,347 3,747-395 72,454 7 ,2 9 3 , 0 0 7 82,604 8,559,708 83,392 8,867,815 M aslin ...... —— 34 2,140 7i 5,9 i 8 2,404 205,220 R y e ...... 14.959 844,622 28,003 2,589,795 35,943 3 ,2 4 5 , 3 8 7 39,266 3,547,387 Vetches ...... —— -- ——— 264 49,825 M a iz e ...... 85,038 7,700,75i 70,858 8,761,825 72,984 7,000,759 7 0 . 9 4 6 9,209,558 Sesamum .... 12,652 269,751 25.941 1,310,004 21,898 858,348 27.655 1,281,229 M i l le t ...... 5,398 294,149 9.399 682,417 7,756 449,480 6,541 629,789 O a ts...... 990 34,847 988 108,800 674 52,430 1.949 189,625 O robus...... 2,528 i,35i,ooo 2,902 218,845 5,081 434,832 7,758 761,621 Spelt wheat. . . . 170 4,125 235 19,040 915 68,050 645 41,620 S orghum ...... 4,822 333,198 5.474 512,430 3,782 351,628 3,859 390,160 Dry vegetables . . 8,724 344,665 13.255 853,052 10,993 790,369 9,610 958,866 Potatoes ...... 1,664 177,804 1.647 1,037,585 2,934 1,417,270 1,635 9 6 5 , 4 4 0 Tobacco ...... 13,475 722,481 13.938 816,794 14.327 866,785 23,379 1,423,706 C otto n ...... 2,002 30,510 2,095 70,586 1,667 39,763 2,008 64,303 Onions and garlic . 606 7i ,769 716 176,084 569 201,950 283 100,410 M elons...... 8,395 3,264,400 6,159 3,338,498 5.596 4,291,480 7,385 4,830,585 Vegetables . . . . 108 54,000 223 60,940 451 157,600 734 621,930

T o ta l...... 312,441 335.846 367,062 389,395

As can be seen, there has been uninterrupted progress by the refugees in regard to the area under cultivation and to output. Old Greece, Epirus and the Islands.

1923-24 1924-25 1925-26 1926-27 Crops Stremmas Okes Stremmas Okes Stremmas Okes Stremmas Okes

W h e a t ...... 11,443 5,4!2 46,000 53,106 2,608,249 54.984 3,208,029 R y e ...... 617 37° 14,700 525 42,000 836 26,096 M a i z e ...... 3,935 4,472 64,245 8,279 697,040 16,636 701,251 M i l l e t ...... 10 — — ■— — 158 165 Shorghum . . . 40 — — 1,632 11,000 353 B a r ie v ...... 6,250 9,755 116,400 27,896 1,339,095 27,956 1,491,003 O a ts ...... 3,521 681 8,200 16,047 949,347 19,967 1,238,735 Orobus ...... 823 •— — 3,336 124.385 1,110 34,628 V e t c h ...... •— —— 1,950 156,550 847 133,160 M a s lin ...... 1,068 Statistics ■— — 534 9,514 2,257 127,701 Tobacco 1...... 8,286 of 9,704 185,000 ï 5,553 7i 8,397 14,211 671,288 C o tto n ...... 7 production 500 — — --- 50 i , i 55 S esam u m ...... 198 are 488 4,000 2,704 176,298 1,958 56,083 R ic e ...... — lacking — — — --- 342 20,520 A n i s e e d ...... 5 ——— --- I 29 Ground-nuts . . . 20 —— --- —— Large millet. . . . — 87 8,700 73 78O 118 2,410 Dry vegetables . . 2,93° 2,172 14,000 10,1 10 322,667 8,942 270,275 Market-garden produce . . . . 313 514 — 2,170 500,050 2,798 843,983 Water-melons . . . 74 260 — 940 731-450 794 83,960 Potatoes ...... 127 74 — 756 320,900 494 74.411 Various crops . . . — 3,161 10,000 9,910 795,338 421 35,304

T o tal...... 39,647 37,670 155,521 155.233

1924-25: 1925-■26: 1926-27 : N um ber Okes N um ber Okes

Olive-trees . . . . I Distribution i 385.454 600,657 (oil) 385,454 649,124 (oil) Orange-trees j [ not Lemon-trees i . . j terminated ) 38,503 j Figures j 38,503 i Figures Carob-trees, etc, ■ \ 1 33,432 1 lacking # 33,432 i lacking

V ines...... The vineyards of the exchanged Moslems distributed amongst the refugees were estim ated a t from 5,000 to 6,000 stremmas,

As can be seen from the above table, the area under cultivation in Old Greece in 1926-27 increased, in comparison with the previous year in the majority of cases.

Crops. (1927-28.)

The figures for 1927-28, at present in course of preparation, show a rapid increase in the area under cultivation in Macedonia, varying from 15 to 20 per cent according to the district. In Thrace also there would appear to be an increase in the area under cultivation, but in that district the arable land at the disposal of our settlers, is not far from attaining the maximum possible. Finally, in Old Greece also there has been some progress in the cultivation of the lands ceded to the refugees. Cereal Production in 1928. An excellent harvest—indeed, one of the best—was expected this year. Sowing took place in good time, snow was abundant during the winter and the spring brought sufficient rain. Hardly two months ago, the cereals gave great promise. A few more rains were expected ; then the drought commenced, and at the critical moment, as the crops were ripening, the burning livas wind sprang up in certain districts. In Thrace, where cereals are the main agricultural product, the wheat, barley and maize have been severely affected. The loss is estimated at 30 per cent and in some districts at 50 per cent. In , the situation was almost as serious. There are some villages which will not obtain the year’s supplies, let alone the seed required for sowing, and which have debts to pay as soon as the harvest has been brought in. In Central and Eastern Macedonia, on the other hand, and in , the situation is less unfavourable. Threshing has commenced, but exact information is not yet to hand. It would appear, nevertheless, that on the whole, in Central and Eastern Macedonia at least, the crop should exceed that of last year by 10 per cent. Especially as the area sown was very much larger. In Macedonia and in Thessaly, the maize and other spring crops will be poor as the d r o u g h t still continues.

1 The cultivation of tobacco shown in the above three tables does not represent the entire production of the refugees, but only that of the refugees settled by the Commission. A large number who have not been helped by the State or by the Commission have succeeded, with the assistance of loans obtained from the National Bank, in enormously increasing the production of tobacco either by leasing land from the native inhabitants or by cultivating with them on equal shares as i n Thebes, Marathon, Agrinium, and several other places. — 9 —

Improvements in Cereal Production.

The Improvement Station at Tarissa (Thessaly) which the Ministry of Agriculture has placed at the disposal of our agricultural service, and which has been transferred to Salonica, will act as a centre for the series of demonstration and experimental plots to the creation of which we drew attention in previous reports. Experiments have been conducted on these model plots with, amongst other varieties, Fulgum oats, two Italian varieties of wheat, Cologna and Arditti, which succeeded in Western Macedonia and gave a yield 40 per cent higher than that of the local wheat, and Canberra wheat from Australia, the introduction of which we have already mentioned and which has so far given distinctly encouraging results. The Commission has imported 400 tons of this wheat which will be sown this year in Chalcidice, in the district of (Macedonia) and in Comotini (Thrace). The crop will be kept entirely for seed purposes, since exportation from Australia is not easy. The Canberra grain ripens very quickly and is not liable to injury from the livas wind, drought and blight. The experiments made in the cultivation of cereals have drawn the attention of our agricultural experts to the necessity of persuading the farmers to plough deeply, harrow frequently and make intensive use of chemical fertilisers.

Erratum.

We desire to correct an unfortunate error which crept into our Seventeenth Quarterly Report, page 6, concerning the production of cereals in Greece. The figures which we published on the production of cereals in Greece (total production of natives and refugees) in 1924, 1925 and 1926 only represent about one-half of the actual production. Below are given the exact figures as they have been computed afresh by the Statistical Service of the Ministry of National Economy.

Tons Crops 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 W heat .... 245,540 238,992 210,226 3 0 5 ,4 H 337,552 4 3 8 ,3 4 2 450,200 Barley .... 128,822 117.311 9 3 ,7 6 7 151,240 165,904 257,153 222,036 Maslin .... 26,512 31,628 16,706 23,584 27,950 2 7 ,7 4 7 26,437 Maize .... 143,182 162,178 156,183 172,779 206,551 Figures lacking O a ts ...... 68,102 58,215 44,700 7 9 ,3 5 i 71,968 102,734 121,546 R y e ...... 27,653 15,796 2 3 T 47 3 9 ,7 8 7 40,640 61,458 5 9,360

Total . . 639,811 624,120 5 4 4,729 772,152 850,565 887,434 879,579

Note. — The figures for 1927 and 1928 are incomplete and are still in course of preparation.

Other Crops.

Viticulture. — Viticulture continues to make progress in Macedonia. This year, 5,620,586 new grafted cuttings have been supplied to our settlers, apart from the vine-plants which they have procured for themselves. The crop is suffering from the drought, which has lasted for several weeks, though to a less degree than last year. In Thrace, 1,400,000 American vine-plants were distributed this year by our service, apart from those im ported by the refugee co-operative societies. In this region where, owing to phylloxera and other bad conditions, the vineyards had practically disappeared, the programme for the reconstitution of the vine-growing industry has been based upon a minute study of the soil and of the varieties suitable for introduction. It has been attended with complete success. In some villages near Comotini we have seen vines planted eighteen months ago (both grafted plants and roots) bearing clusters of grapes and reaching a height of one metre. In Old Greece, our service encourages the cultivation of the vine, especially in the colonies in , where the soil and climate are particularly favourable. A nursery of plants free from phylloxera is being established at Scala Oropos (Bceotia) in order to supply refugees cheaply with plants that wTill resist that pest. There are some new plantations also in Crete, where the refugees cultivate specially the vineyards of the exchanged Turks, which have been distributed amongst them x. Silkworm Breeding. — In Thrace, 200,000 mulberry-trees have been distributed and 600,000, produced in our nursery at Orestias, will be distributed next year. Since Thrace is above all a cereal- and tobacco-growing country and since there is no more land available, our service has no intention of further extending silkworm breeding, although the conditions are most favourable. Silkworm breeding has received a new impetus in Macedonia, where 1,200,000 mulberry-trees were planted this year. The Commission has voted a credit of 700,000 drachma; for the construction of a large silkworm nursery at Ardea, the chief town in the frontier district of Karadjova (Macedonia), capable of holding 100,000 okes of cocoons.

1 See below. Old Greece, page 19. •— IO ------

This establishment, which will be built according to the most modern methods, is for the benefit of our silkworm breeders in this remote district. These are at present obliged to transport their products along difficult roads to Edessa, the nearest centre, and consequently suffer great loss and are exploited by the middlemen. The capital advanced will be refunded in two years by the producers, grouped in a local federation, composed of refugees and natives, which was formed for the purpose of carrying out works of public utility. A mulberry-tree nursery has been established at Nea Kios (Peloponnesus), in Old Greece. We have already mentioned in previous reports the creation of this large silkworm-breeding centre, composed of 550 houses, in the Plain of Argos. The Nea Kios nursery has distributed 50,000 mulberry-trees, and 160,000 will be ready next year. Arboriculture. — This year, 195,853 fruit-trees were distributed to the farmers in Macedonia, who also purchased a quantity out of their own resources. Besides the five large stations at Fiorina, Servia, Salonica, Serres and Naoussa, which participate to a very large extent in this industry, 88 model orchards of an area of 880 stremmas have been established in Macedonia. Two stations for the development of fruit-trees have been laid out in Thrace, one at Orestias and the other at Comotini. Lastly, a nursery garden has been established at Janina and another at in Old Greece and Epirus. Apiculture. — Our services are engaged in encouraging bee-keeping. Besides the hives given last year, 8,000 of the improved Root type have been distributed this year to the refugees in Macedonia, 1,800 to those in Thrace and 250 to the refugees in Old Greece, especially in Acamania. A campaign for the improvement of the industry has been started, as the local methods of bee-keeping are rudimentary and in the majority of cases merely pastoral. In certain districts the drought this year has caused great loss to the swarms.

Tobacco. No estimate can be made as yet of this year’s crop, which, after being severely tried by the bad weather of last spring, is at present suffering from a prolonged drought in several regions of Northern Greece. All we know is that 60 per cent of the crop in Thrace has been lost. The situation remains stable for the moment in Macedonia, where the area under cultivation in several districts exceeds that of 1927 by 15 per cent, and, if conditions are normal, it is believed that a yield superior to that of last year can be expected. We have already had occasion to point out the considerable impulse given to the cultivation of tobacco by the refugees. The Greek Exporters' Office has forwarded to us the following figures, which, with a few exceptions, are confirmed by the Government Statistical Service.

Kilograms The production in 1922, the year in which the refugees arrived, am ounted for the whole of Greece t o ...... 25,306,656 Since then production has more than doubled: 1924 50,096,125 1925 65,462,009 1 9 2 6 ...... 5 4 .7 2 4 . 8 4 9 1927 61,709,013 The tobacco produced by the refugees is estimated at about half the total production. The following export figures are to hand: Value in Average rate 1 Value in Year Kilograms drachmae of exchange to £ £ sterling 192 4 ...... 41,832,923 1,684,845,529 247.OO £6,821,236 192 5 ...... 42,219,525 2,980,311,055 313-7° 9.500,513 192 6 ...... 55,324,172 3,416,266,500 386.50 8,838,981 1927 ...... 53,460,304 3,975,000,000 368.50 10,786,974

£3 5 ,947.704 In round figures, during the last four years the export of tobacco brought into the country foreign exchange to the amount of £36,000,000. M. Mantzaris, Secretary-General of the Greek Exporters’ Federation, stated that the tobacco produced by the refugees amounted to 50 per cent of the total production of the country, and that thanks to them it could be said that foreign exchange to the value of £18,000,000 had been brought into the country; that is to say, nearly double the amount of the first Refugee Loan. In view of the fact that the tobacco question is of the highest importance to refugee farmers, we consider it opportune to reproduce in full a note which was submitted to us after a special enquiry into the question. The refugees have not only doubled production in the country, they have also introduced and spread new varieties which are adaptable to certain districts in Macedonia, Thrace and tne

1 National Bank exchange rate, — II —

Islands. At present Greece grows all the finest varieties of Oriental tobacco and those most highly reputed for their aroma and flavour, and it is due to this that these tobaccos occupy a place of their own in the world’s markets. But the question has another aspect. The market is subject at times to difficult moments, as the cost price is higher than that of other producing countries. Various factors contribute to this: There is a relatively small yield, particularly of fine-quality tobacco (an average of 60 to 70 okes per stremma in certain districts of Macedonia and Thrace), whilst the expenses of cultivation are considerable (amounting to 2,000 to 7,000 drachmas per stremma). Moreover, Greek tobacco pays taxes amounting to 20 per cent of its value, and is subject to handling costs amounting to 25 per cent, and for certain qualities to over 40 per cent, of its value, whilst in neighbouring competing countries these charges are far lower. Finally, the price is increased by frequent strikes and their consequences, waste or wilful damage to the goods. The labour question in the tobacco industry is assuming an ever more disquieting character. Counting men, women and children, there are 40,000 tobacco workers in the whole of Greece, about half of whom are refugees. This is a large number. At Cavalla alone there are at present 11,500, of whom hardly 5,000 can be considered as belonging to the industry. The others are either farmers, including settled refugees who take work regularly for the season, or unemployed town-dwellers, recruited chiefly from the refugees who swarm in the large urban centres, or else artisans normally employed in some trade or other, and occasionally trained tobacco workers. This superabundance of labour naturally contributes to the severity of the labour crisis, and increases the number of unemployed, at least amongst the professional workers or the men who have no other trade. It is a curious fact that, although the supply of labour far exceeds the demand, yet wages remain at their former level. The spirit of solidarity which characterises the trade unions goes so far as to allow the maximum wage (105 drachmas) 1 being given to casual labour, however inferior it may be industrially, on condition that the labourers in question belong to the trade-union organisation. Many of the employers, however, are just as responsible for the crisis, since they have helped to increase the supply of labour in the vain hope of bringing about a reduction in wages. These unfortunate conditions chiefly affect the most numerous class, that of the producers, and not the trader, manufacturer or foreign buyer (American companies, German industry, Italian Monopoly), who alone govern the market. Let us explain. The producers, who already lose through the rise caused by taxation and the excessive costs of the commodity, are moreover ill-equipped to resist the buyers. Being badly organised or not at all, they are at the mercy of the buyers and are forced to sell at prices which they cannot dispute. In order to meet the situation, our Direction in Western Thrace has taken steps, in agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, to concentrate the tobacco from Thrace at , in order to ensure its handling and sale by the refugee co-operative societies. This has already been begun, and, if the experiment is successful, it will result in preventing the fall in prices desired by the buyers, and allow the associated producers to defend themselves better, whilst the example given will be certainly imitated. Tobacco is one of the products on which the national economy is based. It is, further, the great resource of our settlements, and it is for this reason that the question is of prime interest to the Commission. There are many elements in the tobacco cultivation and trade which render it a delicate and hazardous industry. Among other measures of protection, the organisation of agricultural credit, rational cultivation and the development of the co-operative spirit have been advocated. But those points chiefly affect production. The labour crisis, aggravated above all since the arrival of the refugees, also calls for remedial measures. Doubtless the most effective cure wTould be to remove the surplus population from the towns ; this would necessitate drainage works, which would provide employment for the farmers converted into town-workers, and would also give employment indirectly to the genuine urban element, the concentration of which in the towns and the resulting unemployment are a source of danger.

Live-stock.

During 1927 and 1928, the Commission continued its task of supplying animals for ploughing to installed refugees, apportioning an extra animal to farmers who only possessed one, or replacing an animal that had died, this being only done as a rule after proof was furnished that the loss was not attributable to the settler’s neglect. Many refugees have also procured a large number of cattle of all kinds out of their own resources. One of the provinces where the increase in live-stock is particularly noteworthy is Western Thrace. In that nearly all our settlers possess a certain number of head of cattle and small live-stock besides their ploughing animals. Stock-raising and agriculture go hand in hand in that region to such an extent that the latter would appear to have practically reached the maximum possible development. Stock-raising, which, moreover, tends in that district towards the breeding of domestic stock, has nearly made good, or indeed more than made good, the losses caused to local live-stock by the war and the requisitions of the last few years.

1 The man or woman employed in the tobacco trade works from 200 to 220 days per year. — 12 —

The same is true of the greater part of the colonised districts in Macedonia, and this has provided a partial remedy for the crisis from which the nomad herds suffered as a result of the extension of the areas under cultivation and the great and sudden decrease in pasture-land. Nevertheless, a halt to this progress must soon be called, since the lack of pastures and fallow lands is being more and more felt with the increase in the number of herds and the extension of the areas under cultivation. This complaint is general in all the districts where stock-raising is carried on.

Improvement in Stock. Our Direction in Thrace is about to establish a stud-farm at Comotini, where the local sturdy breeds of horses and mules and cattle will be reconstituted and improved, and two sub-stations will be created at Ferrae and Orestias. Two stations, one at Fiorina and the other at Salonica, were established last year by our Macedonian services, which started this year stations at and Pravi and two sub-stations at Verria and Langada. The organisation of the station at Salonica remains to be undertaken, and here will be established the centre of the zootechnical work ; a further station in Chalcidice will be devoted more particularly to the improvement of the local breed of cattle. The zootechnical stations already established have given highly satisfactory results. Amongst others, they have acclimatised two French breeds of cow's, the Tarentaise and the Bretonne, Yorkshire pigs, Rhode Island and Plymouth Rock fowls, etc. The impulse given to poultry farming has been one of the causes of the decrease in the importa­ tion of eggs and poultry from Bulgaria and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Our service is about to establish, in agreement with the city of Salonica and the Stock-raising Protection Fund, a microbiological laboratory, which will be an annex to the institution, for the study of methods for the prevention of animal diseases and to extend the use of vaccines and sera. The success which has attended the efforts of our veterinary service has strengthened the confidence of stock-raisers and, in general, led to unhoped for results in the increased numbers and healthiness of the stock. By agreement between our Direction in Old Greece and the Zoo­ technical Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Commission will supply new stallions to the Government stations in Old Greece on condition that the State undertakes their maintenance. The refugees will be able to make use of these stallions free of charge for their breeding animals, and to purchase pedigree animals, calves and heifers bred in the stations, at half price. For this purpose, fourteen cows and a Schwyz bull have been supplied to the school at . The station at Gastouni (Peloponnesus) is engaged chiefly in the raising of stallions, and those at Larissa, Janina, Heracleion and Tiryris in the improvement of cattle in general. The establish­ ment of a station in for the raising of donkeys, one at Canea for horses and one at Nea Kios for milch cows is under consideration.

Cadastral Smvey. The survey work commenced in 1924 has been carried on with various interruptions, excepting in Western Macedonia, where it has been pursued without a break. There are at present eighty- nine parties working in Macedonia. The topographical results to date can be summarised as follows:

1. Western Macedonia: Stremm as (a) Surveyed and allotted la n d s ...... 912,000 (79 colonies) (b) Lands under survey and not yet allotted . . . about 150,000 (32 colonies) The work accomplished in Western Macedonia appears to be highly satisfactory, and even allows of a regular redistribution of the properties being made between refugees and natives. In the whole of this region practically only the districts of , Lipsista and a part of the district of Servia remain to be mapped. The work will be completed by the end of 1929.

2. Central and Eastern Macedonia: Strem m as (a) Lands surveyed between 1925 and July 30th, 1928 4,275,080 (326 colonies) (b) Lands allotted in 1927 and 1928...... 128,781 (c) Lands under survey (1928)...... 550,000 (43 colonies) (d) Lands being allotted (1928)...... 290,447 (13 colonies) In view of the conditions, the system adopted here consists of distributing the surveying parties over several points, a method which, however, has its disadvantages. The work done in 1924 in certain parts of Central and Eastern Macedonia by insufficiently experienced parties was found to be faulty and had to be recommenced. Naturally, the quantity and quality of the work done by the parties depends upon their experience and whether the work is carried out in unbroken plains or broken-up country. 3. Thrace. — The topographical service was organised last May. It includes a central service and ten parties at present employed in the district of Comotini, and six parties detached by the Ministry of Agriculture, who are engaged in another sector. All the surveying parties are concentrated here in one district, where the land is measured and allotted at the same time. Lastly, the boundary is definitely marked after the survey operations have been concluded. — 13 —

4- Old Greece. — A party has undertaken survey work in two colonies in Euboea and is at present working at . Other parties have just been engaged and will carry out work commencing with Thessaly.

Water-Supply for Rural Colonies. Macedonia. — In the past two years work has been proceeding with a view to providing water for villages created by the Commission which were without a supply. From the time the work of settling the refugees was begun up to July 1928, 253 aqueducts were constructed, 383 wells sunk and 258 borings effected at depths varying from 30 to 270 metres. Further, 75 artesian wells have been constructed and 82 borings made for irrigation purposes. This work affects 430 colonies. Other work is in progress. Mention may be made, particularly in Western Macedonia, of the Ptolemais aqueduct (Kaïlaria) 10 kilometers in length, for supplying 2,000 families, the Boudjakia aqueduct (18 kilometers) for supplying 1,200 families, and the Karayannia aqueduct (5 kilometers) for the benefit of 5 colonies with a total of 800 families. The work done so far is sufficient to cope with the essential needs of the villages created, but the water-supply problem does not stop there and is still far from solution in all our Macedonian colonies. Further works are required to provide drinking-troughs and to irrigate certain areas under cultivation. The irrigation programme includes the execution of works of a certain magnitude, i.e., those of Edessa, already completed for irrigating 25,000 stremmas. The Obar canal for irrigating 80,000 stremmas will then be completed, and after that the Topsin canal wThich is also under construction. Plans for irrigating the plain of Ardea (Karadjova) are now under examination. This magnificent and formerly flourishing valley is far from being exploited to the full extent of its capacity. If its numerous springs are captured, it will be completely transformed. Thrace. — So far, there have been 37 borings in this district for the benefit of 36 colonies ; 8 more are being effected. The programme includes the building of aqueducts affecting 24 colonies. The water-supply problem in the villages of Western Thrace has been particularly difficult to solve. The majority of the villages have been built on slight eminences and tablelands and, generally speaking, in high situations, so as to be away from the malaria breeding grounds. Sub­ terranean water was everywhere absent, and, even where water did occur at a slight depth, it was exceptionally hard, or else contaminated by infiltration from the soil. After elaborate geological investigation it was found necessary to have recourse to deep borings; these gave pure water of excellent quality. Old Greece. — During 1926 and 1927, our services undertook to provide water for the colonies in Old Greece. The work included the construction of 29 wells, 20 pumps for temporary use pending the completion of the permanent works, 7 artesian wells and 5 aqueducts. As the administration only possessed a single borer, and the colonies were very scattered, work in these regions has been necessarily slow. In Thessaly, for instance, the working party has been at a standstill during the whole of the winter months, roads being either non-existent or absolutely impassable. This year we have had the use of a second borer loaned by the Direction in Thrace. The work began in Euboea, in the colony of North Pyrgos, and is continuing at present in the plain of Argos. In the last-named locality, deep borings have been made which will provide water for drinking and also for irrigation. In addition, the 1928 programme for Old Greece includes 4 wells, 5 artesian wells and 5 aqueducts. Cultivation with the Use of Machinery. Tractors. — From 1924 to 1927 inclusive, the Direction of Colonisation in Macedonia carried out the following work with its 47 tractors : D epth : centimeters Stremmas Normal ploughing . 15 to 20 129,455 Semi-deep ploughing 25 10,543 Deep ploughing . . 40 20,915

160,9x3 The work is performed with a varying number of ploughs, according to circumstances, as follows : Ploughs Deep p lo u g h in g ...... 2 Semi-deep ploughing...... 3to 4 Normal ploughing ...... 5 to6

The area of 160,913 stremmas broken up is thus equivalent in practice to 238,000 dynamic stremmas. Normal ploughing is for cereals and field crops, semi-deep ploughing for mulberry, clover, etc., and deep ploughing for vines. Thanks to the work of breaking-up, the refugees, more especially those established in the districts of Salonica, Yenidje and Kilkis () have obtained at the earliest possible moment lands ready for cultivation. — 14 —

The effect of deep ploughing has been to create vineyards in the Salonica plain and in Chalcidice on land where nothing has grown within human memory but briars and thistles. The same applies to mulberry plantations and orchards which are now steadily increasing in number, to the great advantage of the refugees, since nothing attaches them more closely to their adopted soil than the growing of trees. Thanks to tractor cultivation, the yield of cereals has increased by 50 to 60 per cent. In consequence, similar ploughing work is being continued this year on a larger scale, especially in Chalcidice, in order to obtain a cereal crop in this region of impoverished soil and drought. In Thrace, there has as yet been no opportunity to employ tractors. In Old Greece, land has been broken up by means of tractors in Thessaly, in Epirus and in Achaia (Peloponnesus), totalling approximately 1,000 stremmas to a depth of 20 centimeters. Agricultural machinery. — Our Macedonian service has furnished either to individuals or groups or to agricultural associations a certain amount of agricultural machinery, among others 319 seed-sorters, 74 reapers and reapers-and-binders, 9 threshers with motors driven by crude petroleum, 7 seed-drills, 13 cottonseed-drills and other machines (hay and straw presses, etc.), preference being given to villages that have shown farming enterprise, and in consequence have set an example and been a means of education to their neighbours. In order to give further employment to the motors used with the threshers, two co-operative societies have set up mills to be driven by these motors. The same groups have been provided with straw presses driven by the motors of crude petroleum-driven tractors, the latter being intended for ploughing as well. These machines are sold to refugees or syndicates, who undertake to repay the cost by annual instalments over one or two years. The service in Thrace has also distributed to the co-operative societies in its area 25 reapers, 25 reapers-and-binders, 100 seed-sorters, 244 seed-cleaners, etc. Finally, in Old Greece, 9 reapers and 20 seed-sorters were distributed.

Co-operative Societies and Agricultural Associations.

Macedonia. — Out of a total number of 4,481 rural associations existing in the whole of Greece at December 31st, 1927 1, there were at that date 656 refugee associations in Macedonia, with 44,815 members. The above organisations are mostly associations for lending, buying and selling, with limited liability. About 100 are unlimited in liability. The co-operative movement, which began in 1924, has developed considerably. In Macedonia, the number of rural refugee associations is perceptibly larger than that of associations of natives, and their membership represents nearly 50 per cent of the refugees settled by the Commission. The following figures are also instructive:

The capital of refugee associations was: Drachm æ In 1 9 2 5 ...... 7,976,140 1926 ...... 20,635,050 192 7 ...... 33,000,000

The figures for the reserve funds were: In 1 9 2 5 ...... 700,000 192 6 ...... 1,500,000 1927 ...... 2,500,000

The following shows the extent of credit operations : 1925: L oans ...... 82,952,600 A d v a n ce s...... 84,500,000 1926: L oans ...... 107,633,000 A d v a n ce s...... 112,600,000 1927: L oans ...... 212,120,000 A d v a n c e s...... 215,200,000

The majority of the loans have been concluded with the National Bank. The Agricultural Bank in Macedonia has also participated, and, lastly, a portion of the funds has been advanced by the Commission in cash or in agricultural machinery. The associations in Macedonia have also effected various purchases of farm implements and sales of their own produce to the extent of 35,000,000 drachmae. Reference should be made to the efforts by the rural refugee associations to procure machinery in the open market, either by means of credits obtained from the National Bank or their own resources. They have also erected barns and other co-operative stores representing a value of 6,000,000 drachmæ.

1 The data for 1928 will not be collected until the end of next December. — 15 —

We may give one example : The agricultural syndicate at Armoutgi, a well-organised and enterprising colony near Salonica, composed of 140 families, employs a thresher driven by a 35 h.p. Diesel engine, 12 reapers-and-binders, 1 mill, 1 motor-driven straw press and various other machines. In addition to using the thresher for its own crops, this syndicate hires it out at a small charge to neighbouring organisations. The Diesel engine will shortly be used also for supplying electric light and for driving a press for the sesamum and sunflower seeds that are produced in great quatities in the district. The example of the Armoutgi co-operative society has been followed by others. Thus the Kilkis co-operative societies have just procured threshers, reapers-and-binders, etc. Western Thrace. — On December 31st, 1926, there were 234 refugee co-operative societies, with a membership of 13,258, a total capital of 4,443,650 drachmæ and a reserve of 1,083,477 drachmæ. The National Bank had loaned them 33 millions. The figures for the co-operative movement in 1927 will be communicated to us at the end of the month and those for 1928 at the end of the year. All we know at present is that it has increased tenfold and that a large amount of modem farm machinery has been acquired by the syndicates in this region also. Old Greece. — The co-operative movement among the refugees is still in an embryonic state. *

One proof of the extent of the credit obtained by many agricultural refugees, either individually or in co-operative associations, including refugees not established by the Commission, is the loans accorded to them by the National Bank. The following figures (for the whole of Greece) have been sent us by the Bank: Loans to Loans to Year individuals : co-operative societies : Total: Drachmæ Drachmæ Drachmæ

1923 ...... 4.430,746 — 4 .4 3 0,74 6 192 4 ...... 101,628,944 4,100,890 105,729,834 1925 ...... 118,397,654 100,487,100 218,884,754 192 6 ...... 64,949,519 123,822,963 188,772,482 1927 ...... 83,937,442 185,865,754 269,803,196

On May 31st, 1928, arrears amounted to 8,087,665 drachmæ.

Rural Credit Fund.

Our Direction in Macedonia founded this year an Independent Agricultural Credit Fund, with a capital of 25 million drachmæ, for the purpose of making loans and advances to refugees settled there. Thrace is founding a similar institution. There are two kinds of loans: short-term (maximum, one year) and long-term (maximum, five years). The first kind of loan is intended either for colonies in temporary difficulties owing to exceptional circumstances, or for those introducing new kinds of crops (tobacco, hemp, silk). In the latter case, the capital advanced is employed under special expert supervision in order to secure the greatest possible advantage from it for the growers. Our services are in a good position to employ this method of rural credit as they can enquire into and verify the solvency of the borrower on the spot. This institution has assisted a number of colonies with immediately appreciable results. Our Chalcidice office has recently made a happy innovation in the matter of agricultural credit which ought to be widely applied. As in the case of the native peasants, our colonists generally require loans either from the Commission or from the Bank at ploughing or sowing time. They pay back the money, to the Bank at any rate, at harvest time. When pressed for payment, they sell their grain at any price they can get. Shortly after, prices go up and the dealers benefit by the difference. The new scheme consists in not making the loans till the harvest, in order to enable the producer to wait.

Floods.

In our eighteenth report (May 1928) we referred to the floods that occurred in Macedonia three months before. From information that has reached us since, it appears that the damage has been definitely more widespread than was at first thought. The regions which suffered most are those of the Axios, Calicos and . In the area of the catastrophe our services have ascertained that about 100,000 stremmas of crops were entirely or partly washed away. The value of the damage is estimated at approximately 70 million drachmæ. The greater part of the fields destroyed belonged to refugees. As many as 151 of the Commis­ sion’s colonies have suffered from flooding by rivers, streams and torrents. The calamity has affected our colonists to a varying extent. A good many showed a tendency at the time to abandon the region. Our services, in collaboration with the civil and military authori­ ties, took steps to check this movement. Moreover the Commission voted an extraordinary — i 6 —

credit of 17,143,000 drachmæ, which we referred to in our previous report, for the benefit of refugees who had suffered from the disaster. The Government also decided to come to the assistance of the victims of the floods, both refugee and native. An ad hoc commission was formed in order to estimate the extent of the damage. Advances up to a total of 150 drachmæ per stremma destroyed will be granted to the persons entitled as a loan for a term of three years without interest. Compensation to refugees will be paid, half out of the Government's credit and half out of that granted by the Commission ; the latter will consequently be able to reduce appreciably the credit mentioned above. Thrace. — Last spring, the rising of the Hebros (Maritza) flooded 1,476 stremmas. Our service advanced 150,000 drachmæ to the afflicted villagers, which enabled them to resow their fields with spring crops.

Draining and Irrigation.

Feeling in Macedonia was deeply stirred by the recent floods, but confidence has returned since the Government gave evidence of its intention to undertake without delay the task of dealing with the waters in the Macedonian valleys. Negotiations are now proceeding between the Greek Government and a foreign firm with regard to financing a large loan for the work of drainage and irrigation. The Government intends to carry out the work step by step and, postponing operations in Thessaly, Epirus and Crete, will make a start with the Struma valley and the plain of . At the same time, work in the Axios valley, which began with drainage of the small lakes of Ardjan and Amatovo, will be pushed rapidly forward; but, owing to previous delays, the work will apparently not be finished before next summer. Between the two valleys of the Struma and the Axios there are more than 2,000,000 stremmas under, stagnant water to be reclaimed. Four or five stremmas of this land are sufficient to support a family in comfort, its yield being from fifteen to tw’enty times larger than that of the best non-irrigated land. The Macedonian marshes after reclamation afford a humus resulting from ages of vegetable decay so thick that one has to go down several feet before reaching the soil layer. The actual performance of the work, though the most important factor, is not the only one. Two other aspects of the question are, first, the determination of titles of ownership and the unravelling of the proprietary rights over the marshy areas, some of which at present belong to the Government and others to communes or individuals; and, secondly, the method of allotment and the manner of bringing the reclaimed lands under cultivation. The Government seems disposed to deal with both forthwith, so that, as soon as the work of draining has been completed, the land can be brought under cultivation without loss of time and money. Meanwhile, our Colonisation Direction in Macedonia has appointed a Committee of Experts to prepare plans for bringing into cultivation and colonising the land derived from Lakes Ardj an and Amatovo. The 100,000 stremmas of land set free in this way will at least partially solve the problem, which the colonists find increasingly acute, of the small size of the holdings. Almost everywhere the average size of the peasant holding is 35 stremmas, i.e., 3% hectares. Draining will solve the problem not only for adjacent colonies but also for more distant and overcrowded colonies, which will be relieved by the removal of the surplus families. The lands after reclamation will, however, be a strong centre of attraction, and a firm hand will be needed to prevent a “ rush ", particularly by those refugees who form visions of golden crops obtained without toil or trouble.

Health.

The health conditions of the refugees are, generally speaking, very satisfactory, except for cases of malaria in certain of our colonies in Eubcea, Thessaly and other areas more or less subject to this disease. It will be seen from our previous reports that the Commission has established a small health service in connection with the colonies in Macedonia in which health conditions are worst. Apart from tuberculosis, which is gaining ground owing to the patients, in the absence of sanatoria, being nursed at home and so spreading the germs to their relatives, the health of the refugees treated in 1927 shows an improvement in comparison with the year 1926. The number of individuals requiring medical assistance in our dispensaries has decreased by 5,000. The mortality from disease in general, including infectious diseases, is lower. In this same area, where our dispensaries are situated and where malaria is acute, 10,000 fewer cases have been reported. Finally, the number of deaths from malaria recorded in 1927 was 409, as against 569 in 1926. The figures for 1928 are not yet available. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the proportion of malaria sufferers is still enormous — at any rate, in the worst regions. In January last, a month when this endemic disease is on the wane, the number of refugee school children in the area covered by our dispensaries suffering from chronic malaria was 414 per thousand, notwithstanding all the preventive measures employed. In Chalcidice, our health service is experimenting successfully with the use of Schweinfurth- green, which has proved so effective in America and Italy for destroying the anopheles mosquito. From the month of March onwards a stretch of about one thousand stremmas of marsh was treated every ten days by spraying the surface of the stagnant water with Schweinfurth-green, the — i 7 — effect of which was to destroy the larvæ and prevent new malaria cases. The method, which is simple, practical and quite inexpensive, is now being extended. We have further to record the laying down of a nursery of eucalyptus plants of a kind that will resist the severe winters. It is well known that this species grows rapidly in wet soils and possesses antimiasmatic properties which are valuable against malaria. The Commission will shortly undertake the draining of the small marsh of Moudania, in Chalcidice (Macedonia), which is a centre of infection for a densely colonised district. Our health service is giving special attention to the education of schoolchildren in health matters, apparently with success. One evil against which our agents confess themselves powerless is drunkenness. This is on the increase in certain country areas, specially among the refugees from Anatolia, those from other places being, generally speaking, temperate. It is however, for the Government authorities to deal with the matter. Finally, we record the recent founding of a microbiological laboratory in connection with the Salonica health service, which will collaborate with the Pasteur Institute at Athens in preparing vaccines, sera and anti-tuberculosis vaccine B.C.G., and will, generally speaking, undertake a bacteriological survey of Macedonia.

The League of Nations and the Anti-tuberculosis Campaign in Greece.

A happy step, which we cannot commend too highly, was taken by the Health Committee of the League of Nations during its session last May. After taking note of the memoranda by Dr. Copanaris, Director of the Public Health Service in Greece, and by Professor Léon Bernard on the increase of tuberculosis, especially among the refugee element, and its spread among the indigenous population, the Health Committee adopted a resolution recognising the necessity of organising an anti-tuberculosis campaign in Greece and placing at the disposal of the Greek Administration the services of the Health Organisation of the League of Nations, in order to carry out a practical programme and an efficient campaign against tuberculosis. In consequence, the Health Committee requested the Medical Director of the League of Nations to study, in collaboration with the Director of the Public Health Service in Greece, a detailed plan of action conforming to the principles laid down in the report by Professor Léon Bernard advocating mainly the establishment of dispensaries, hospital accommodation and organisation for the protection of children, and notably the setting up of villages for the reception of tuberculosis cases and their families. The task of the dispensaries would be to diagnose the disease, to pick out and supervise the patients, to arrange for prophylactic measures in the family, and generally to exert an educative influence. Hospital accommodation could be economically provided in establishments of a hospital- sanatorium type either in existing premises or in huts. The protection of children would consist in separating them from tuberculous parents before family infection had occurred; this would involve "preventoria ” for children already infected and specific immunisation by Calmette’s B.C.G. soon after the birth of children of tuberculous parents. Such in outline is the resolution adopted by the Health Committee and approved by the Council of the League at its meeting of June 4th. This resolution was communicated to us by a letter from Dr. L. Rajchman, Medical Director, dated June gth, 1928. A health official is to leave at once for Greece in order to examine the situation. The Refugee Settlement Commission has been invited to collaborate in this valuable work and will be happy to give its assistance, at least to the small extent its means permit.

Public Works.

Trans-Nestos Road. — WTe have related (Seventeenth Report, February 22nd, 1928) the circumstances which led the Commission to devote a credit of £150,000 to the construction of a road serving the mountainous region beyond the Nestos, which lacks means of communication and whose colonies are in jeopardy in consequence. The necessary plans, estimates and specifications have been prepared. They refer to the -Ossenitsa and Zirnovo-Borovo sections and the Borovo bridge over the Nestos. Tenders will shortly be invited for the first of these two sections. The Commission’s “ parties ” are at present employed in tracing out the road under the supervision of the Government civil engineer of Drama. Other Work. — The absence of roads greatly hinders the development of many colonies. In winter, certain villages or whole groups of villages in remote regions are completely out off by snow or floods. Wherever it has been possible to remedy this situation within the limits of our budget, our Macedonian services have been authorised to have local roads and bridges constructed by the communes. The settlers have provided the labour, and in some cases the funds ; the Commission has provided materials and our technical service has drawn up the plans and supervised their execution. Between the regions of Salonica, , Edessa, Serris and Sidirokastro, thirty-one bridges have been constructed. — i8 —

Five piers have been constructed under similar conditions in five fishing villages along the coast, and a further one at Nea Karvalli.

Schools. Faced with the urgent need of furnishing the refugees with the means of earning their living, the Commission could not contemplate providing its colonies with school buildings, notw ith­ standing anxious requests from the settlers. There are, however, exceptions to the rule. In Macedonia, 266 School buildings have been constructed, the Commission usually providing the material and the refugees the labour; in certain cases contributions have also been made by communes out of the proceeds derived from leasing out the communal pastures. In 65 villages wiiere colonists have been established, an equal number of houses have been converted into schools. Lastly, a considerable number of our colonies have built their own schools without outside assistance or else with the help of the Government. Others have set up their schools under an improvised roof, or in a cabin or hut, while awaiting something better. Many colonies complain of the absence or the inadequacy of the premises. The Kilkis section is the worst situated in this respect, 55 small villages possessing no school. In Thrace there are 234 schools, of which 71 were built with material supplied by the Commis­ sion, the Government supplying the necessary credits for the labour. The buildings are well arranged and carefully constructed; 52 more occupy old premises, the remainder being housed in chapels, huts and unhealthy buildings. In the majority of the colonies in Old Greece houses built by the Commission have been converted into schools.

Fisheries. The Commission has created refugee fishing villages at certain points along the coast, parti­ cularly along the coast of the Chalcidice (Macedonia) Peninsula, in the Evripos Channel (Eubcea) and on the coast of Attica. The seafaring and fishing populations, mostly from the Bosphorus and the Princes’ Islands, have been settled under conditions similar to those in which they were originally living. In addition to receiving individually a dwelling and a small strip of ground (sufficient to start a vineyard, orchard or vegetable garden), the refugees in this class, in groups of six or eight heads of households, have acquired fishing and sailing or motor-driven boats. Some of them were able to bring away with them their own boats and improved gear for deep-sea fishing. They are highly skilled in the exploitation of the sea and have located fishing grounds, introduced fishing appliances new to the country and set up large tunny nets. We have no precise numerical data as to the production of these colonies, but the Fisheries Section of the Ministry of National Economy states that the stimulus they have given to fishing in Greece is enormous. Moreover, the amount and price of the fish in the capital, in Salonica and other ports, are evidence that this is the case. The colonies of Artaki in Eubcea, of Scala Oropo and Nea Peramos in Attica are among the busiest. In Macedonia, Neon Ryssion, 5 kilometers from Salonika, is tending to become a centre with well-equipped restaurants on the beach that enjoy a reputation for sea produce. Progress would have been still more marked if pisciculture was not badly neglected in Greece and if the re-stocking of an area rich in fish but poorly exploited was not still in an embryonic state. Some of our fishing colonies in the Gulf of (Provlax, Ammouliani, Prosforion Xiropotamos, Pargadikia, Sarti, about 800 fishing families) have difficulty in disposing of their catch owing to their remoteness from centres of consumption. The piercing of the Isthmus of Xerxes, connecting the Athos Peninsula to the great Chalcidice Peninsula, would alone give fresh life to the whole of this region and would assist our fishing colonies by putting them into rapid communication with large centres of consumption like Cavalla.

Oriental Carpets. With the influx of refugees from Asia Minor, this industry has been transplanted to Greece and has taken root there both in the rural colonies and in the urban centres created by the Commission. Of the large number of specialist refugee women workers in Greece, 11,000 are at present occupied in the manufacture of carpets, employing 5,600 looms (with an annual production exceeding 250,000 square meters, most of which L exported to foreign countries). The existing labour is sufficient to allow of production being doubled quite apart from the women workers, who could easily adapt themselves to the work, three months’ training being sufficient to make a weaver. The plan of employing these women and also the numerous refugee contractors and other specialists of various kinds and so creating resources for numerous urban families, many of whom are unemployed, and enabling the women by providing work for them at home, to assist in bettering the economic condition of the rural colonies, has several times occupied the attention of the Commission. The Council has decided to devote a sum of £100,000 to encouraging the carpet industry. In the view that this industry comes under the heading of “ productive occupations ” p ro v id e d for in Article VI of the Protocol signed a t Geneva on behalf of the Greek Government on S e p te m b e r 15th, 1927, the Council has obtained the permission of the League of Nations Council, in — i 9 — conformity with Article VI above, to employ the credit of £100,000 for promoting the development of the carpet industry.

Arts and Crafts.

Analogous considerations have led the Commission to examine a plan for encouraging the domestic arts and crafts practised by refugees not only from Asia Minor but from all parts. Thus, for centuries past, the Pontians have been renow'ned for the manufacture of copper articles, the inhabitants of the Ionian cities and the Dardanelles for pottery, Caucasians for leather and silver objects, etc. ; in almost all our colonies specimens are to be seen of weaving by women, ranging from fine silk tissues from Broussa to woollen “ kilims ” in bright and varied colours. The exhibition held last summer in Geneva in the refugees’ pavilion will have conveyed some idea of this. The majority of these arts are found wherever refugees are collected together, showing how strong tradition is among them. But the total lack of organisation renders the work extremely precarious and difficult. The Commission consequently allocated 10,000,000 drachmæ to organise production and marketing of these different products in accordance with the plan approved by the Council. The object is to procure work for the many thousands of wrorkers and artisans of both sexes belonging mainly to the class of refugees most in need of assistance, i.e., agricultural colonists with insufficient land, or townsmen settled in the country who have difficulty in working their holdings, and, finally, the small artisans in urban centres who are either vegetating or taking up other occupations.

Note on Colonisation in Old Greece, Epirus, Crete and Other Islands.

Refugee colonisation having been effected mainly in Northern Greece — Macedonia being the continuation of Western Thrace — these are the areas chiefly mentioned in our reports, other provinces of Greece being more rarely referred to. Notwithstanding the smaller scale on which settlement has been effected in these other areas, it has none the less exerted a distinct influence locally especially in Crete and has encountered a number of serious difficulties which we here indicate briefly. In the first place, there are difficulties regarding land. Old Greece properly so-called — Continental Greece and the Peloponnesus — is a country of small valleys hemmed in by mountains. Arable land is neither rich nor plentiful. The land of Greece, said Herodotus, has poverty for a companion. Water is scarce and, where it does occur, rivers and springs are difficult to utilise or capture. The ploughman painfully tills a soil moistened more by sweat than rain, for rain is scarce, and he draws from the land but a scanty subsistence. He is a fortunate man wTho, by dint of ploughing and manuring and, if feasible, irrigating his land, is able to make his orchard flourish as did old Laertes of ancient Hellas. Again, Old Greece is a country of small holdings where even average-sized farms are rare; it was, in consequence, little adapted to receive colonists. True, there are Epirus and Thessaly — the latter a country of cereal-growing plains — but here the system of expropriating large private estates in favour of native métayers left but little for refugee colonisation. Practically all that remained of the large domains in these provinces has been taken by the Government for the Commission. The same applies to Eubœa, Attica and Bœotia. But everywhere there still remained native farmers wdio claimed their share. To reconcile the conflicting interests of natives and refugees was not an easy task, especially as self-constituted groups of refugees had more than once taken possession of a property in advance. Intense friction and disputes were prevalent when our services were called upon to intervene and also on the ground that the final result in every case was to reduce the refugees’ holding considerably. Again, when the Government expropriated a large estate, often by rather summary methods, resistance on the part of the owner often caused damaging delay. Frequently a solution was so long in coming that our colonists remained with their arms folded for months at a time and allowed both ploughing- and seeding-time to pass, and, even on lands definitively assigned to us, work had to be begun from the foundation upwards. Crete and a part of Epirus were the only places in which the Commission received land already planted, left by exchanged Turks: vineyards, orange and olive groves and pasture-land. Here difficulties with the native population wrere accentuated by the latter appropriating, between the time of the departure of the Turks and the settlement of the refugees, whether legitimately or otherwise, abandoned properties on a large scale. The situation arising in consequence could only be cleared up with great difficulty. * * *

In Old Greece and in Crete, as elsewhere, our services have not been always free to carry out the work of settlement in accordance with actual needs. In the Canea section more refugees have settled on the property of outgoing Turks than the land they left can support. This is largely because groups of refugees insisted on establishing themselves in neighbourhoods that attracted them ; this occurred in the early days of immigration and the service has since not been able to reduce their number. The natural consequence has been to aggravate the overcrowding of land and our services have been compelled to remove a certain number of families from one place to another. But these removals are not always easy to manage.

* * * - 20 —

The small size of the holding allotted to refugees has led our services to modify the methods of farming, and, as will have been seen from the foregoing headings, to concentrate on the develop­ ment of arboriculture, sericulture and viticulture. Viticulture is specially adapted to Attica. Bacchus still remains the joyful god of the Greek wine-growers. In parenthesis, it is a matter for regret that in Crete — with the exception of the region — , not all the refugees who came into possession of the vineyards left by the Turks have exploited them to the desired extent. On the other hand, urban refugees, who came from Ionia and are specialists in handling raisins, have given (particularly at Heracleion) a tremendous stimulus to the trade in and export of sultanas K Generally speaking, viticulture by refugees in Crete has not made much progress. In three years, barely 1,000 stremmas of vines have been added to the 6,000 (approximately) resulting from the exchange. This lucrative crop should be extended and large areas of unprofitable or uncultivated land should be brought under the vine. There is also scope for improving the methods of exploiting orange-groves in Crete. In the region of Canea, the principal centre for the island, oranges, tangerines and lemons are all extremely neglected, particularly on the refugee holdings. The majority of the trees (about 38,000) suffer from various diseases (leaf scorch, leaf blotch, psoriasis) and the yield is extremely small. Another striking fact in Crete is the abandoned condition of the olive-trees, notwithstanding that they form one of the chief resources, if not indeed the chief resource, accruing to the refugees from the exchange 3. Model olive-groves should be established on the actual refugee holdings, in order to demonstrate the value of pruning, manuring, etc. This could be done at small expense. Owing to the small size of the refugees’ holdings and to other unfavourable circumstances, a number of colonists have gradually drifted towards the towns. Wherever feasible, our service has taken steps to check this movement. It has constructed water-channels for irrigating fields for growing vegetable crops, undertaken minor draining work for extending holdings, encour­ aged as far as possible the manufacture of carpets in certain villages and taken a great many other steps in order to retain on the land such colonists as are not really country-folk but town-dwellers endeavouring to adapt themselves to country life. The number of these among our colonists in Old Greece is considerable and we have already explained how difficult, and sometimes indeed impossible, it is to make agriculturists of them. That was the case in Eubcea among other places. The situation there is now beginning to improve, though it is still far from good. To conclude this short survey, we may say that colonisation, while still difficult in Crete, is a little better in Epirus and Eubcea, still more so in the few centres in the Peloponnesus and satisfactory in Thessaly, where settlement may now be regarded as complete.

F. U r b a n S e t t l e m e n t .

While, after four years of existence, the Commission is in a position to estimate the extent of the agricultural colonisation work accomplished, it is less well situated to take a general and equally accurate view of the position of urban refugees in its various phases. The reasons will be obvious to those who have followed at all closely the periodic reports on our work. The majority of rural refugees have now been settled and are under the direct supervision of the Commission, which can thus follow and control their progress step by step, so to speak. It is otherwise with the urban refugees, the majority of whom, are out of reach of assistance and consequently, of supervision by the Commission. Such assistance as has been given to them — they are a minority — has been in respect of dwellings only, since neither the Commission’s resources nor its organisation enabled it to procure them a direct means of earning a living. However, in the wish to provide within the limits of our means for the needs of this large number of immigrant town-dwellers, we have made successive enquiries in order to ascertain at least the main features of their settlement in Greece, a settlement which they have chiefly carried out for themselves. Just as we placed the refugees settled by the Commission in three classes according to their present economic position, so we can distinguish three classes of urban refugees. 1. A numerous class, which, as the result of exceptional good fortune or of outstanding capacity, has made for itself an enviable and sometimes even brilliant position in trade, industry,

1 In 1927, at Heracleion, a principal centre, the export of sultanas from this district and the export of a part of toe sultanas from Sitia handled at Heracleion amounted to ^450,000, in spite of a marked fall in prices; exports of “ tahta , " eleme ” and fresh grapes amounted to approximately £ 1 00,000. While the trade in raisins at Heracleion is a lm o s t entirely in the hands of big refugee dealers, production is mainly due to the natives, the refugee growers’ contribution being relatively very small. Nevertheless, it was the refugees who introduced sultana-growing to Crete in 1914 and taught the indigenous population. 2 The number of olive-trees distributed among the refugees in Crete is estimated at about 385,000, a figure w h ic h is probably really too low. Their value fluctuates between 200 and 2,000 drachmæ per tree. In certain districts there are trees valued as highly as 4,000 drachmæ, but this is exceptional. The average value is from 500 to 600 drachms per tree, giving on the basis of the foregoing a total of 237 million drachmæ. The yield, however, is relatively very small. The refugee crop reports give 600,657 okes of oil for 1925-26 and 649,124 okes for 1927-28, i.e., 1,249,781 okes of oil for the two years. This is very little. --- 21 --- banking or the liberal professions. Obviously we are referring here mainly to those who come into the class of exchanged persons and who were able to bring away with them part of their fortune. There are, however, a good many others who landed in Greece in the terrible time following the military disaster of 1922 in Asia Minor, without any capital or indeed any possessions whatsoever. 2. The second and most numerous class, consisting of persons who have been able to build up a new life in Greece by dint of hard wTork, perseverance, energy, good sense or ingenuity. Obviously, this second category includes various degrees and conditions, from a comfortable existence to a modest livelihood scarcely out of reach of want. 3. A third class, less numerous than the preceding but larger than the first, which may be subdivided as follows : (a) First, those refugees who formerly occupied in their own country a good social and economic position but, owing to repeated ill-luck or unsuccess, have been unable to establish themselves in their country of adoption and are now in a painful situation. From a distance, it is not easy to appreciate the difficulties they have had to encounter. If they have managed to keep up a decent appearance it is in consequence of privations that one would never have suspected had one not received confidences from some in this circle that, without empty words and idle recriminations bespeak courageous resignation. (b) Secondly, there is a mass of individuals of all sorts, working-class people, small shop­ keepers, travelling vendors, artisans, labourers or unemployed, who are vegetating, living from hand to mouth and often going hungry, following first one occupation and then another. They represent the misfits that accumulate and ferment in large urban centres to an often disquieting degree. Apart from this third and last category, the situation of the urban refugees which at first appeared so hopeless, is, taking it all round, as satisfactory as possible. There is reason to hope that it will go on improving and that the improvement will extend even to the least prosperous of the refugees, provided the large works now in contemplation (roads, draining schemes, etc.) come to fruition.

Dwellings.

It will have been noticed from previous Reports, particularly the Fourteenth and Sixteenth, that the Commission, under the heading of “ Urban Settlements ”, has dealt solely with the provision of dwellings. The Commission, knowing that its resources are too limited to enable it to cope with all demands, and realising, first, that it must give agricultural refugees priority in regard to settlement, since their labour is more directly productive, and secondly, that it must relieve the towns of the burden constituted by the refugee element, felt obliged to relegate urban settlements to the background. The Commission has not, however, sacrificed the latter entirely, but has, in point of fact, too often cut down funds that were essential to the rural colonies in order to help the urban settlements. In practice, the provision of a dwelling not only meets the refugee’s most urgent need, but has also been shown by experience to be the best method of enabling him to find work. Our Fourteenth and Sixteenth Quarterly Reports contain data relating to dwellings so far as we have been able to gather them from last year’s census figures and the enquiry into the situation of the urban refugee population. The conclusion (Sixteenth Report) was that, disregarding dwellings under construction in November 1927 (at the cost of the Government, the Commission and the National Bank), a minimum of 31,225 new urban dwellings was essential in order to provide a roof for the refugees who were worst placed in this respect. This figure is well below actual requirements, both because it includes only the most urgent cases and because a very considerable number of refugees had evaded our census and consequently escaped our enquiry. Up to the end of July 1928, the Commission had built 17,970 urban houses in the capital and 21 centres, large and small, on Greek territory (see Table I annexed). The above-mentioned enquiry, which gave 31,225 new dwellings as the minimum number immediately required, has decided us to continue with our programme of urban buildings, and during the last three months we have begun 1,990 new houses in twenty towns and villages of the interior (Table II annexed). The Commission has also decided to build eight new districts, comprising 1,235 houses (Table III annexed). Finally, it now possesses a fresh credit of 80,762,000 drachmæ for building other urban houses in centres to be decided. The number of houses capable of being built out of these funds will vary between 1,553 and 2,153, according to their kind and cost, which have not yet been fixed. In the present state of our resources this is all that can be done, and it is clear we are still far from procuring the 31,225 dwellings referred to above.

Type and Cost of Houses.

The Council of the Commission has devoted particular attention to all matters connected with the construction of this new series of dwellings.. Four years ago, our large quarters in Athens were thought to have been established in almost ideal conditions. At that time, the most exacting refugee was satisfied if he could acquire a dwelling in one of our Athenian suburbs, Byron or Ionia. But here again, the situation has changed, and refugees — 22 •—

who would once have been satisfied with two rooms and a little hall now find this accommodation inadequate ; they prefer to pay a high rent and live in town — wThich is further proof of their constantly improving financial status. At any rate, of the criticisms levelled at the quarters we have built, we must admit that one of the best-founded is that they are monotonous both as regards the lay-out of the streets and the type of house. We pointed out, in one of our later reports, that the Commission had selected a type which scarcely ever varied, and offered the greatest number of advantages in the matter of solidity, simplicity of construction and cost. This is the £100 or 37,500-drachmæ type of house (about 30,000 drachmæ for the house itself, and 7,500 drachmæ for the general expenses in connection with the quarter). The Council has decided that it will now, as far as possible, avoid uniformity — which threatened to become a tradition — and will introduce greater variety in the houses themselves and in the lay-out of the roads. This, of course, will mean increased expenditure. These new dwellings, which will average three rooms instead of two, will cost 52,000 drachmæ each (general expenditure included) instead of 37,500 drachmæ. We believe that many refugees will add to this sum out of their own pockets to obtain a larger and more confortable dwelling. While on the subject of uniformity, we should mention that most of the urban quarters established in the centres of Western Thrace, particularly at Comotini and Xanthi, form an exception to this rule. We are not referring to several quarters built by private enterprise — which, by the way, are very good value for the money, since for 30,000 drachmæ, they include two rooms, a hall, a kitchen and a w.c. — but to hundreds of six- to eight-room?d houses which oar Thrace Direction has caused to be constructed by providing loans or building material up to the value of 30,000 drachmæ. The refugee carries out the constructional work himself, or at any rate supervises it, and makes any additions he thinks fit at his own expense. Thus quarters have sprung up in which each house has a style and individuality of its own. Some of the houses indeed are in excellent taste ; and as every owner gives free play to his imagination or desire for decorative effect by a bright touch here or there to the exterior or interior of his house, the general aspect of these quarters finally becomes most agreeable.

Effort — Work — Results.

We would venture to refer once more to our Fourteenth Quarterly Report, in which we explained the main outlines of the problem of urban settlement. We arrived at the conclusion that the solution of these questions was largely dependent on very general measures to be applied by the State or powerful organisations. At that time we had still reason to doubt whether the refugees could themselves provide effectively for their future. For long indeed the very large proportion of town-dwellers among the refugee population was regarded as one of the circumstances which would cause most difficulty in the work of settlement. At the present time, however, it must be admitted that the facility with which these refugees have been able to create fresh resources in their new home-land has exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts. It is now clear that the refugees, in preferring the large towns, were not obeying a blind instinct, but were actuated by a sense of confidence in their capacity for work and their ability to adapt themselves to their new surroundings. The number of persons who have been able to change their trade, forget all that was useless and learn other ways of making a living has been far greater than anyone could have supposed. We refer in particular to the extension of small industries. Among the refugees, small industries have developed to a surprising extent ; articles which were formerly to be found in Greece only in the form of goods produced by large factories abroad are now manufactured in the country, and that by persons possessing very little capital. Notwith­ standing this, these small enterprises have prospered, and continue accordingly to develop. In this struggle, in which capital has been scanty and credit limited, the refugees have relied mainly on their own labour and intelligence. * * *

In all matters connected with the life of the masses, the factors which escape control are often those which exercise the most decisive influence on their future. During three years at least, the urban refugees, urged by some strange instinct, were continually on the move. There are very few urban families which have not flitted again and again from one large town to another in order to see with their own eyes the possibilities offered by each locality visited. Advice from distant relatives and the exchange of correspondence helped to foster these movements and maintain the population in a state of effervescence, in spite of all that the authorities could do to hinder and prohibit these changes of residence which interfered with their plans. Gradually, families have sorted themselves out in such a way that each is now settled in the locality it considers most suitable. The process is terminated, and what neither the State nor any form of management could have accomplished when the refugees were arriving in Greece — namely, the selection for each category of the locality in which it would be most likely to settle down without difficulty — has been achieved by the refugees themselves. If we seek to connect all these events by going back to a remoter cause, we shall find perhaps that the answer to the problem lies in the special characteristics of the race, which have r e m a in e d unchanged throughout the ages. — 23 —

In expressing an unfavourable opinion — and there seemed to be every justification for doing so — with regard to this excess of urban population which had crossed the Ægean Sea, we were inclined to take as a basis for comparison the social order as it exists in most other countries. We were apt to forget that this excess of urban population has always been an inherent charac­ teristic of Hellenism in Turkey, that it is due to one of the most striking features of the genius of the race. For centuries, indeed, the Greeks have congregated mainly in the towns of the Eastern Mediterranean sea-coast, where they have displayed a very decided inclination for navigation, commerce and industry. It might be said that this nation shows a natural tendency to gather about some great city, some powerful centre of intellectual life ; indeed, when no such city exists, the Greeks themselves create one. After Athens came Alexandria, and after Alexandria, Constantinople. We must delve deep to discover the causes of these phenomena ; it is perhaps fairer to believe that the prosperity of the towns of Asia Minor which have now been abandoned was due as much to the industry and intelligence of their inhabitants as to the fertility of the surrounding country. If this be true, the peculiar gifts of the Greek people will again bear fruit, and Athens, the Piræus and Salonica will witness a future worthy of their past. The various facts which we have mentioned in our endeavyur to explain the altered situation of the urban refugees also show that the standard of living among these refugees is gradually improving, in spite of the obstacles that were at first held to be insuperable. We should not, however, indulge in more than moderate optimism; we should merely note that the facts entitle us to conclude that Greece can quite well absorb the Greeks from overseas whom destiny has cast into her territory. The rest is merely a matter of time and peace. We should remember one cause of weakness which the arrival of the refugees engendered : the disproportion between the number of males and females over twelve years of age. At present this disproportion only exists as between individuals over eighteen years of age. Equilibrium will be restored when the new generation grows up. It will be a generation which will have passed its youth in trials and mourning, but it will have received, in the hard school of adversity, a training that after all makes for character and rejuvenates both individuals and nations.

T h e C o u n c i l . Sir John Hope Simpson is still detained in England owing to ill health ; Dr. B. H. Hill therefore continues to act in his stead. It is to be hoped that Sir John’s health will soon be restored, and that he will be able to return to Greece next month and resume his charge.

(Signed) Charles B. E d d y , President.

T a b l e I. — Q u a r t e r s b u i l t b y t h e C o m m is s io n u p t o t h e E n d o f J u l y 1928. Surplus Dwellings Families families I. A thens : (a) B y r o n ...... 1,414 2,094 680 (5) C esarian i...... 1,388 2,993 1,385 (c) Io n ia...... 2,814 3,539 725 2. The Piræus: K o k k in ia ...... 4 ,4 8 4 6 ,3 9 ° 1,986 3- E l e u s i s ...... 480 504 24

Total of the above-mentioned quarters . . . 10,580 1 4- Volo: (a) X iro c am b o s...... 1,112 1,116 4 (b) A g ria ...... 50 50 — 5- Candia: N. H a lic a rn a sse ...... 250 250 — 6. Lemnos : N. C o u t a l i ...... 100 100 — ?■ Katirli, M a c e d o n ia ...... I06 106 — 8. Langada ...... 85 85 — q. K ilk is ...... 100 100 — 10. V e rria ...... 65 65 — 11. N a o u ssa ...... 102 102 — 12. E d e s s a ...... 416 416 — 13. V ertecop...... 30 30 — 14- Seres ...... 400 400 — 15. C a v a lla ...... 100 100 — 16. Comotini, T h ra c e ...... 1,812 1,812 — 17. Sappi ...... 22 22 — 18. X a n t h i ...... 1,846 1,846 — 19. ...... 472 472 — 20. F errae...... 10 10 — 21. D idym oteichon...... 248 248 — 22. O re s tia s ...... 64 64

T o ta ls ...... 17,970 22,908

1 In order to avoid any misunderstanding due to the difference between the figure 10,580 for the total number of dwellings in the quarters of Athens, the Piræus and shown in this Table I and the figure 10,734 which appears in the financial part of our Eighteenth Quarterly Report on page 6, we should point out that the figures in Table I correctly represent the exact number of houses constructed to serve as separate dwellings. By this we mean dwelling accommodation sufficient for one family. We have already stated, however, that we are obliged to tolerate the presence of two families — 24 —

T a b l e II. — Q u a r t e r s b e i n g constructed .

Dwellings I. S ty l i s ...... 40 2. L a m ia ...... 80 3 - C o r i n t h ...... • • 35 4. L a r i s s a ...... 68 5 - V o l o ...... 200 6. Canea ...... 110 7 - V ertecop...... • ■ 25 8. Y a n it s a ...... 40 q. S alonika...... - • 300 10. L iv a d ia ...... ■ • 55 11. K-arditsa...... • ■ 45 12. P a tra s...... • • 300 1 3 - P v r g o s ...... 100 1 4 - A rg o s...... • • 63 i> K a te rin i...... 100 16. Alexandroupolis . . . 78 17- ...... ■ • 65 18. Triccala ...... 80 IQ. N a o n ssa ...... 110 20. N i g r i t a ...... 66

T o t a l ...... 1,990

T a b l e III. — Q u a r t e r s w h i c h i t h a s b e e n d e c i d e d t o c o n s t r u c t .

Dwellings

1. T r ip o lis ...... • • • 35 2. K ilk is ...... 100 3 - A thens ...... • • • 350 4 - The Piræus .... • ■ • 350 5 - V e rria ...... 150 6. Pravi ...... 100

7 - Chrysopolis .... ■ • • 50 8. F i o r i n a ...... 100

T o t a l ...... 1,235

in many of these dwellings. The figure 10,734 represents the total number of dwellings which, in the opinion of the Collection Service, were capable of being formed into separate lodgings. The presence of so many surplus families makes it difficult to draw a distinction in certain cases and explains the discrepancy between the two figures.