ARMENIAN REFORMS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1831, 5 August 1895, Page 4

ARMENIAN REFORMS.

Telegrams published last week stated that the Porte had agreed to accept the scheme of reforms demand" 1 V' the; European powers. The scheme submitted by the Ambassadors is published m Home papers of June 6th, and the different points are as follow. We give the full text of Borne of them :— 1. The eventual reduction of the number of vilayets (local governments). 2. The guarantees for the selectfbn of the Valis (provincial governors).— The Valiß shall be selected from among the high dignitaries of the State, without distinction of religion, offering the best guarantees of intelligence, capacity, and probity. . .. The Sublime Porte . . will make a point of seeing that the ftrautionaries whom jthe Government may intend to nominate possess- the required capacities. . . . The Valis shall be assisted by deputies, who shall be Christian when the Vali is Mussul- [ man and Mussulman when the Vali is Christian. ' 3. Amnesty for Armenians sentenced or m prison only on political charges. 4. The return of the Armenian emigrants or exiles.— All Armenians, to whatever religion belonging, who may have been exiled without judgment, either beyond the territory of the Ottoman Empire or beyond the province m which they resided, or who may have been forced to emigrate abroad by poverty, or by the fear of events, without having taken any criminal part therein, shall be allowed freely to reenter Turkey or the provinces which they had left, without being molested by the authorities. They shall also regain possession of the property which they held before leaving the country. 5. The final settlement of pending legaUproceedings for common law crimes and offences.

6. The inspection of the prisons, and an inquiry into the condition of the prisoners. 7. The appointment of a High Commission of Surveillance for the application of reforms m the provinces. 8. The creation of a Permanent Committee of Control at Constantinople. 9. Reparation for the loss suffered by the Armenians who were victims of the events at Sassoun, Talori, etc.— They shall receive suitable indemnities and reparations. The Imperial High Commissioner of Surveillance shall be charged to make investigation and take the measures necessaiy to this end.

10. The regularisation of matters connected with religious conversion.—Persons who desire to change their religion shall be of full age, and shall not be authorised to make their declaration of change of religion save after a delay of one week, during which they shall be placed under the supervision of the head of their own religious profession. 11. The maintenance of the privileges of Armenians.— The Sublime Porte shall give precise instructions to the authorities to prevent the recurrence of infractions contrary to the rights and privileges devolving upon the Armenian clergy and the community, m virtue of statutes m that behalf.

12. Position of Christians elsewhere. In the provinces where the Armenian population forms a notable part of the general population, there shall be attached to the Vali a special Christian functionary, to whom the interests of the Armenians shall be confided. This functionary shall receive the petitions and complaints of the Armenian population, and will bring them to the knowledge of the Vali, who will deal with them, m accord with him, as they may require. This functionary shall further address reports regularly to the Permanent Committee of Control at Constantinople. A long list of regulations for the selection and conduct of the provincial Governors and other details, follows.

Of these, article 24 reads: For the administration of the nomad Kurds, the Vali will have under his orders m each Vilayet an official charged with th*» supervision of the Kurdish tribes. This functionary will be empowered to Jirrest brigands and other malefactors, and to require them to be brought before the ordinary tribunals. He will have under his orders a sufficient escort, and ma; moreover requisition the aid of the local police. A certain number of functionaries placed under his authority will accompany each tribe m its annual migration. . . . The limits of the camps and the pastures of the Nomad tribes shall be clearly determined. The migrations must not become a cause of injury to the inhabitants of the districts traversed or temporarily occupied by the nomad tribes. If the latter commit any encroachment upon the property or outrage against the persons of the villages all migration shall be henceforward prohibited to them. ... An effort will

be made to inculcate the principles of a sedentary life upon the nomad population by accußtomingjthem to field labour, and with this object allotments of land will be assigned to them m localities where their settlements cannot injure the .tranquillity or well-being of the sedentary population.