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DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES, CYPRUS.
19th March, 1935Dear Mr. Hill,
Thank you for your letter of March 13th 1935. I am sorry to be troublesome, but I am not yet clear about your plans. You say that you do not intend to abandon the work on the acropolis, but would like to transfer operations to the sanctuary of Apollo as early as possible, pending the completion of land negotiations will be compulsory purchase before next season. I think we can assume that those negotiations will be complete either by agreement during this season's work or by compulsory purchase before next season begins. In this case you will have the two sites open to you and I think you will agree with me that it would not be desirable augmentation of staff. We should not be able to decide after a rate to work the two at once; at any rate without a considerable augmentation of staff.
Presumably you would be able to decide after a season's work in the Apollo area either that it was more important for you than the acropolis, in which case you would fill up the acropolis trenches; or less important and to be filled up itself and left. The trouble is that in either of these cases the temptation of abandoned diggings to the village digger is left, and neither you nor I want to provide a permanent guard for a filled-in site.
For this reason I am moved to enquire whether there is not still some possibility of coming to an arrangement by which you can go ahead on the acropolis. Has it been pointed out to Oxous Ahmed that, if he remains obstinate, his land is likely to be compulsively acquired; in which case the price would not only receive a lower price than that now offered he would have to pay the costs of such arbitration and litigation as he liked to bring upon himself?
This is surely a powerful argument.
And if Oxous were still difficult, would that make all important work impossible or would it not be possible to complete the purchase of the other plots concerned and work in them and the Crown Land pending a settlement (by compulsion if necessary) with Oxous?
Handwritten: signature
65 figures hard to readstruck struck outadded written in above” jug ditto, and what it repeatsword reading not certain