January–June 1936

2

(b) in the case of property in the occupation of any Mosque, Tekye or other Moslem religious body or institution, the Delegates of Evcaf or other person administering the trusts of the same for the time being, as the case may be.

Part I. GENERAL.

Property in antiquities. 3. Subject to the provisions of this Law, all antiquities lying undiscovered at the date of the coming into operation of this Law in or upon any land shall be the property of the Government.

Antiquities accidentally discovered by unlicensed persons to be delivered to the Mukhtar or other authorized person. 4.—(1) Any person who accidentally discovers an antiquity whether in or upon his own land or land the property of another person or of the Government without being in possession of a licence to excavate in accordance with section 14 of this Law shall forthwith give notice of his discovery and if portable deliver the antiquity, to the Mukhtar of the nearest village or to such other person as the Commissioner of the District may appoint in that behalf or to the Curator of the Cyprus or a District Museum and shall at the same time sufficiently indicate or describe the place where he found it. (2) The Mukhtar or other person authorized to take delivery of the antiquity shall give to the person who delivers it a receipt containing a full description of such antiquity and shall send a duplicate of the receipt to the Director and shall, pending instructions from him, retain the antiquity in safe custody. (3) Any person who fails to comply with any of the provisions of sub-section (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to both, and any antiquity in respect of which the offence has been committed shall be delivered to the Director and the finder shall not be entitled to any payment therefor.

Disposal of antiquities accidentally discovered. 5.—(1) The Director upon receiving notice of the discovery of an antiquity as in section 4 of this Law mentioned shall consider whether such antiquity should be acquired for the Cyprus Museum or for any District Museum and if it appears to him that the antiquity should be so acquired, he shall pay to the finder such sum as appears to him to be the fair market value for the same. (2) If the Director decides not to acquire the antiquity he may offer it to the Trustees of the British Museum who if they wish to acquire it, may do so on condition that they pay to the finder such sum as appears to the Director to be the fair market price for the same. (3) If the finder is dissatisfied with the value fixed by the Director, the value of the antiquity shall be fixed by an arbitrator appointed by the Chief Justice and the decision of the arbitrator shall be binding upon both parties. (4) If neither the Director nor the Trustees of the British Museum desire to acquire the antiquity, the Director shall deliver it to the finder and shall give him a permit authorizing him to retain, sell or otherwise dispose of the same either within or without the Colony: Provided that the finder may, with the permission of the Director, deposit such antiquity among the duplicate antiquities exposed for sale at the Cyprus Museum and the price obtained for it, if sold, shall be paid over to him by the Director without any deduction.