January–June 1936

9 Plutarch Street, Athens,

April 24th, 1936P.L.Cacoyannis, Esq., Advocate, Limassol.

Dear Mr.Cacoyannis,

Confirming our conversation of April 10th, I shall be pleased if you will represent me in the matter of the acquisition by the Government of part of the site of Curium for the purpose of excavation by the University of Pennsylvania Expedition under my direction.

For your information,I enclose copies of correspondence and certain memoranda concerning the proposed expropriation. To these I think little need be added.

When the excavations, which we began late in May 1934, had proceeded to a point at which it was clear that we should not wish to re-bury the ancient walls uncovered, I made inquiry as to the current price of land such as that on the hill of Curium, was told to count on an advance of about 20 percent on the most recent official assessment, and so offered owners 12s per donum (the assessed value being 10s) for large areas or 18s for small ones of our choosing. It soon became apparent that no agreement was likely to be reached, especially for the lots 4 and 46 (of L. R.Survey Sheet LVIII-4), which we wished to obtain first, ̶n̶o̶w̶ eight large trenches having been dug in the latter and twelve in No.4. It was therefore agreed that the land required should be secured by expropriation.

The area it is proposed to acquire is, as you see, specified in detail in my letter of April 20th and shown in the plan attached thereto. For this it is assumed that the Government will share the cost to the extent of £60. In case that for any reason proves not feasible, we ask for expropriation of rather less than half of lot 45 instead of the whole, hoping that the compensation required will then be less than £120 for the parts taken of the three lots.

When the final appraisal of the value of the land being acquired is made it will be necessary to take into account a certain number of carob-trees scattered over the site. Most, I think, are wild; some were cut back and grafted last year; a few may be mature cultivated trees. Particulars of them can be had from the guard of antiquities of Curium, Christos Gregoriou. I do not know whether the value of trees was included in the preliminary appraisal of the land made three weeks ago by the inspector sent by the Commissioner.

Under the agreement made with owners of fields we have paid damages and rents until May 31 1936 in the case of lot No.4, until May 28 1936 for No.46, and through the agricultural year 1935-1936 for No.45. It is very desirable that the expropriation proceed with sufficient dispatch to forestall any further claim for rent.

Yours very truly,

Handwritten: signature

Stamp: University of Pennsylvania Archaeological Expedition.