No. 718

ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE
GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL – No. 1204.

RONALD STORRS,
Governor.

WHEREAS by an Order of His Excellency the
High Commissioner in Council, dated the
17th day of November, 1882, and published in the
Cyprus Gazette, dated the 1st of December, 1882,
It was among other things provided that the
villages of Poli, Chrysofou. Istemi, Prodromi
and Peristerona in the district of Paphos shall
have a Municipal Council and that the limits
within which the said Council shall exercise the
powers, rights, duties and liabilities by the law
vested and imposed upon Municipal Councils
shall comprise the said villages.
AND WHEREAS it is deemed expedient to alter
the limits within which the said Council shall
exercise such powers, rights and duties as afore-
said.
NOW, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers
vested in him by the Municipal Councils Laws,
1882, and with the advice of the Executive Council,
His Excellency the Governor is pleased to order
and it is hereby ordered as follows —
That the limits within which the said Council
shall exercise powers, rights, duties and liabilities
by the law vested in and imposed upon Municipal
Councils shall comprise the villages of Poli
and Prodromi including the port of Latchi.
Given under the hand and official seal of the
Governor at Nicosia, this 7th day of October,
1927.

H. MOLAUGHLAN,
Clerk of Council.

(M.P. 1996/10.)

Decree 7/10/1927 Νo 1204

This decree which was published on 7/10/1927 from the Governor of Cyprus Ronald Stors, reported that the decree of the 17/11/1882 No 718 which was saying that, « The villages Poli, Chrysohous, Istemi, Prodromi and Peristerona in the province of Paphos will acquire municipal council and the limits in which the proposed council will practice the powers, rights, duties and its responsibilities in regard to the law that conditions the municipal councils, will include the above villages », it was necessary to change the limits of the reported council and to include only the villages Poli, Prodromi and the harbor of Latsi.

With the above decree of 17/11/1882, we see that the village Steni (in the decree is written "Istemi", something that confirms how the name was written during the Ottoman domination), was a member of the municipality of Poli Chrysohous from 17/11/1882 up to 7/10/1987.One of the elected mayors of the above municipality, was also our friend, Theodoulos Hadjiargyrou Nittis, a distinguished personality of that season.

The village Steni is found in the northwestern part of Cyprus, five kilometers from the sea of the Gulf of Chrysohous. It is built at an altitude of 200 meters above the sea and its climate is ideal during all the seasons of the year. The fact that at a radius of ten kilometers from the coast of the Gulf of Chrysohous there are produced cherries, "avocado", "mango", watermelons, apples, bananas, oranges and almost anything you can imagine, it shows really what climate exists in this region, that is not met in other regions, not only in Cyprus, but also worldwide.

At the east side of the village, going up to the mountain at a distance of two kilometers, the visitor can see the forest of Paphos and in the northwestern side the entire gulf of Chrysohous with the neighboring villages. This is really a very beautiful picture that is not easily found elsewhere.

We can not say for sure how the village Steni took its name, but there exists two versions by the older residents of the village. The first version says that the locality that the first settlement initially existed , it was a narrow part (steno) in the banks of the river that cross the community and possibly that’s why it was given this name. The second version says that the first resident of the village built his stockyard at a place called "stenia" from "stani" and thus afterwards "stenia" became Steni.

There is no exact information about when the village began to exist, but from a part of the old watermill next to the river that crosses the community, experts have pronounced that this is building of the 16th century and thus the village is of the same roughly chronology. Some other information brings the village to exist during the construction of the monastery of Virgin Mary of Chrysolakournas during the 12th century.

As all the villages of the region, the residents of Steni were dealing from the old years, with the agriculture and the livestock-farming. Because the village of Steni is found between mountains and plains, these two professions of its residents had been very gainful and also the water from the river that crosses the community had been for the old years the best gift to the residents.

The population of Steni had an augmentative tendency up to 1930, about 300 residents, but two big currents of immigration in South Africa from 1930-1950 and 1960-1975, brought the village to a stage between deterioration and indestructibility. A smaller current began towards South Africa, at the beginning of the 20th century thus this country was the choice of all the immigrants of Steni.

The municipal school of Steni functioned in 1925 with 35 students from whom 27 were boys and 8 girls, having for first schoolteacher the unforgettable Loucas Argyrides from the village Katydata of Solea. It stopped functioning in 1983, because of the decreased number of children. The children of the community study today in the regional schools of Polis Chrysohous.

With the manufacture of the dam "Evretos" the life of residents, especially that of the farmers changed because they had now other choices than the traditional agriculture, that is, cultivating only cereals. The main products today are the citrus fruits, olives and cereals. Apart from those that deal with the agriculture, others work in the tourist industry of the region and others with technical professions.

At the beginnings of 1980 the population of the community began once again to be increased, mainly because of the young persons in the village and the repatriation of the immigrants from South Africa due to the good economic situation that prevails in this region.

Today the village of Steni has about 120 residents, but as it has been reported, with the augmentative tendency that exists, as well as with the installation of foreign people in the village, is forecasted that the population will be doubled over the next five years.