(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
If the British administration in Palestine will change its attitude toward the Palestine industries and will remove the import duty on raw materials required in the silk industry, Max Delphiner, owner of the Tel Aviv silk factory will return to Palestine to reopen his plant, he declared yesterday in an interview with the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here.
“However, if the Palestine government will continue to drag out the question and deal with it in the same dilatory manner as it has in the past two years, I will really sell the plant and regretfully withdraw from Palestine,” he declared.
It was stated that many friends and associates of Max Delphiner in Switzerland and other counties had determined to undertake the establishment of commercial and industrial houses in Palestine, but because of his action this capital will not go to Palestine.
Mr. Delphiner went on to explain his action, stating: “I closed the factory as a protest against the high custom on raw materials levied by the British administration in Palestine. Although the materials are worked into manufactures in Palestine, they are for export abroad and must face competition in the Orient with the Lyons manufacturers. I built the Tel Aviv plant for the purpose of promoting Jewish reconstruction in Palestine, for which I was even prepared to lose money for several years. However I cannot see why I should give money to the British administration, which is directly hindering the development of industry in Palestine.”
The £ 300,000 invested by Mr. Delphiner in Palestine is only a small part of his private fortune which is not engaged in Austrian industries.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
