Colonel Josiah Wedgwood asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the House of Commons to-day if he would state what steps if any had been taken to stop further commitments on such matters as the Palestine Land question.
Mr. Philip Snowden, in reply, said that legislation would be required to alter the Palestine loan. Legislation, at the moment, he added, is a matter of investigation in Palestine.
Having regard to all the elements of the problem, His Majesty’s Government have come to the conclusion that to achieve the object in view it is necessary to provide for an expenditure not exceeding £2,500,000, Dr. Drummond Shiels, the late Under-Secretary for the Colonies, said in the course of the Palestine debate in the House of Commons last November, following the publication of the Passfield White Paper. A large part of this sum would be devoted, he went on, to works of a productive character such as Mr. Lloyd George referred to, such as irrigation, drainage, and other schemes designed to increase the general productivity of the country and which it is estimated would provide for the settlement on the land of approximately 10,000 families. In view of the present financial situation in Palestine, the only way in which a sum of this magnitude can be provided is by means of a loan under the guarantee of His Majesty’s Government. During the first years of the development scheme, it will be necessary to provide from British funds such annual advances as may be required to meet the interest and sinking fund charges upon the loan. It will be admitted that it would be useless to attempt any development scheme except on a scale which would enable material benefit to accrue to the Palestine population, and at the same time would provide a reasonable prospect of a great part of the money expended being repaid as the result of the greater productivity of the soil.
It is proposed, he proceeded, to introduce into Parliament after Christmas a Bill authorising the Treasury to give the necessary guarantee for the raising of this loan. This will ensure that the House will have a full opportunity of discussing the project before it is put into execution.
The scheme is intended in the first place, he explained, to provide for those landless Arabs who can be shown to have been dispossessed as a result of land passing into Jewish hands, and any balance will be available for both Jewish and Arab settlement. This development scheme is surely proof that the Government is not only attending to the needs of the landless Arabs, but that the scheme also makes possible further opportunities for Jewish land settlement.
As far as I understand, Dr. Drummond Shiels said replying to a question by Sir Herbert Samuel, now Home Secretary in the present Government, it will be partly new expenditure, but I am only just giving an outline of the scheme to-day, and when the matter comes before Parliament, of course, these details will be more fully explained.
Since the White Paper was issued a good deal of attention has been given to the subject, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald said in the course of the same debate, and an arrangement has been made, in which the Treasury concurs for financial assistance. Dr. Shiels has explained the reasons and what will be done.
During the last meeting of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, M. Orts, one of the members of the Commission, asked Dr. Shiels as the accredited British representative when the Land Development Plan was to be put into operation. Did the Administration intend to wait until all the land had been surveyed? That work might take years. He would also like to know for what purpose the 2½ million pound loan was intended. How much of it would be devoted to land development?
The Commission might take it, Dr. Shiels replied, that the first object of the Scheme was the replacement of landless Arabs who had been dispossessed as a result of Jewish colonisation. It might take six months or more to obtain the necessary particulars. When these particulars and suggestions were available it would be possible to draw up lines of action for the development authority to work out.
BILL WOULD HAVE TO BE PASSED BY PARLIAMENT BEFORE APPROVAL IS GIVEN TO PALESTINE LOAN
Quite clearly, before approval is given to the Palestine loan, the whole matter must be brought before this House, Dr. Shiels stated in the House of Commons in July in answer to a question by Mr. Ormsby-Gore, now a member of the present Government. That would require a Bill, would it not? Mr. Ormsby-Gore thereupon asked, and Dr. Shiels replied in the affirmative.
Mr. Lewis French was meanwhile appointed in July Director of Development in Palestine, and he has since arrived in Palestine and is understood to have started work.
It is the intention of His Majesty’s Government, it was stated in connection with his work, to authorise the High Commissioner for Palestine to incur expenditure not exceeding £500,000 in the investigation, including all necessary surveys, and experiments, such expenditure being met in the first instance, from Palestine funds.
The Director, it was further stated, will submit his report or such interim report as can be completed, not later than 31st. December, 1931. The Bill for the guarantee of the Development Loan will not be settled, it was added, until the report or interim report of the Director of Development is received and considered, along with the representations, if any, to be made as provided for by the Jewish Agency or the Arab Executive, when the Government will decide whether effect should be given to the report and its recommendations or to which of them and in what manner.
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