A shipment of 100,000 cases of Palestine oranges and grapefruit is en route to England, the largest consignment ever shipped there, it was announced today. The fruit, which is expected to arrive in time for Christmas, is part of an order for 1,500,000 cases placed by the British Government. It represents twenty to twenty-five percent of the total current crop.
Meanwhile, representatives of the fruit growers told a press conference that unless the British Government agrees to purchase 7,000,000 cases of this year’s crop, the citrus industry faces catastrophe. Joseph Saphire, mayor of Petach Tikvah and an official of the Jewish Farmers Association, pointed out that one-third of the Jewish population depends in whole or part for their livelihood on the citrus orchards, which represent a capital investment of more than $80,000,000.
Most of the 12,000 groves have been able to continue during the war years because of government-guaranteed loans made by private banks, Saphire said, but the only real solution to the industry’s difficulties is action by the British. He pointed out that if Britain could find shipping to carry apples from Australia, dates from Iraq and cotton from Egypt, it could provide bottoms to carry Palestinian oranges, grapefruits and lemons — “unless there is a political reason behind its refusal to buy.”
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.
