Britain Sending Commissioner to Palestine to Investigate Land, Immigration Situation

Sir John Simpson, a former official of the Indian Civil Service, who was yesterday appointed to a special temporary Palestine mission by the British government, will leave early next week for Palestine where he will confer with Sir John Chancellor, High Commissioner of Palestine, and report back to the government on matters of immigration, development and land settlement, the three most important issues raised in the Inquiry Commission’s report.

The appointment of Sir John is no doubt the direct result of the Commission’s recommendations to work out means of regulating Jewish immigration with regard to the country’s capacity to absorb it, and the appointment of an expert to look into the agricultural situation in Palestine.

The appointment of Sir John is seen as an indication that the government is watching the Palestine situation closely. The “London Times” remarks that Sir John’s examination into the three questions are “of equal importance to the Mandatory, to the Zionists and to the inhabitants of the country.

“Jewish immigration precipitated difficulties which would have been presented a few years later by the natural increase of the Arabs. Much depends upon the possibility of the introduction of improved methods of agriculture which may solve the problem. If there is no more room for the close settlement of Jews without prejudicing the rights of other sections, and if no room can be made for immigrants by new agricultural technique both the Mandate and Zionist problem may have to be revised.

“The appointment of an expert who has made a special study of a similar problem in Greek Macedonia is a welcome indication of the government’s desire to obtain the best available advice on a question of great political and international importance.”