An inquiry into the dispute over a strip of land in the Jewish colony, Hedera, claimed by Bedouins who interfered with the Jewish colonists when they attempted to plough the area, has been instituted by the British Colonial Office, according to a reply made in the House of Commons yesterday by the Colonial Secretary Amery. The question was raised by Col. Josiah Wedgwood, Labor member.
Information on this question has been asked of Sir John Chancellor, Palestine High Commissioner, Secretary Amery stated.
The Colonial Office was asked by Col. Wedgwood to institute an inquiry as to whether the disabilities suffered by women in Palestine desiring to enter the professions was due to Moslem prejudice and whether this attitude would be changed, due to the improvement of the status of women in Turkey. To this question Col. Amery replied in the negative. Although it would be desirable to introduce western ideas in Palestine, this cannot be done at the same rate of speed as in Turkey, the Secretary stated.
Col. Wedgwood also asked the For- (Continued on Page 4)
Sir Austen Chamberlain, Foreign Secretary, declared in reply that military jurisdiction was superseded by the civil every where in Roumania except in the frontier zone of about ten kilometers. Presmably all cases will now be handed to the civil tribunal. The Roumanian government is making no distinctions between the Jews and other minorities. Further inquiry is unnecessary, he stated.
Continuing, Col. Wedgwood asked again that the British minister in Bucharest ascertain whether the pending ten thousand cases have been transferred to the civil court and whether it was true that one man was recently sentenced by the military court to ten years’ imprisonment, bound in chains, for being a Socialist. Sir Austen declined further inquiry, saying. “We cannot interfere in internal affairs, unless substantial information necessitates bringing the matter before the Council of the League, pursuing the provisions of the treaty.”
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