In the course of a discussion on the forthcoming Inquiry Commission’s report in the House of Commons, Howard Bury, anti-Zionist, asked Drummond Shiels, under-secretary for the Colonies whether he was aware that the granting of the Dead Sea concession to the Jewish engineer, Moses Novomejsky, and his associate, Major Tulloch, had been brought before the Inquiry Commission as one of the causes of the Palestine troubles. Shiels replied that the agreement with regard to the concession had been made by the Baldwin government, thus committing the Labor government in honor to carry it out, and that the final deed had been signed January 1.
The discussion began when Major Nathan asked Shiels when the report was expected and whether the minutes and evidence of the Commission’s hearings would be published at the same time. While he could not say when the report would be forthcoming, Shiels said that the question of publishing the voluminous evidence would be considered when the report was at hand.
Lord Winterton, Conservative, also asked whether simultaneously with the report the government would issue a statement of its views on the outbreak and the methods to be adopted to avoid a repetition since the government had hitherto avoided a statement on the ground that such action would prejudice the Commissioners. Shiels could offer no reply.
Howard Bury initiated the Dead Sea discussion by asking whether the concession agreement had been signed and ratified. He was told that the Commons had been informed that the provisional agreement had been signed on November 30 and that since then the transaction had been completed.
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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.
