Mr. David Adams (Labour member for Poplar) asked the Secretary of state for the Colonies in the House of Commons to-day if he would state what additional numbers of Jews had been employed on public works in Palestine in fulfilment of the promise made by the prime Minister to Dr. Weizmann in his letter of February 13th., 1931, that Jews would be employed according to their proportion.
Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, the Colonial Secretary, replied:
I would remind Mr. Adams that the actual wording of the Prime Minister’s undertaking to Dr. Weizmann was as follows: With regard to public and municipal works failing to be financed out of public funds the clai# of Jewish labour to a due share of the employment available, taking into account Jewish contributions to public revenue shall be taken into consideration”.
The Government of Palestine, he went on, is endeavouring in consultation with the Executive of the Jewish Agency to devise a suitable formula for the determination of the Jewish share of employment on public works and in the meantime steps have been taken to increase the number of Jews employed on public works, Except, however, in the case of the Haifa Harbour works, where 340 Jews were employed at the 31st. December 1931, as compared with 183 at the 31st. December 1930, no figures are available.
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