The enactment of the Protection of Cultivators Ordinance (reported in yesterday’s J.T.A. Bulletin) took the Zionist Executive by surprise, the J.T.A. understands. The Executive learned on Thursday that a law was to be published soon, but it was given no hint that revolutionary legislation of such a nature was to be rushed through without the customary such’s notice for criticism. The haste is believed to be due to pressure from the High Commissioner, Sir John Chancellor from London.
The new legislation will probably hold up the important land transfer to the Jewish National Fund near Wady Havarit.
In the opinion of lawyers who have been consulted the new law is not altogether adverse to the Jewish side, though it represents the first attempt to recognise legally the rights of the tenants, squatters and grazers, whom the Jewish purchasers of the land on which they were settled always compensated, even though there was no law in existence demanding such compensation.
Mr. Stubbs, the Director of the Lands Department, is at present away on six months’ leave of absence, and Mr. Dukhan, the Assistant Director, is in charge of the Department.
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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.
