Over a million, two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars was spent by the various departments of the Palestine Executive of the Jewish Agency during the half year ending May 1 in the development of its economic and cultural program in that country, according to an announcement by the Allied Jewish Campaign yesterday.
The largest expenditure, L. P. 105,455 ($527,275), was by the Colonization Department of the Agency and of this sum L. P. 36,514 went for individual settlements, L. P. 29,542 for large farmsteads and L. P. 27,258 for cooperative farms, according to a report from the Palestine Executive of the Agency.
The expenditures of the Education Department, from November last to the end of May, were L. P. 80,620 ($403,100), of which L. P. 41,458 was for elementary Hebrew Schools: L. P. 5,934 for secondary schools and L. P. 4,820 for kindergartens. Toward this the Palestine Government paid L. P. 9,600 and the department received in fees from municipalities and colonies slightly over L. P. 13,130. The next largest item was L. P. 24,753 by the immigration department of the Jewish Agency.
FEW UNEMPLOYED
The report of the Palestine Executive in addition to giving the following figures states that no more than from 300 to 350 Jews were without employment in Palestinian towns at the end of May, and the expectations were that they would be absorbed either in the extensive building operations going on in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Haifa or in the orange orchards and vineyards. In Jerusalem over 1,300 men are presently employed in the building allied trades, due to the steady expansion of a new commercial center which has developed since last August when large numbers of Jewish traders forsook the Old Town where most of the property is owned by Arabs. In Tel Aviv 700 Jews are engaged in building operations and 500 in Haifa. Over 8,000 Jews are employed in the plantation colonies where there was not a single Jewish farm hand without employment up to the middle of May. The grape and almond harvest which began in June absorbed about 100 who were then out of work.
500 JEWS ARRIVED SINCE RIOTS
The report of the Palestine Executive states. that since the disturbances in August last year until the end of April, 500 Jewish immigrants arrived in the country. A total of 1,514 arrived during March, April and May of this year of whom 1,017 found employment in the plantations and 324 in the towns.
All of the Jewish colonies, with one exception, escaped the ravages of the recent locust invasion of Palestine, and only two suffered loss of animals due to foot and mouth disease which was rife in many Arab colonies. The mouse pest which came close on the heels of the locust plague was brought under control with the assistance of the Agricultural Experimental Station of the Jewish Agency.
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