Palestine Government to Control Tel Aviv Finances

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)

A strict control of the finances of Tel-Aviv by the Government is being set up. As the Town Council failed to submit a draft budget within the time fixed by the Government, the budget drawn up by the Government is to be enforced. There are many cuts in this budget as against the budget of the Town Council for last year. The appropriation for education is £E12,825 as against £E15,500 last year. There are similar reductions in the appropriations for sanitation, administration and in other appropriations.

At the last meeting of the Tel-Aviv Town Council, the Vice-Mayor, Mr. Rokan, reported on the negotiations with the Government on the question of the Budget. Mr. Rokan’s report showed that the Government is establishing a rigid control over the financial activities of the Municipal Council. The Council will have no right to sign contracts for more than £E10 without the approval of the District Commissioner, it will have no right to create new Municipal posts or increase salaries without his permission. Until the Council draws up its own draft budget it is obliged to work according to the budget (that is, only the amount set aside for the month of January). The budget is drafted for £E68,000 and from this amount £E20,000 must be paid on account of the Municipal debts, which, it was stated in the debate, amount to £260,000.

The Government has approved the Council’s decision to obtain a loan to the amount of £E15,000 from the Palestine Zionist Executive for the purpose of carrying out public works to meet the unemployment situation but on condition that the Government loan be repaid first. The Government has refused to approve the additional loan of £E5,000 and the Council’s appropriations of £E2,500 for the completion of the hospital building. It has also postponed its grant-in-aid to the amount of £2,800 for sewerage in view of the fact that it is now preparing general plans for a sewerage system in the towns all over the country.

The Executive Committee of the Council has written to the District Commissioner asking him to use his offices to make the Government control milder in order not to infringe upon the autonomy of Tel-Aviv and the self-respect of its Council as a governing body.

Many changes have been made in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. The revisions, as proposed by the Bishops of the Church, are contained in the new Prayer Book which is, for those who wish to use it, to replace the old Book of Common Prayer which has had no substantial alterations since 1662.

Among the revisions in the new Prayer Book is one in the baptismal service which is changed to eliminate the statement that “all men are conceived and born in sin” and omits the reference to Noah and the ark and to the Israelites passing through the Red Sea.

Dr. Ernest P. Horrowitz, formerly professor of Sanskrit at Dublin University, will give a course in Sanskrit in the evening session of City College, New York.