Preparations for Palestine General Strike Called off and Motor Strike May End Soon: Action Taken by

The Palestine motor strike will probably end tomorrow, without extending, as was feared, to a general strike of shopkeepers and others throughout the country, as a protest against the rise in prices of food and other articles owing to transport difficulties.

This evening a Government announcement was received by the “Palestine Bulletin” stating that the Government was postponing the collection of licence fees for another month. The “Palestine Bulletin” communicated this announcement to the strike-leaders, who immediately held a conference in the editor’s office, and decided to call off the general strike, and adjourned to consider what action to take with regard to the motor traffic strike.

Before this, the Motor Drivers’ and Owners’ Union issued a statement declaring that they are not opposed to licence fees on principle, but that they are not able to pay the fees, as has been recognised by the Board of Inquiry. The Union places on the Government the responsibility for the severe losses suffered by the motor industry in Palestine.

The hope of a speedy settlement is also seen in the action of the Acting High Commissioner, Mr. Young, the Chief Secretary to the Palestine Government, in having an interview this morning with three of the members of the Enquiry Board, Mr. Shelley, President of the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Rokach, former Mayor of Tel Aviv, and Mr. Yaeli, the leader of the motor drivers in Haifa.

Despite the dislocation of traffic on account of the strike, Baron Henri de Rothschild, the well-known French dramatist and founder of the Pigalle Theatre in Paris, who is a nephew of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the “father” of Jewish colonisation in Palestine, arrived in Jerusalem this morning.