Refugee Town to Be Erected Near Haifa Bay

The cornerstone for a community of 100 homes for German Jewish refugee families in the vicinity of Haifa Bay in Palestine, which is to be known as the Kiryath Bialik in memory of the poet laureate of the Jewish people, was laid in July, according to a report just received here by the United Jewish Appeal.

Adjoining the Kiryath Chaim (named for the late Dr. Chaim Arlosoroff), it is the first large-scale undertaking for the permanent settlement of refugees in the Holy Land under the auspices of the Hitachduth Olej Germania, which from the beginning of the influx of Jews from the Reich has been devoting itself to the solution of their problems.

The project was aided by the Jewish National Fund, which placed at the disposal of the Hitachduth Olej Germania 600 dunams of land, 200 to be used for a suburban development and the balance for an adjoining agricultural settlement. For those desiring to settle on a suburban basis, leases were issued for a two-third dunam on which to build a stone house and to cultivate a kitchen garden. On the 400 dunams assigned for agricultural development, twenty agricultural settlers are to be established.

Kiryath Bialik, plans for which were laid out by Professor Abercrombie, noted town-planner, is modeled along the same lines as the suburban settlements dotting the country through the efforts of the Jewish Workers’ Organization of Palestine. It was projected by the Hitachduth Olej Germania as soon as the first refugees arrived in Palestine, it being realized by this organization that, in order that the largest number of German Jews might be economically absorbed, speed was essential. A survey of conditions convinced the Olej Germania that Haifa Bay presented better possibilities under present conditions and in view of the large number expected there than in any other part of the land. A survey of rental costs on the Hadar Carmel developed the interesting fact that the leasing of a two-room apartment would amount to about sixty per cent of the cost of a house in a self-contained suburban settlement, and that the balance of the construction cost could be paid in small installments over a period of years. At the same time it was ascertained that the General Mortgage Bank was ready to advance a loan, as a first mortgage, of fifty per cent of the construction cost of each house.

In addition to the dwellings, which are expected to be completed in about a year (including fifteen farm houses for the agricultural settlement), a water supply must be developed, schools, kindergartens and a community center will have to be provided, and roadways constructed for this new settlement, which is the second largest Jewish suburb established at Haifa Bay, where, it is expected, a number of additional suburbs will be developed in the near future.

The Central Bureau for the Settlement of German Jews in Palestine has granted substantial, longterm second mortgages on these houses for settlers in straitened circumstances.