Royal Commission Probes School System, Agriculture

The British Royal Commission turned its attention today to the Palestine school system and agriculture as its investigation of recent Arab terrorism entered its third week.

Questioning by the commissioners drew the admission from Education Director Humphrey Ernest Bowman that the Government has done little to promote Jewish education, its budget providing for it only to a small extent. Mr. Bowman said the Jewish primary schools, supported by Jewish organizations, were efficient.

Asked by Commissioner Prof. Reginald Coupland of Oxford University what the Government has done to bring Arab and Jewish pupils together, Mr. Bowman admitted it had done nothing in this direction. He cited as reasons the opposition of non-Jewish parents and religious differences and emphasized that only few efforts toward this end have been made by missionaries.

Prof. Reginald Coupland, a commissioner, asked why Hebrew, which he described as the official language, was not taught in Government schools. Mr. Bowman quickly corrected Prof. Coupland, stating Hebrew was only one of the official languages of the country, the others being English and Arabic.

M.T. Dawne, director of agriculture, testified that the Government was considering the possibilities of using oranges as a means of industrializing the country. He said it would be hard to sell 25 million boxes of oranges yearly, but that this was possible.

Mr. Dawne pointed out that seven and a half dunams (about two acres) of citrus land had the same value as a hundred dunams of cereal land if properly cultivated, providing a living for their owner. He confessed that he did not know the amount of citrus land still available.