News Brief

The Jewish National Fund has taken preliminary steps for carrying out extensive reclamation work upon its lands in the Upper Kishon Valley. The Jewish National Fund land is located on the estates of Knefes, Jebata, Tel Tura, and Tel Shemam. It comprises approximately 43,000 dunams. The reclamation work will require 80 to 100 laborers for a period of about eight months. A sum of £ E14,500 is involved, of which £ E7,000 will be expended on materials, £ E5,000 on wages and the balance on the preparation of plans and estimates, technical supervision and provisional sanitary measures to protect the health of the workers.

The reclamation work is being carried out on a new system. The bed of the Upper Kishon will be regulated by collecting the surplus water-flow in artificial basins, from which the water will be conducted by a syphon system, with a view to its exploitation by the cultivators in the vicinity. The contract for these works was awarded as a result of tenders among a limited number of qualified firms, the successful competitor being Solel Boneh, whose estimate of £ E4,870 was the most favorable.

The drained lands have been allocated for the new settlement plan now to be carried out with the funds of the Keren Hayesod. The men employed in the work are drawn from the future settlers on the reclaimed lands.

The receipt of gifts and legacies totaling $29,600 was announced at a meeting of the board of directors of the Jewish Charities of Chicago held recently. They are as follows: Twenty-five thousand dollars in payment of the balance of the $50,000 legacy left by the will of the late Max Pam; gift of $2,500 from the Patrick J. Carr Christmas fund; gift of $1,000 from Mr. Jacob Witkowsky in memory of his mother, Mrs. Pauline Witkowsky; $1,000 legacy left by the late Joseph Hirsch and $100 left by the late Leo Newman.