U.S. Government Protests British Trade Monopoly on Haifa Harbor Construction

The United States government has filed objections with the British government against the alleged intention of the British government to invite tenders for the construction of the Haifa harbor exclusively from British firms.

The construction will involve the expenditure of £1,250,000, and other governments, principally the governments of Holland, Germany and Italy, have followed the United States lead, according to a report in the “Manchester Guardian” today.

These governments have intimated that they will take action if the British persist in favor of their own contractors. Desiring to temper the opposition, the Palestine government has therefore decided on departmental construction of the harbor, the paper states, thus enabling the use mainly of British machinery without affording the possibility for foreign governments to raise a protest.

Two difficulties still remain before construction can proceed, the paper writes. One is the unexpected obstruction which came about through the discovery of important caves of pre-historic man at Athlit, where stone quarrying for material for the harbor had to be interrupted in order to allow a thorough investigation of the caves.

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The second difficulty is the fair wages clause, which the government is bound to observe more vigorously than would private contractors.

Sir John Chancellor’s suggestion to offer the skilled work to Jews and employ Arabs where unskilled labor is required is rejected by the Jews as unacceptable, the “Guardian” declares, first, because the proportion of skilled labor required as compared with unskilled is negligible and, secondly, the division would involve undesirable discrimination.