The concession for the exploitation of the mineral salts of the Dead Sea, Palestine, will be granted to Engineer Moses Novomejsky, a Palestinian subject, and Major Tulloch, Englishman, for a period of 75 years, according to the draft of the concession submitted today to the House of Commons by the Colonial Office in a government White Paper.
The company must be formed within twelve months. The concession does not extend to gold, silver, precious stones, mineral oils or antiquities that may be contained on or beneath the shores of the Dead Sea or in or under the waters.
Before the draft of the concession will be signed by the government, a preliminary agreement is to be concluded with Messrs. Tulloch and Novomejsky who are to undertake to form the Dead Sea Exploitation Company within twelve months of the date of signature. The company has to be registered in Great Britain or Palestine and is to accept the fulfillment of the obligations enumerated in the draft of the concession. It is also obliged to be in possession of a full paid share capital of not less than £100,000 which must be available when the company starts its operations. If the concessionaires fail to form the company within the specified period, the government will be entitled to offer the concession to others.
In thirty-eight clauses the draft of the concession states the terms on which the new company is to operate the concession in cooperation with the government of Palestine. The area of the concession covers four square miles of the Dead Sea shores and is granted for the purposes of evaporation. If additional land will be required, the government will grant the land on a fair rent basis, expropriating, if necessary, land from private owners. The object of the concession is to confer on the company the right to obtain mineral salts and render the same marketable, to sell and dispose these salts. The concessionnaires undertake to supply common salt at a nominal price.
The company will be required to (Continued on Page 4)
The company is not to issue shares or a prospectus without the approval of the government. Nationals of Palestine and Transjordania are to have a prior right in the allotment of 20 per cent of the capital issue of any public subscriptions. The government undertakes to improve the existing road from the Dead Sea to the Jerusalem-Jericho junction, rendering it suitable for heavy lorry traffic. Should the government decide to construct a railway from the Dead Sea in the direction of Beisan, freight charges are to be fixed on the basis of a mutual agreement.
Palestine and Transjordanian labor is to be employed in the Dead Sea works, but other sources of labor may be resorted to with the permission of the government.
In time of war the government will have the right of preemption of the products.
Any capital exceeding the first issue of £250,000 is to be offered for public subscription.
In the introduction the Colonial Office declares that a few points of minor importance are still awaiting agreement. However, it is not anticipated that any amendment of substance will be made before final signature is affixed to the preliminary agreement or to the concession proper.
The twentieth anniversary of the Jewish Big Brothers, was celebrated Wednesday night at the Community Center of the Congregation Emanu-El, 1 East Sixty-fifth Street. More than 300 persons attended the meeting.
Mortimer L. Schiff, president of the Jewish Board of Guardians, spoke on the need for social service work.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
