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Emergency Measures Enacted in Jerusalem

August 28, 1939
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The Government today enacted a series of measures designed to conserve food supplies and other essential commodities in the event of war. The ordinances provide, among other things, for control of prices and consumption.

High Commissioner Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael, meanwhile, decreed a bank holiday for three days ending Tuesday. This step was stated to have been taken in the public interest and in view of the grave international crisis.

Wartime censorship was imposed on telegrams from abroad. Use of code was prohibited for the time being, wires being confined to English, French, Arabic and Hebrew.

The Government is working out plans for an emergency regime which will take power the instant it becomes necessary, it was learned.

The German and Italian consulates here have ordered non-Jewish nationals to register for an emergency, while the American Consulate has thus far received no instructions with regard to American residents, who are not returning home in unusual numbers.

It is reported that all political prisoners, both Arab and Jewish, will be released in the event of war, with the exception of course of the suspected agents of hostile powers.

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