A proposal for establishment of an autonomous Jewish state in British Honduras under the joint protection and guarantee of Britain and the United States was made today by William E. Simnett, editor of The Crown Colonist. Writing in the magazine, Overseas, organ of the Overseas League, Mr. Simnett said such a state could be a daughter settlement of the Jewish National Home in Palestine. He pointed out that British Honduras, a territory the size of Palestine, had a population of only 50,000.
The soil is rich and fertile, the writer declared, and has large areas in the interior suitable for cultivation. The climate is subtropical and the higher parts, near the Guatemalan border, are “particularly healthy.” Mr. Simnett said there was ample scope for mixed farming and fruit-growing. He said new roads had been built and the old ones extended. He suggested that Britain transfer administration of the colony to responsible Jewish authorities, declaring that in Honduras there was no hostile people or possibility of international complications.
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