ZIONIST MOVEMENT.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20086, 15 November 1930, Page 11

ZIONIST MOVEMENT.

PALESTINE UNDER BRITISH RULE. (rf.OH OUE OWE COKEJSBPOSDEBT.) LONDON, October 0. At a dinner given by the Authors' Club, Sir Herbert Samuel, M.P., outlined the developments. that have taken place under British rule in Palestine, where he was formerly High Commissioner. Over 100,000 Jews, said Sir Herbert, had gone to Palestine since the war, and there were now 160,000 in it. It was true tfyat most of them had gone from the . countries of Eastern Europe, but the fact remained that few of them had to Palestine from motives -of . Belf-interest. "If they wished to prosper materially, there are many countries in the world that would have attracted them far more," added Sir Herbert amidst laughter. A large proportion of the Jews who had gone to Palestine since the war were men and women of education, who had submitted to every hardship, toiling and broiling for a mere subsistence. Those pioneers have gone there simply for the sake of*an idea. It is a homesickness that has " endured for two thousand years. (Hear, hear.) Was it not remarkable that from Jews scattered the world over there had been subscribed, year after year, a sum which for- several years past had been in the neighbourhood of £700,000 annually, hardly any of it likely to bring in any return? And the bulk of that money was in small subscriptions. (Hear, hear.). But it was not enough to have ideas and ideals. Such great enterprise must have an economic, foundation. To establish anything in the nature of a National Home, it was necessary to proceed in a practical businesslike spirit, in accordance with the actual circumstances of the land in which the enterprise was to be situated. Palestine was a very varied country, a land of sea coast and desert, barren mountains and fertile valleys. „ •- Commercial Development. Bef erring to the developments carried on in Palestine in recent years, Sir Herbert stated that £1,000,000 had been spent in purchasing land and planting villages in the valley of Esdraelon. Throughout the land over a hundred new villages had been founded. The rich minerals of the Bead Sea were about to be developed. "The capital value of the potash in the Dead Sea," he said, "has been estimated to be' worth £8,000,000,000, if it could be got'out and sold at the present price, but I am afraid those two ifg are impossible of realisation." (Laughter.) At the head of the Jordan had been erected an electric "power station, •which would come into operation this year, and would be capable of supplying electricity for - almost ' the whole of Palestine. At Haifa a great harbour was in the course of construction at a cost of about £1,000,000, and, when completed, would be one of the best harbours in the' Eastern Mediterranean. Alluding to the prophecy that, given the opportunity, the Jews would flock back to Palestine and create again, a Holy Jewish State, Sir Herbert remarked that all over the . world there were 16,000,000 Jews, whereas the present population of the country was only 1,000,000. Developed to its fullest extent, with agriculture and industry at their highest pointf, it could hardly be hoped that the country could contain a population of more than three or four million people.