NEW JERUSALEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17250, 28 August 1919, Page 7

NEW JERUSALEM.

RECONSTRUCTION PLANS. TWO EXPERTS CO-OPERATE. I Australian and NZ. Cable Association. (Reed. 9 p.m.) LONDON. Aug. 27. Professor Patrick Geddes is cooperating with Dr. Weizmann, in planning reconstruction in Jerusalem, including the establishment of a university. J A correspondent writing to the Times recently, stated that the work of reconstruction to be done in the Holy City and its outlying districts after the essential requirements of sanitation, health service, engineering, and scavenging had been provided, was divisible under several heads : — (a) The rehabilitation of -workshops and hand industries. (b) The preservation of the actual Holy City itself. (c) The replanning of the new town to the north of it, or rather the getting of the new town into some sort of order. (d) The reform of the municipality and the creation of a machinery for carrying this out. J (e) The preparation of new by-laws to meet the needs of build .ng and housing reform, the preservation ot Palestine antiquities,' archieoiogicai remains and excavations, and the education of the citizens to an understanding of these lawsin short, a civic policy. (f) The creation of some body, some trust possibly of an advisory nature, and free of the old religious or .Nationalist; prejudices, that shau guide, and, if need be, stand up and tight for the amenities of the Holy City. Of ail the reconstructive undertakings in Jerusalem itself, states the correspondent, perhaps the most interesting and significant is the " Pro-Jerusalem Committee." Its unique interest is its internationalism. Moslem, Christian and Jew pull together. The Governor takes the cha.r, the proceedings are in Fres-h. At his right hand is the Grand Mufti, the spiritual head of Islam ; on the other side of the table are the head of the Latin Christians, the Greek Patriarch, or his representative ; the Armenian Bishop; the head of the Jewish Community, Pere Abel, one of the most distinguished of French Orientalists and antiquaries, and some of the leading Italians. There are tlso eminent American and English experts. The Pro-Jeru-salem Committee irdeed, called into life by the Governor, has before it the unique task not only of guiding but of unifying the Holy City after centuries of misery and misrule. Professor Patrick Geddes is Professor of Botany at the University College, Dundee. Ho has tiJien an active part in city improvement, tjwn-planning and educational initiatives in Great Britain, in Europe and in Ind a. Dr. Weizmann is president of the English Zionist Federation.