LIFE IN PALESTINE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4221, 8 December 1939, Page 4

LIFE IN PALESTINE

AN INTERESTING ADDRESS. A SOLDIER TO SOLDIERS. Opportunity was taken by the Te Awamutu branch of the N.Z. Returned Soldiers’ Association of. rhe visit to this district of BrigadierGeneral Sir Herbert Hart, of Palestine, to invite him to chat to the returned soldiers and their friends at the Parish Hall on Thursday evening on conditions in Palestine, and to renew old associations, flor quite, a number of the local returned soldiers had served under Sir Herbert in the Gallipoli arid other campaigns of the Great War. Sir Herbert is a New Zealander with a distinguished war record in both the South African/ War and the Great War, and afterwards as Administrator at Samoa and more recently in Palestine. He was accorded a cordial welcome by the president of the local iRaS.A., Mr C. O. Edmonds, who said it was indeed a pleasure for the returned men to meet in social intercourse a soldier of such eminence, and to Lady Hart was also accorded a hearty welcome. Among those present were quite a number of ladies, including former war nurses.

Sir Herbert said at the outset that he had not come prepared to give an address. He appreciated the welcome, and the opportunity to renew old acquaintances. However, he would try to give some idea of conditions in Palestine in a general way, as they hald come under his notice as Administrator of the Imperial War Graves Commission.) In the course of his duties, which were somewhat in the nature of an inspectorate and supervision, he had travelled through most ■of what is called the Near East, with Jerusalem as his headquarters. He gave details of the constitution of the Imperial Committee, and said it was actually the only definitely active Empire Committee functioning regularly. His territory comprised ten countries including the Sudan Egypt, Irak, Greece and the Balkans. It was divided into four groups, and ho endeavoured to visit each of the ten countries at least once a year. N/o doubt there was special inteciest to New Zealanders in conditions nowadays at Gallipoli, but he would say there were very many changes there since the epic Landing. The locality was not occupied by farmers, as prevailed in the (battle areas of northern France for instance, but it was now possible to drive a motor car up to Chunak Bair, where stood a fine monument to the New Zealanders who lost their lives at Gallipoli. All headstones in the cemetery are identical, and the grave of the “digger” and the general was similar. The speaker went on to give details of the life in Mesopatamia, its very hot climate, and compared it with Palestine, where climatic conditions were much more equable. Instancing the heat in Bagdad, he mentioned that if one wanted hot water it would be drawn from the cold tap, and cold water would be drawn from the hot. tap. In explanation, he said the cold water supply was usually located in a tank on the roof, and the extreme heat of the day often caused boiling; whereas the hot-watter system was within the house, and therefore not exposed to the fierce sun rays! It was quite usual for one to have lunch in the basement during the hottest period of the day, and dinner would be served on the roof in the cool of the evening. Jerusalem experienced a very equable climate, being at an altitude of about 2500 ft., whereas Jericho, about 24 miles away. and below sea level, was decidedly hot. Palestine was a wonderfully interesting place, and every inch of it seemed to have historic associations. Bethlehem was an extraordinarily interesting place, and the speaker went on to briefly trace the main events of history right from the cradle of civilisation.

Modern Jerusalem, since the war, had developed wonderfully. There had been a great influx of Jews since Great Britain assumed controll under the Mandate. Prior to that the Arabs of Palestine numbered something I'ike 600,000 and the Jews about 50,'OOO. But the Jews had since arrived in surprisingly large numbers. The Mandate did not stipulate how many should be admitted each year; merely that Jews should be encouraged. The result was that in 1932-35 they came in at the rate of about 6O,00K) annually. As Palestine is approximately the size of Wellington l province, one could easily imagine the task /of settlement. With the hordes of Jews coming from many different countries the language question was a difficulty, and there were many contretemps. Then the Arabs became perturbed, and strife developed. But with the outbreak of the present war in Europe the Jews and Arajbs mutually postponed their hostilities, and he hoped that that state of affairs would continue. The two races were very patriotic, but he felt that time would enable them ■to weld into a composed arid progressive nation. He certainly hoped so.