SITUATION IMPROVES.

Wairarapa Age, 1 June 1936, Page 5

SITUATION IMPROVES.

CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE QUIETER. ALTHOUGH DISTURBANCES STILL REPORTED. STATEMENT BY DOMINIONS SECRETARY. RUGBY, May 29. The Dominions Secretary,. Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, made a statement in the House of Commons today concerning the situation in. Palestine. He said that while some measure of disturbance was still reported in various parts of the country, he was glad to say that the general situation had shown a distinct improvement in the last two or three days. Mr. MacDonald referred with regret to the shooting in the old city of Jerusalem yesterday of a British constable, and went on to state that the High Commissioner was satisfied that the forces at his disposal were at present adequate. Reports that another additional battalion had been sent to Palestine from Egypt were without foundation. Alluding to an announcement in the Press that tear gas was being held in reserve by the Palestine police for use in certain contingencies in the suppression of civil disorder, Mr. MacDonald informed the House that the High Commissioner had published a statement for the information of the public in Palestine reassuring them as to the non-lethal and entirely harmless nature of the vapour to be supplied, and explaining that its use had only been authorised should occasion arise in order to avoid, .as far as possible the necessity for employing measures for the preservation of law and order that might result in loss of life or serious injury. Asked to the source or names of organisations or individuals responsible for issuing or inciting manifestos , Palestine, the Dominions Secretary said that an appeal for civil disobedience was published as a resolution of the congress of the Arab National Committee on May 7. Manifestos of a more or less inciting character had been issued by the Arab Transport Strike Committee, by leading Moslem townspeople in Jerusalem, the so-called National Guard at Jaffa, the Arab Students’ Congress, and the editor of a prominent Arab newspaper. He added that the British Government was satisfied with the steps which the High Commissioner had taken, and had the fullest confidence in his handling of Ims ) situation —( BritiBh Official Wire-

FURTHER DISORDERS. (( LONDON, May 29. “The Times’s” correspondent at Jerusalem says that the monotonous similarity of police reports, including stone-throwing, damage to property, and retaliation by troops, who fired and dispersed crowds, indicates that the situation is stationary. A bomb smashed furniture in the District Commissioner’s office. At Haida a military patrol drove off bandits attacking the railway line. .1. ■ CONSTABLES AMBUSHED (Received Sunday, 6.30 p.m.) JERUSALEM, May 30. Two British constables were ambushed and one wounded near Beersheba.