PALESTINE DISORDERS.

Wairarapa Age, 31 July 1936, Page 3

PALESTINE DISORDERS.

COMMISSION OF INQUIRY. MEMBERSHIP ANNOUNCED IN COMMONS. WIDE ORDER OF REFERENCE. RUGBY, July 29. The membership of the Palestine Royal Commission was announced in the House of Commons by the Colonial Secretary, Mr. W. Ormsby-Gore. The Commission is “to ascertain the underlying causes of the disturbances which broke out in Palestine in the middle of April; to inquire into the manner in which the Mandate of Palestine was being implemented in relation to the obligations of the mandatory towards Arabs and Jews respectively; and to ascertain whether, upon proper consideration of the terms of the Mandate, either Arabs or Jews had any legitimate grievances on account of the way in which the Mandate had been or was being implemented; and, if the Commission is satisfied that any such grievances were well founded, to make recommendations for their removal and for prevention of their rehurrence. ’ ’

The chairman of the Commission is Lord Peel, former Secretary of State for India, a member of the India Round Table Conference, and chairman of the Burma Round Table Conference. The other members are Sir Horace Rumbold (vice-chairman), formerly British Ambassador at Berlin; Sir Lauric Hammond, who recently presided over the India delegation committee; Sir Morris Carter, former Chief Justice of Uganda and Tanyanyika and chairman of the Kenya Land Commission; Sir Harold Morris, former President of the Industrial Court; and Professor Coupland Beit, Professor of Colonial History at Oxford. The Colonial Secretary added that it was not yet possible to state the date on which the Commission would leave for Palestine, and it was not proposed that the Commission should begin work in Palestine until order had been restored.

Asked why martial law had not yet been enforced in Palestine, Mr. Ormsby-Gore said that martial law had not been proclaimed because, having regard to the extensive powers conferred on the High Commissioner by the Palestine Defence Order in Council, it had not up to now been thought necessary or desirable to do so.—(Brit> Tsh Official Wireless).