capital have subjected them to severe competition, and that, instead of being helped to meet that competition, they (the Arabs) have been left to rely upon their own resources at a time when the country is still suffering from the effects of the War. It may, or it may not, be the duty of the Government to take special measures for this purpose; but considering that Palestine is an agricultural country, and seeing the much larger amounts spent upon some of the other Departments, a budget of only about £E35,000 per annum for Agriculture and Forests seems an all too modest one. It means that the work of that Department is largely preventive, and that whereas certain demonstrations and propaganda have been undertaken, and loans have been granted, very little annual assistance is given to enable the native population to improve its methods of cultivation and to acquire the knowledge which is necessary in the case of live stock.

So much has already been written in favour of and against Zionism that I propose to confine myself here to a discussion of certain facts connected with the Jewish position and to a description of some of the work done by that race. Between the first of September 1920 and the end of February 1925, over 46,000 Jews entered or returned to the country, and since the occupation probably 6,000,000l. of Jewish capital has been invested in Palestine. Somewhat over 100,000 acres of land, at a cost of about 1,000,000l. have been purchased by the various organisations interested in that object; 1,000,000Z. has been spent upon the establishment of industries; about 500,000l. was devoted to the relief of orphans soon after the War; and perhaps 3,500,000l. has been allocated to colonisation, education, and other purposes.

The most controversial aspects of the subject concern the number and the kind of colonists permitted to enter the country, the arrangements made for their coming, and their success after they have arrived. Nobody whom I have met disputes the question that, given better organisation and cultivation, Palestine can accommodate more than its present population; therefore, the first problem for discussion is immigration. That question is in the hands of the Permits Section of the Secretariat, which Section is responsible for the

number of immigrants allowed to enter the country-a number governed by the state of the labour market at the time. These immigrants include people in possession of 5001. or of an assured income of 60l. per year, experts in various trades, and the ordinary class of immigrant. No real limit is placed upon the first three groups, but in the case of the last-named a schedule is drawn up by the Permits Section, after consultation with various authorities, and this schedule is sent to the Zionist Organisation which undertakes to provide the defined number of immigrants. Subsequently, British Consuls are instructed to grant the required number of visas to people recommended by the local branches of the Zionist Organisation. When the immigrants arrive, usually at Jaffa or Haifa, governmental and Zionist representatives take careful steps to see that the newcomers conform to the regulations, and the Department of Health carries out the measures necessary to prevent the importation of disease.

The Jews, who already inhabit and those who enter the country, belong to a variety of types and classes. Some are extremely religious; † others, though they have rejected the letter retain the spirit of their religion; while there are some who assume an intermediary attitude in these respects. Oriental Jews come from Persia and Iraq; modern young men and women enter from the United States and Great Britain; and many of these are university graduates, who may be engaged upon work for which they have been trained, but in some cases are merely manual labourers. Some of these immigrants are very poor, others are well-to-do ; but in 1924 there was a notably increased immigration of persons of independent means, and in the second half of that year unemployment among Jews was inappreciable. In general, it may be said that at least one-half of the present Jewish population has come from Eastern Europe, that the majority possess progressive political views, without being Communistic, and that, whereas about one-fourth of the population is settled upon the

* About 13,500 immigrants entered in 1924, as against about 7900 in

1923, when unemployment among Jews was extensive.

† In the case of a ship which I boarded at Jaffa, ten passengers refused to disembark because the day was a Saturday.

land, the remaining three-fourths live in the larger towns, such as Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, or Tiberias, where they find employment in industry, as merchants, or in other directions to which they are accustomed.

Although not more than 20,000 to 25,000 Jews are engaged in agriculture, the movement to the land is the primary object of Zionism, and it is the most interesting aspect of that problem. Funds for land purchase and for the equipment of the settlers have been subscribed from all over the world, and the extent and rapidity of the colonisation depend upon the amount of those funds, rather than upon an overcrowding of the country or upon any difficulty in land purchase. Some of the immigrants already possess a knowledge of farming, gained by ordinary work in their former homes or as a result of instruction given under the auspices of the Chaluz (Pioneer) Movement in Central and Eastern Europe,* and others work on Palestinian farms or become members of a co-operative group before they undertake individual cultivation. There is no one method of colonisation and the various systems often overlap in a single colony; but for convenience the existing settlements, which number about 100, may be divided into three classes: namely, farmers' colonies, small-holders' colonies, and co-operative colonies. Farmers' colonies-such as Richon, where the famous wine is made, or Petah-Tikvah, to the north-east of Jaffa―are practically, if not entirely, confined to those founded before the War and established or furthered by the Palestine Jewish Colonisation Association. The land is generally freehold, or in course of becoming freehold ; and, although the farms would not be large in England, paid labour is often employed. A small-holders' colony, such as Kefar Yeheskiel or Nahalal, in the Plain of Esdraelon, possesses certain distinctive features. If the colony has been established by the Zionist Organisation the land belongs to the Jewish National Fund, the money for starting the various tenants on that land having been furnished by the Palestine Immigration and Colonisation Fund, which is the financial instrument of the Zionist Organisation. In this kind of colony, whilst the holdings are worked as individual properties, no

* Mr Leonard Stein gives details of this work in his book 'Zionism.'

family is supposed to have a greater area than it can cultivate without paid labour, and co-operation is employed for buying and selling, and for machinery and other things which are expensive. Co-operative colonies, of which a number have been inaugurated by the Zionist Organisation, and of which Ain Harod, to the south-east of Nazareth, may be taken as an extreme example, are worked upon Communistic lines. Buying, selling, cultivating, eating, and living are done upon that basis; the majority of the colonists live in dormitories, and the whole of the inhabitants eat in a common dining-room.

The great questions about the colonies are as to the kind of establishment likely to be the most satisfactory and permanent, and as to whether all or any of the settlements are or will be self-supporting. In this connexion, Sir Herbert Samuel tells us that experiments are being made in many directions; but it seems to me that farmers' colonies are not practical upon a large scale, and that, owing to the capital required, they can only exist under the auspices of somebody like Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The small-holders' colonies must make a favourable impression, for they are carefully planned, nicely planted with trees, and well cultivated. The co-operative colony costs less to found, and its inmates do not require as great an individual knowledge of farming. On the other hand, people from various countries of origin may not continue to work together for the common good, and some of the principles adopted, especially the upbringing of the children on the responsibility of the colony and not of parents, seem likely to react to the future detriment of the nation. For these reasons it appears that the co-operative settlements are on their economic and educational trial, and that, for those determined to make the land their permanent occupation, the small-holders' colony is the type the most likely to gain general acceptance.

Opinion is divided in Palestine and elsewhere upon the financial success of the Jewish agricultural policy, which probably entails an expenditure of about 10007. for the establishment of each colonist and family, and the positions of the different settlements vary enormously. Many of the long-time existing villages are now comparatively prosperous, and whilst schools, medical

attendance, and certain other things are usually supported by outside funds, I believe that very few, if any, of even the newer colonists receive an actual dole in order to enable them to live. Nobody, however, can pretend that the less successful agriculturalists pay either a rent for their lands or an interest upon the money provided for their equipment. This leaves a good deal to be desired; but in a new country a colonist generally gets land for practically nothing and secures loans upon easy terms. Moreover, the Jews of the world are prepared to provide money for what is to many of them a great ideal, and, so long as no annual subsidy is required, they are willing to sacrifice capital for the creation of a Jewish agricultural peasant class and for the consolidation of the Zionist position, which means so much to those who advocate the creation of the Jewish National Home.

Two further questions are worthy of mention in connexion with the Jewish position in Palestine. I refer to the various measures which are being taken for the betterment of the people and the country, and to the birth and development of Tel-Aviv. With regard to the first of these matters, 100,000l. per year-that is, about the same amount as is spent by the Governmentis devoted to education; the Hadassah or Medical Organisation attends to the health of the people, and various educational and experimental stations have been established. At the outbreak of the War Tel-Aviv, which was founded in 1909, was made up of 182 houses; it had a population of 2000, and about 2 miles of road were in existence. During the last year and a half the population, which at present amounts to over 30,000 souls, has doubled itself; there are now about 2500 houses, which have been completed at the average rate of two a day, and roughly 50 miles of streets have been constructed. On the debit side of the page, the creation and existence of such a place will be an encouragement to Jews to settle there instead of going upon the land. Furthermore, as the work of construction is obviously carried out to a great extent on the basis of advances, loans, and mortgages, any serious financial crisis in Palestine, or even among the Jews of the world, would have its enormous dangers for those interested in this mushroom