Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 318

C.—Contracts with Settlers. In conjunction with the grant of a fixed loan for consolidation, the settlers signed new contracts, differing somewhat from the contracts signed two years previously, by which the debts owing by the settlers to the Keren Hayesod became an asset of legal and financial value. The main alterations in the contracts are the following : 1. The repayments to the Keren Hayesod to commence from 1936 instead of from 1939/40. 2. All the clauses that might be misinterpreted with respect to the totality of the debt were eliminated. 3. In order to facilitate the collection of the debts, authority was given by the settlers to representatives of the Keren Hayesod to collect the amounts due according to contract direct from the income of the settlement. 4. The debts may be collected if found necessary by the ordinary legal means. 5. The possibilities of the settlements to enter into additional financial obligations, with the consent of the Keren Hayesod, have been restricted. 6. A special clause with regard to the Sabbath being a day of rest has been introduced, in accordance with the resolution of the Zionist General Council passed at the session of Nisan 5694. Negotiations are now in progress between the Keren Kayemeth and the settlements with regard to lease contracts, and when completed the deeds will be deposited with the Keren Hayesod in accordance with the contract. At present the Keren Hayesod holds a power of attorney from all the settlements in question to sign on their behalf, if found necessary, the final lease contracts with the Keren Kayemeth. This power of attorney, in the opinion of legal advisers, consolidates the value of the contract and the mortgage rights of the Keren Hayesod with respect to the settlements. In the report to the 18th Zionist Congress mention was made of the amounts that were written off from the settlers' debts to the Keren Hayesod in consideration of the high prices of all materials ruling immediately -after the occupation when the debts were originally incurred, compared with normal prices of such materials. As a standard of normal prices those that ruled in 1925 were taken. A further consideration for writing off a part of the debts was the fact that the settlers did not receive the necessary means of production in time, which involved them in unnecessary expenses and in payment of a high interest on the Bills of the Executive discounted by them. In the report of the Executive to the 15th Congress a table was published enumerating the differences of costs between the 3i8