Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 378

the Jewish Agency has come to the fore since the number of inquirers from abroad has increased considerably. In order to satisfy this need the Agency Executive decided to extend its Information Service, and as a result opened a special Bureau in Tel-Aviv, which provides information only to public bodies in Palestine and abroad. In 1934 a guide to Jewish industries and handicrafts in Palestine was published, containing, on the basis of the Fifth Census of the Jewish industries, the names of all Jewish industrial and handicraft undertakings, together with their addresses. The Department corresponded regularly with the Federation of Manufacturers, which has now a membership of 700 (500 in Tel-Aviv, 120 in Haifa and 70 in Jerusalem), for the purpose of discussing outstanding problems relating to industrial activities.. Mr. Tishby takes part in all the meetings of the Federation and is actively engaged in all its work. The Department, in conjunction with the Federation of Manufacturers, was engaged in organising the immigration of skilled artisans and industrial workers. A considerable number of certificates were assigned in the schedule of October, 1933—March, 1934, to such skilled persons; 500 certificates were assigned in the schedule of April—September, 1934, 500 in that of October, 1934—March, 1935, and 600 in the current schedule. The Department, in conjunction with the Federation of Manufacturers, draws up for every schedule a list of experts required for industrial purposes, which is submitted to the Immigration Department. The immigration of experts helped in the establishment of new industrial enterprises in the country and in the extension of many existing ones. The Department is also co-operating with the Federation of Manufacturers in the acquisition of land for industrial enterprises. The prices of land in Tel-Aviv and its environs have soared to such a height that they make it impossible to establish new enterprises there. The acquisition of land for industrial purposes in the proximity of Tel-Aviv was a vital problem for the development of the local industries. Negotiations are being conducted with the Council of Rishon-le-Zion with a view to setting aside a certain area of the sandy lands for tanneries. At the suggestion of the Department, the Keren Kayemeth agreed to set aside a few hundred dunams of its land in the neighbourhood of Nachlath Jehudah for the establishment of an industrial centre. Similar activity on a wider scale is being conducted by the Keren Kayemeth in Haifa, in the Valley of Zebulun, which is becoming a very prominent industrial centre, of the first rank in the country. The Department co-operates with the special committee set up by the Keren Kayemeth for the parcellation of lands in the Valley of Zebulun. Modest beginnings have been made recently towards the establishment of industrial enterprises in Jerusalem. In the suburb Baith Vegan (Garden Suburb) near Jerusalem about ten new factories have been established for food, medicines and building 378