Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 468

" total population " basis. Their requests on this score were rejected on both occasions. They also urged some essential corrections in the method of calculating the grant which, at the beginning of_ the period under review, was deficient from a number of viewpoints. The main defects were that the figures which served as basis for the calculation of the grants as regards both the population ratio and the total amount of Government expenditure on Arab education, were always considerably out of date. As the Jewish population was rapidly increasing and the Government education budget was also on the rise, the lag resulted in a progressive and cumulative loss of money to the Jewish school system. The main point of difference arose from the fact that the Government insisted on calculating the Jewish grant-in-aid on the basis of the actual expenditure of the past year instead of the estimated expenditure of the new current year. In the calculation for the current financial year (1935-36) an important correction was obtained. It was agreed that henceforth a calculation would be made to what extent the grant in the former year fell short of what it should have been by reference to the actual expenditure of Government on education in that year, and the amount of the deficiency should be added to the new grant. As a result of this correction, the increase of the Jewish population and the compensation for the loan expenditure on buildings, the grant rose this year from £28,000 to £36,000. 5. With reference to the negotiations on the grants to the Jewish Health Services note has to be taken of the persistent refusal of the Government to consider the institutions of the Kupat Holim, notably the Central Emek Hospital, as entitled to receive annual maintenance grants from Revenue. Upon the suggestion of the Executive a joint Committee, consisting of two Government and two Jewish representatives, was appointed by the High Commissioner in 1933 to go into the question. The two sections of the Committee failed to come to an agreement, each presenting its own report. Government representatives maintained that, although the work performed by the hospital was of vital public importance, the character of the institution, inasmuch as it belonged to a private association, was such that an annual grant made to it would oblige the Government to give similar assistance to other private hospitals operating in the country, and could not, therefore, be contemplated. The question was re-opened in connection with the negotiations for the grants of 1935-36, but again without success, and the Jewish authorities had to content themselves with a supplementary building grant to the Emek Hospital and with a building grant to the new hospital now being erected by Kupat Holim near Petach Tikvah. The grants obtained in the year 1933-34 for the Hadassah institutions and for the hygiene services in the Jewish schools were maintained and slightly increased. The Executive also assisted the Hadassah and the Hebrew University in their negotiations with the Government for a capital grant to their new hospital on Mount Scopus, for which purpose it is understood that a sum of slightly 468