British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 522

CHAPTER XIII.

of woollen fabrics and about 5 million yard's of rayon and silk fabrics, or a total of approximately 29 million yards of which 11,500,000 should be in the form of quality cotton prints. Before the war local production of textile goods provided no more than 17% of local consumption; even had there been no exports, it would not have reached more than 22% of Palestine's requirements. By 1943 imports provided only 27% of local needs. Even though piece goods may be imported in considerable quantities in the future there remains broad scope for an increase in local production, and the clothing industry, it may be assumed, will be far less dependent upon imported raw materials than it has been in the past.

In addition to the production of cloth, there are about 20 factories engaged in the manufacture of a diversified range of textile products such as canvas drills, blankets, ribbons, bandages, shoe laces, felt cloth, lace, wicks, cotton wool, elastic and surgical clothing.

(iii) Textile dying and printing. This branch has been extended during the war and adequate facilities are available for the bleaching, dyeing, mercerising, finishing and printing of all the different types of cloth produced in the country. Whereas the value of work done in 1939 amounted to only £P .34 ,000 the value had reached £P.372,600 in 1942. A certain amount of printing has been done for Syria, the cloth being imported, dyed printed and re-exported. Dyeing and finishing plants are adapting their capacity to the increased requirements. New buildings are in the course of erection and modern equipment is on order in the United Kingdom and U.S.A.

(iv) Hosiery and knitted goods. Whereas, in 1939, 410 tons of yarn were employed for the manufacture of hosiery and knitted goods, by 1943, 845 tons of yarn were consumed, of which 60 tons were wool, 35 tons were artificial silk and th'e remainder was cotton. The increase in the number of the workers correspondingly rose from 727 to nearly 1,500. This industry, too, is in the process of modernisation and extension.

(v) Clothing and apparel. A comprehensive survey of this branch is practically impossible owing to the• large numbers of small workshops which are in existence. The 1939 census referred to only 43 Jewish and 5 Arab establishments with a gross output valued at £P.150,000. In 1943, the census of industry revealed a gross output of about £P.1,400,000 in Jewish factories employing 4,231 workers as compared with

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