British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 552

CHAPTER XIV.

Two further major schemes in respect of water supplies and• drainage at Haifa were under consideration when the outbreak of war necessitated their postponement.

31. In 1940 the Colonial Development and Welfare Act was passed by Parliament; it replaced the Colonial Development Fund by a scheme under which assistance for development would be provided by annual votes up to a maximum of £P.5,000,000 a year for ten years for development and welfare other than research, and for assistance for research up to a maximum of £P.500,000 a year. The scope of the scheme was subsequently extended by the Colonial Development and Welfare Act 1945 : the amount of money which may be provided by Parliament for the purposes of the original act is increased to £P.120,000,000 and the period of assistance is extended by five years. The annual maximum is raised to £P.17,500,000 and the maximum assistance towards research to £P.1000,000 in a financial year. The objects of the scheme remain the raising of the standards of existence and the general well-being of the peoples of the colonies, protectorates and mandated territories, the primary requisite being "the improvement of the economic position of these territories, the utilization of their natural resources to the greatest extent possible and the widening of opportunities for human enterprise and endeavour". In the schedule of allocations under the 1945 Act, the sum of £P.1,000,000 in provisionally inserted in respect of Palestine and Trans-Jordan.
32. Under the 1940 Act, two grants were made to Palestine : (a) £P.14,000 in respect of architectural staff for the development programme; and

(b) £P.80,000 for the establishment of a mental hospital; this provides the capital expenditure for the accommodation of patients and staff and for maintenance for three years.

The amount received under these two schemes up to the 31st March, 1945, was £P.39,115.

33. Thus, the total made available to Palestine from colonial development funds to the end of the last financial year .was £P.133,094.

34. Schemes which might qualify for assistance under the Colonial Development and Welfare Act and are now under consideration by His Majesty's Government or this Government cover research and field work in soil conservation, hydrological research and works, afforestation of sand dunes, health and education services, central prisons, rural water supplies, housing and village industries.

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