British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 835. Chapter XIX: Food And Clothing : Section 3: Human Nutrition

CHAPTER XIX.

Table 2.
Palestine I 1.1ebanon I Egypt Iraq
Base= 100 I pre war June-Aug. July-Aug. 1939
1939 1939
1939 Dec. I 111 110 108
1940 Dec. 131 122
1941 June 138 134
Dec. 166 233 {Jan. 40) 156
1942 June 185 275 178
Dec. 211 362 215 305 Nov.
1943 June 248 458 241 S2S
Dec. 230 481 257 405
1944 June 238 557 277 358
Dec. 252 630 292 375
1945 June 254 567 290 396
Dec. 259
32. It has throughout been recognised that, notwithstanding the benefits, social and economic, resulting from the subsidization policy, its application was a matter for continual scrutiny, having regard to the possibility that it might aggravate instead of reduce the tendency towards inflation. A committee was appointed by the W.E.A.C. in 1944 to enquire into the question of subsidies (and the complementary surcharges) and reported, early in 1945, that in their view "(i) expenditure on subsidies at present levels is on the whole justified, and (ii)an upper limit should be set to such expenditure". More recently it has become apparent that there is need for a vigilant watch on the price levels of subsidized commodities lest, given falling markets and increasing supplies, these prices should set an artificial standard.

Section 3.

HUMAN NUTRITION.

33. Information regarding human nutrition in Palestine was meagre until 1942, when a nutritional economic survey was initiated by the Department of Health, samples from all sections of the population being studied. Up to that time, no significant data had been collected in respect of the population as a whole, although an enquiry into the diets of a small number of Jewish and Arab families and groups bad been made by Dr. Kligler et al. as far back as 1931, while a nutritional survey among Jewish families bad been made by the same workers in 1942.

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