The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-10-05
TAXATION REFORM


 The British authorities have tackled the task of achieving an agricultural renaissance in Palestine by establishing . subdivision of revenue accounts and ~ agriculture in the finance department of the occupied enemy territory administra- tion (south1 through which the British army is administering the country for the time being. A start was made by the army itself during the war in the establishment of large vegetable gardens, first at Khan Yunis in 1917 and later at Gaza in January 1918 A scheme was also drawn up by the army looking to- ward the production of the ar1ny's supply of grain and forage locally, but the war ended so abruptly and so completely in this theatre that it was never put into : effect.
 - The work being done at present by O. E. T. A. through the two bureaus in its finance department is of more permanent nature.
 It's greatest work is an afforestaton scheme, in which already 100000 timber trees and 90,000 fruit trees have been set out This is intended to utilize the vast areas of rocky hillsdes between the coastal plain and the Jordan valley. Much of these areas is sheer rock, but pockets of soil being utilized for the plant ing of adapted trees
 Eucalyptus. oak, Australian wattle, sarob, Alappo pine, cypress and cassia are being used mainly. Nursery gardens have been established at Gaza, Beer .sheba. Hafa and in the yard of the ! Syrian orphanage at Jerusalem, formerly the German institution known as Dr. . Scheller's orphanage. These are at pres ent comparatively small nurseries and are not comparable with the great nur- series at Kew in London, at Gaize near Cairo, or at Alexandria. As fast as i"money becomes available. however. they are to be extended. They are still in the experimental stage for the work of affor- estation in Palestine is on of the largest items in any agricultural programme for the country. The country has been all most denuded of trees during the war, and intelligent afforestation has never before been attempted here.
 As an experimental center a large for est reserve has been established in the vicinity of Belt el-Jemel, which includes the monastery of Belt el-Jemel on the north and runs southward into Hebron province. In the past the hills here have been covered with Kermes oak, but prac- tically all of them were felled during Inc war and at present ragged second growth is springing up from the stumps. Acorns have been sown in the soil pock- cts and 200 seeds have also been planted in pots, the results to govern future methods in afforestation with this tree.
 It should be remembered that the ex- pense of clearing land for afforestation in Palestine is ohibitive. If the surface pf a steep slope is cleared of stone the .soil is washed away, while the trees tare still young, and if the slope is suf- .ficiently gentle to hold the soil and the Surface can be cleared of stone in moder- sately large plots, the land can be used more advantaeeously for the cultivation of grain or other crops than for timber growing. Hence the policy in afforesta- a m mi nf timber trees to the slopes where the rock Is not sufficiently regular to permit of -terraces being made, and to places where the work of preparing the land for other crops will in all probability not be done for some time yet.
 Measures are also to be taken to re- vive the forests in the Mt. Carmel area, back of Haifa The oaks which com posed these forests are of species which grows much larger than the Kermes oak of the Hebron forests, and the timber is quite equal in quality to that of the Kermes oak The stumps are now producing new shoots and steps are being taken to protect the shoots from goats until such time as the new trees have established themselves.
 BARE HILLS
 Apart from the Carmel and Hebron for ests the hills of Palestine are bare. As soon as practicable however forests are : to be established and maintained on the shills around the nurseries. These nur- v series are to serve not only for the propagaation of timber trees, but also V of fruit trees. such as olive trees, al mond trees, vines and other plants suit able for the hills.
 Something remains to be done with the I Jordans flood-bed which now is cov- cred with a dense growth of tamarix. This grows large enough to enable it to < be used for fuel but there is no timber value in t. Ii is possible that areas of popuars and the larger variety of tamarix, known as tamarix articulata. may be put in.
 Considerable numbers of eucalyptus have been set out at Beersheba, and ar engagements have been been made to seed the sand dunes along the coast with Aus tralian wattle.
 The next greatest task in the revival of agriculture in Palestine is the edu- cation of the feilahin, or peasantry. of the country. This is being effected by the holding of meetings at the various towns and villages. Frequently these meetings are held under trees in the open air and are attended by large crowds of farmers of all ranks in Arab life, from the sheilzhs down. At thssa meetings an effort is made to discover | the local needs and to put the farmers i, in touch with agents and firms who can