Regarding the question as to whether your Assembly need do anything about its Israel Branch here; this is a matter which concerns entirely local procedures. Your Canadian Branch has now been legally established, and is entitled to hold property in this country; and he is planning at an early date to register a piece of land in its name. He will send you the title deed as soon as all formalities have been carried out.
CRITERIA FOR TEMPLE SITE
As he has already informed you by cable, he feels that the land which you proposed as a Temple and National Hazíratu’l-Quds site was altogether too large, too expensive, and above all, too far from the city limits. He has given instructions to a number of other National Bodies who were pursuing their investigations in a direction much the same as your own. He realizes that it is difficult, and much more expensive, to find a plot close to the heart of the city. On the other hand, he feels that even a small plot, near to town, is much more reasonable from every standpoint than a large plot way out in the country. The friends must remember that they have to be able to get out to their National Centre and their National Temple and use them; and, as Bahá’ís are all busy, hardworking people for the most part, the time involved must inevitably influence their attendance at Bahá’í meetings in the Hazíratu’l-Quds, and later, Bahá’í services in the Temple.
If the filling of the goals and the purchase of the Temple site can be accomplished before the lapse of two years from the inception of the Plan, he feels you will have carried out his instructions to the letter, and he will indeed be very happy.
He thinks that it is very befitting that your Body, as representatives of the Canadian Bahá’ís, should be responsible for the erection of a tombstone over dear Fred Schopflocher’s grave.
As you no doubt are aware, he cherishes the very brightest hopes for the future of the Canadian Bahá’ís. They are a fortunate people, possessing many of the virtues and few of the faults of both the new and old worlds. He remembers them in his prayers in the holy Shrines, and prays that they may speedily advance in the service of the Cause, and accomplish the tasks outlined in the Ten Year Plan as their particular portion of the work.