In addition to this statement, Mr. Vice-Consul P. Abela of Haifa reported (1911):—
“There is a possibility of great agricultural enterprise in the fertile and extensive plains near Haifa, and arrangements have been made with some big proprietors to let the property for development. Were it not for the Turkish laws prohibiting foreign companies to hold land in Turkey, great progress might have been made in this direction.”
(From the Jaffa Report for 1912, No. 5107. Annual Series. June, 1913):—
“Public works.—The roads have not been touched, except for a few patchings in the town, and are in the worst state of repair imaginable.
“The harbour concession, owing to the difficulties arising from the confused political state of the capital, has not yet been obtained.... It is now nearly fifteen years that negotiations have been going on with regard to the project, and considering the enormous benefits that would accrue from its realization to every branch of the local trade, its perpetual postponement is deplorable. The present open roadstead is dangerous both for passengers and goods trade, and frequently prevents vessels from communicating at all. The resulting losses to the district are too obvious to be mentioned.
“The lack of public security.—The inhabitants of the Jewish colonies have to pay from £6 10s. annually per family in organising their own means of defence, and even then suffer from insecurity.
“The tithe.—This tax is levied on a system which has the disadvantages both of discouraging cultivation and being wasteful and comparatively unproductive. Its incidence on individuals is also in many cases unfair and crippling. The whole system is in need of radical revision.
“The backward state of public works.—The present roads are fit for nothing but camel traffic, and agriculturists have no satisfactory means of embarking their goods at Jaffa without great expense and loss through deterioration.”