§ 38. Colonel HOWARD-BURYasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that a British group conducted investigations into the Dead Sea potash from 1916 to 1918 and, after drawing up a fully-worked-out scheme, made a formal application to the Foreign Office in October, 1918; that this was the first fully-prepared scheme for the commercial extraction of the salts of the Dead Sea presented to His Majesty's Government; and that this application also included a hydro-electric scheme for the River Jordan, the concession for which was later granted to Mr. Rutenberg; and, seeing that the priority of this application was admitted in a letter from Sir Arthur Colefax, the potash controller of the Ministry of Munitions, to this British group, dated 3rd September, 1918, he will say why this application was rejected in favour of the Novomeysky group?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREI am aware that a certain group approached the Foreign Office in October, 1918, and were informed that His Majesty's Government had no power under the circumstances then existing to grant commercial concessions in Palestine. As I have already stated, 212 in reply to a question by the hon. and gallant Member for Chippenham, there is no record of any promise that any application or scheme would be given preferential treatment on grounds of priority. I have explained, in reply to another question, the grounds on which it was decided to issue a public advertisement inviting applications for the grant of this concession, and the issue of such an advertisement, to which the group now in question responded, clearly put all applicants on an equal footing.