JERUSALEM TO-DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 162, 3 April 1919, Page 5

JERUSALEM TO-DAY

INTERVIEW WITH THE CIVIC ADVISER

REPAIRING THE HAVOC OF

AGES What does tho title of Civic Adviser to tho City of .Jerusalem suggest? Certainly it is a great deal more than a title. It is in the nature of a token--a token that the city is returned into the hands of those who hold it in reverence and that they are determined to cherish it' A Civil Advisor sounds, and is, essentially a product of our mq.«t modern civilisation. He is tho man into whoso keeping tho care of a city is committed. It is his business to see that ils development is respectful of beauty and of tho well-being of tho citizens. And if it happens to possess memorials of tho past it is for him to protect thorn. Some particulars of the work were given to jii "Observer" representative by Mr. C. li. \shbeo, Civic Adviser lo tho City of Jerusalem, when the latter was on a brief' visit to England after six months of work in Jerusalem. "There is the old Jerusalem, the city within tho walls, to preserve," he said, "and tlv're is the growth and development of the new city to regu ate. All the work is under the control ol Sir Arthur Money, the head of the Occupied Enemy Territories Administration, and it is the special charge of General Jtonald Storrp. the Governor of Jerusalem. A number of us are busy on different branches of the work.. Mr. Ernest Richmond, for instance, is Director-General of Public Monuments; Mr. Maclean is in charge of town-planning m the new city, and Dr. Betts has come from Egypt to help in the work of the- municipality. We have to deal with tho consequences of the years of Turkish misrule, and with the results of tho bitter jealousies Of the nations. Where there ins .not been actual ill-treatment of tlio there has been neglect. At the fame time, we have to work very tenderly and carefully. Do not think of that alarmin" word 'restoration' in connection wi.li what we are doing. Our aim is rather tc discover and preserve all that remains nf tho nast. and to undo so far as we can the evil Hint has been done W« are -rotting ready, for instance to fill up the «an that was made in the wall to enable 'the Kaiser to make his triumphal, entry into Jerusalem, and the ten-be clock-tower.that was put up to cclebiate that event will be pulled down. An* wt have to get rid of the jealousies of the ""During the past fifteen or twenty rears the peoples of the earth seem to We chosen Jerusalem as the right place to .-flVerhse their bitterest and most extreme nationalism. Moslems Jews, \rmenMns. Greek?,. Latins-all these took a bit of Jerusalem and put a wall round it to keep off all the others. The Germain, of course, got possession of the best militarv position they could hmi, nrd practically fortified it Wo English, for our part, put up a bud imitation of an Oxford College. Well, we want to get all these bits of Jerusalem out oi tli-'r nrisons and to set thorn tree. "To help us in this work General huirrs organised the Pro-Jerusalem. ComimUee. It°is a wonderful body. All the religions which look to Jerusalem as a holy place are represented on it, and there are people of all nationalities. The proceeding are always in French. We meet and discuss the various steps to 1)0 taken, and oduccte each other as we go. Then the heads of the difterent communities go away and educate the-i own people, and prepare them for tho changes that must be made. At the meetings we break down the walls of prejudice and jealousy between the nations and tne reli«ion* and thu? the wav is prepared for the breaking down of the material walls which-those jealousies caused to lie built."

"The Glory of Lebanon." To illustrate some of the work which is bein" carried out, Mr. Ashliee showed me a series of photographs and pictures ot little corners of the city. These were all concerned with tho planting of trees and the making of park-like spaces at various points about the walis. It will be understood, of course, that none of this work entails the disturbance of any-thing-which belongs to the past of. the city." It is rather aimed at rediscovering dio past, at making again that which was. There arc at this time, for instance, a number ot refugees enraged in clearing out the fosses around the Cita-

The pictures showed more clearly than any words the delicate e.ivu which is being given to the task. In every case I there was a photograph of file spot as it : exists to-day, with a little sketch below i to dhow what will bo when the rubbish i has been cleared away and the trees have I been planted. The names of tho trees re- : quired—names that had walked straight ! out of tho Bible on to the page-were i written beside each sketch, and preparaI tions are being made for them to be coli lected and brought together. You Lnow how it is written: "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto theo, the fir tree and tho pine tree and the box together. . . . •Viul there is work to be done far beyond the borders of the city./"One of the matters which wo have in hand, said Mr. Ashbee, "is the question of archaeological law. During this visit to England I am meeting the heads of various archaeological .societies, both French ami English, and we arc drawing up regulatior.fi to govern digging and all other archaeological investigations. Us are taking- steps, you see, to protect Jerusalem in the future. If the city is to be preserved it must be defended against the energies of independent and unauthorised enthusiasts. In this, as in all other matters, the nations are agreeing to unite to protect it. Ti) conclusion, you must remember that what we are do-, 'in.? in Jerusalem is Ijr.ing done, not for anv one nation, but for all the world. For after all, it belongs lo the world."