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Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 118, 9 August 1927, Page 18

many other sources of mineral wealth, protected by equally serious climatic handicaps and transportation difficulties? “The explanation is simple. The contents of the Dead Sea were the private property of the Sultans of Turkey. Abdul Hamid, strongly opposed to the entrance of foreign enterprise into the Ottoman Empire, except on a limited scale, refused to grant any concessions affecting the Dead Sea. “Then came the war. In December, 1917, General Allenby captured Jerusalem. A canny Scotsman, a former officer in the Indian Army, alert to mineral possibilities, urged the Government to immediately make a technical survey of the Dead Sea. “In 1922 the League of Nations confided the mandate for Palestine to the British Government. The power to grant mineral concessions was entrusted to the Colonial Office, acting with the Palestinian Administration. Careful preliminary studies were carried on, the results were carefully compiled, and the monograph was published by the Crown Agents for the Colonies in May. 1925. At the same time, the agents invited tenders for the recovery of the salts in the waters of the Dead Sea. The date for‘presentation was December 31, 1926. “Since then the applications, reduced in number, have been subjected to careful study both in the Colonial Office at London, and at Jerusalem, where the final decision is lodged. ENORMOUS VALUE STATED “Very complete preparations have been made for a prompt entrance upon active operations in case the concession is granted. Thus the staff of one applicant includes four prominent chemists of international reputation, all Fellows of the London Chemical Society, distinguished by the number and value of their researches. and specialists for all key positions are already chosen. “The actual problem will be: How far below the minimum cost of production of potash salts in Alsace, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Spain stoall the price of Palestinian potassium chloride be fixed, to meet the demands of agriculture throughout the world? “Few realise the amounts and potential values of the contents of the Dead Sea. Based upon current quotations, they are: Potash, 1,300 million tons, £14,000 million; bromine, 853 million tons,, £52 millions; salt, 11,900 million tons, £5,500 millions; gypsum, 81 million tons, £24 millions; calcium chloride, 6,000 million tons, £17,000 millions; magnesium chloride, 22,000 million tons, £65,0000 millions; total, £254,524 millions.