" A MINE OF WEALTH "
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—In a recent communication I outlined briefly the person- ality of the -various applicants for the Dead Sea Concession. I-venture to supplement these data by a short resume of their tenders to the Crown Agents of the Colonies, as far as generally
• known:
-The Henry-Edwards group submitted- an application for a concession to terminate in ninety-nine years, -with a surrender of the entire working plant to the two countries owning the Dead Sea, upon payment of the value of the same. After five years of operation, a royalty of 10 per cent. of the gross profits should be paid to the Governments of the owner countries. The contemplated and guaranteed annual output was placed at a minimum of 200,000 tons of ordinary salt, 100,000 tons of carnallite (magnesium-potassium chloride), 15,000 tons of potassium chloride, and such amount of bromine as the market would demand. It was proposed to pump the water of the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean coast, where the operations of evaporation and crystallization would be effected.
In June, 1922, Major Tulloch, of the second group of appli- cants, submitted to the Colonial Office an application for a concession, which is in every way, a notable document. It may be regarded almost as a treatise, dealing intelligently with the multiple factors involved. As it came from an engineer, the problems connected with transportation were treated in an especially exhaustive manner. The tender proposes a franchise for seventy years, and payment of royal- ties to the- Governments concerned upon a mutually satisfac- tory basis. Careful provision is made for the- minor details incident to the smooth working of a concession. The project contemplated the simultaneous exploitation of the phosphate deposits of Trans-Jordania, and the establishment of chemical . works employing, as raw materials, the salts of the Dead Sea. Ekn annual total output of 500,000 tons was proposed, and • careful estimates of the initial outlay were submitted.
. . The final tender, presented in 1925, by the two engineers, Major Tulloch and Mr. Novomeysky, after forming a partner- ship, was presumably based largely upon the provisions of thaabove. The financial supporters of Mr. Novomeysky did not favour communication of its contents. In conversations with his fellow applicants during 1926, the Russian engineer argued strongly in favour of a payment for the concession of a fixed percentage of the surplus profits, rather than a system of royalties. His concrete proposition was a payment of 25 per cent. of these profits to the two Governments concerned, and a similar sum to the Zionist Agency at Jerusalem. Tech- nical plans were based upon a preliminary annual output of 50,000 tons of potassium chloride, with a steady increase in amount, if warranted by the results.
• . The tender presented by the professional chemist, Dr. A. Homer, -was not unlike that of Major Tulloch. The engineer- ing factors, transportation, &c., were treated very fully by the applicant's associate, the late Mr. Bicknell, an accomplished engineer. The project contemplated a plant for the immediate annual output . of 50,000 tons of potassium salts, with the accompanying by-products, and enlargement upon an ample scale, as warranted by the results. Dr. Homer proposed, in return for the concession, to share the surplus profits equally with the - owners of the Dead Sea ; i.e., the latter to receive 50 per cent. Under " surplus profits," the applicants under- stand the total sum remaining annually after statutory pay- ment of normal dividends on capital and debentures, amortiza- tion and depreciation charges, and the like. -
The fourth applicant, Dr. Norton,- based his tender upon more decisive and conclusive experimental results, than had receded his Colleagues' offers. Hie. tender guaranteed the immediate construction of a Plant capable of fdrnishing annu- ally-1,000,000 tons of potash salts, thepresent total constnnp- lion of this staple outside of Germany, with promptenlarge- Ment, as demand increased ; further, the placing, upon the market of the accompanying by -products; magnesium chloride and bromine, in adequate amount to riniet the world's needs, and-common salt sufficient to supply the entire requirements in the Near East and adjoining lands; A term of fifty years for the concession was concluding with the gift of the ,..entire plant, intact, to Palestine and Trans-Jordania. In return for the concession,- Di:.' Norton proposed to pay
one-half of the surplus profits to the Governments of Palestine and Trans-Jordania. The remaining half should be reinvested in the two countries, in public utility undertakings (railways, harbours, docks, water-supply, &c.) and financial, industrial or agricultural companies, so that the tribute paid by the world to the countries owning the Dead Sea should remain in the land. It should, however, be optional with the Govern- ments of the two countries concerned, to have all, or part, of the residual 50 per cent. of surplus profits, turned directly into their Treasuries.
Other features of this tender were the establishment of vocational schools, to train native youth for technical and administrative posts ; the supply of potash salts, at the cost of production, to the farmers of the two countries (and pos- sibly to those of the adjoining Arab countries) ; along with other minor provisions, tending to further the economic advantage of the whole region under British mandatory con- trol or British influence. The document closed with the expression of a readiness to join with other applicants, com- petent to deal with the problems of a new chemical industry, if desired by the grantors of the concession.
It is worthy of note that this applicant pledges himself to the immediate establishment of two subsidiary organizations. One would call into existence a vast British fertilizer industry, utilizing the potash salts of the Dead Sea, the phosphate deposits about Jericho and in Trans-Jordania with nitrogenous matter from a British colony. The second proposes the crea- tion of a valuable chemical industry in Palestine, using, as raw material, the salts recovered from the Dead Sea, and fur- nishing to the Near East, those staple acids and heavy chemi- cals, requisite for the development of its textile industries, the branches dependent upon the abundant supply of vegetable, a-timal and mineral oils, and allied activities.—I am, Sir, &c.,
SYDNEY LAWFORD.
Army and Navy Club, Pelt Mall, S.TV .1.
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