The Maccabaean

Mr. L. J. Greenberg, on behalf of the Ex-flag and in having it placed where it now has some interviews with Sir H. H. Johnston relative to the Commission of Enquiry which is shortly to proceed to British East Africa to examine the territory offered by his Majesty’s Government to the Zionist movement for the purposes of a Jewish settlement, and then wrote to Sir Harry asking him to send a letter for publication conveying his views upon the matter. Mr. Greenberg has received the followinz renly:

27 Chester Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. 29th September, 1904.

Dear Mr. Greenberg,—In reply to your letter of the 26th of September, I have to say that I have carefully considered the question of the Jewish Colony in British East Africa in connection with the latest information derived from you, and since you ask me for my personal opinion I will give it to you in the following words.

As regards, first, the site which it is proposed should be placed at the disposal of this Jewish colony by the British Government: the site delineated by you on the map requires some slight modifications before it can satisfy me as being absolutely suitable for the purpose. These modifications I have attempted to indicate by a red line. Assuming that they are adopted by the Jewish Committee and agreed to by H. M. Government, then I think I may say that no wiser choice could have been made for the purpose in all the territories of East Africa and Uganda.

Last year, when this project was first mooted, it was understood that the British Government were going to place at the disposal of the Zionist Committee a considerable area of land in what is called Tanaland, or further to the North, in the Gala country. Of course, this story may have been incorrect, but I thought it was well to point out that any such offer would be

somewhat ironical. It would be giving to the Jews of Eastern Europe a tract of country either very hot and unhealthy or else waterless and ranged over by tierce nomad tribes. In fact, on these lines, though the offer would not have been one prejudicial to purely British interests, it would have been not worth acceptance by the Jews.

Then we were told that this idea was wrong; that the land would be selected either in the vicinity of the Kikuyu country, along the Uganda Railway, or on the Nandi Plateau. These plans seemed to me open to the objection that we were giving away to non-British subjects a peculiarly valuable tract of country which was one of the few returns the British taxpayer might hope to get for his expenditure on the Uganda Railway; or, in the case of Kikuyu-land, we were offering territory which was to a great extent settled already by an industrious native race, land which we had no claim to give away.

The final selection of the British Government, the Gwas’ Ngishu Plateau (if the account you have given me is correct) is with the modifications I have attached to it free from any legitimate objection on the part of critics. It keeps clear of the country belonging to the Nandi and Kavirondo tribes, and leaves completely at the disposal of British settlers the unoccupied parts of the Nandi Plateau and the region about the Ravine Station, and at the same time it trespasses very little on any country be- ionging to settled agricultural Negro peo- pie. Nevertheless, the land offered is most desirable, one of the finest parts of the East Africa Protectorate It is nowhere unhealthy to Europeans. It is fertile, and admirably well watered by perennial streams, and possesses several magnificent ranges of mountains, rising to altitudes of 10,000 feet, and in places nearly 14,000. Those portions of the selected area which do include villages or settlements of the