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PALGRAVE—PANAMA
21

Of this the respective shares of Jaffa and Haifa as compared with the last complete year before the war both calculated in E were :

Imports

Exports

Jaffa

E

E

1913 ....

1,279,785

726,775

1919-20 .

1,408,238

169,308

1920-21 (first 7


months)

1,186,079

127,360

Haifa


1913 ....

516,750

338,033 (1912)

1919-20 .

1,627,381

270,057

1920-21 (first 7


months)

95. 1 55

1 16,795

From this it is apparent that while Palestine had to buy largely and at enhanced prices of those goods of which she was unable to procure adequate supplies during the war, she had not yet recovered her capacity for production after the dislocation of trade and ruin of agriculture caused by the war, with the consequence that the balance of trade was against her. It has been pointed out, however, that her exports are bulkier than her imports, and that had tonnage been available the exports would have been greater.

The deficiency of available tonnage is well shown in the following shipping figures for ports of Palestine:

Flag

Number of Ships 1913

Number of Ships 1919-20

Tonnage 1913

Tonnage 1919-20

British Russian French Italian Austrian ' and Other

307 237 IOI

97 496

97 55 41 99

65

464,674

4 5,987 262,512 170,227

658,302

123,116 27,244 71,904 176,504

67,946

1,238

357

1,961,702

466,714

Currency. The currency in Palestine, formerly Turkish, became Egyptian at the time of the occupation as the accounts of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force were kept in that medium. A vast quantity of British, Australian and Indian silver, however, came into circulation at fixed rates to supply the deficiency of Egyptian silver of which a large consignment sent from the London mint for use in Palestine was sunk by enemy action at sea and a good deal of gold, chiefly British, came into the country from Arabia where a large amount of the gold coin paid as subsidy to the king of the Hejaz passed into circulation. French silver, generally taken at full value in the larger towns before the war, is now seldom seen, and Turkish silver and billon money has also nearly disappeared, although legal tender at fixed rates. Turkish paper was never legal tender after the occupation.

Weights and measures still vary locally according to immemorial custom, but the civil administration is taking steps to introduce a standard system on European lines in order to facilitate trade.

Archaeology. On Aug. 9 1920 the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem was opened and participated in the excavations which were being conducted at Ascalon, with happy results, by the Pales- tine Exploration Fund. Important discoveries were made also in the Garden of Gethsemane, where the complete foundations of a 4th-century church were brought to light, and near Tiberias.

The duty of maintaining historical buildings in the Holy City has been entrusted to the Pro-Jerusalem Society a pan-denominational body founded by the governor, Mr. Ronald Storrs. At Acre medi- aeval crypts have been cleared of ddbris, the Tower of Ramleh has been strengthened and arrangements have been made for a resumption of the excavations at Tell Hum (Capernaum) by the Franciscans. Three universities in the United States have agreed to undertake important archaeological researches, that of Penn- sylvania at Beisan (Beth Shan), that of Harvard at Samaria and that of Chicago at Megiddo (for which Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., gave 860,000). Unauthorized excavations by persons unquali- fied as archaeologists are forbidden. In the Budget for 1921-2 a grant of Ei,ooo was made for the conservation of historical monu- ments, and 750 provided for the redemption of antiquities out of a total estimate for the Department of Antiquities of 6,500. (H.P.-G.)


PALGRAVE, SIR ROBERT HARRY INGLIS (1827-1919), English banker and economist, was born at Westminster June ii 1827, the son of Sir Francis Palgrave, the historian (see 20.- 629). He was educated at Charterhouse and entered Barclay's Bank at Yarmouth. There he rose to a position of such impor- tance that in 1875 he was one of three representatives of the English issuing country bankers chosen to give evidence before the select committee of the House of Commons on Banks of Issue. He edited the Economist from 1877 to 1883, and pub- lished many works on banking, as well as The Local Taxation of

1 Much tonnage formerly Austrian was in 1921 Italian.

Great Britain and Ireland (1871). He also edited the Dictionary of Political Economy (1894-1906). He was knighted in 1909. He died at Bournemouth Jan. 25 1919.


PALLES, CHRISTOPHER (1831-1920), Irish lawyer, last chief baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer, was born Dec. 25 1831. He was educated at Clongowes Wood school, and Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated in 1852. He was called to the Irish bar in 1853, and became a Q.C. in 1865. In 1872 he became a solicitor-general for Ireland, and from 1872 was attorney-general. In 1874 he was made chief baron of the Court of Exchequer. The Exchequer division was in 1898 merged in the Queen's Bench division of the Irish High Court of Justice, and the chief baron from that time sat as one of the judges of the Queen's Bench division, and also as a judge of appeal. Palles retired from the bench at an advanced age in 1916. He was a great lawyer, of remarkably wide learning and power of argument. He died in Dublin Feb. 14 1920.


PALMER, ALEXANDER MITCHELL (1872- ), American politician, was born of Quaker parentage at Moosehead, Pa., May 4 1872. After graduating from Swarthmore College in 1891 and admission to the bar in 1893 he practised law at Stroudsburg, Pa. He was a member of Congress from 1909 to 1915, was then appointed judge of the U.S. Court of Claims, but resigned four months later. In 1912 and 1916 he was a delegate-at-large from Pennsylvania to the Democratic National Convention, and from 1912 a member of the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee. At the convention of 1912 he was " floor leader " of the Wilson supporters, and the next year declined the post of Secretary of War in President Wilson's Cabinet. In 1917 he was appointed alien property custodian under the " Trading with the Enemy Act," and within 1 8 months was administering 32,000 trusts, valued at $503,000,000. In March 1919 he was appointed to the President's Cabinet as Attorney-General. The Senate refused to confirm the appointment until his record as alien property custodian had been investigated, on the ground that he had made his office a " political machine." It was furthermore charged that he was in contempt of the Senate in having failed to submit on request a complete report of the management of his office. A filibuster at the end of the 65th Congress caused the Senate to adjourn without confirming the appointment, but the President made him a " recess " appointee. Not until Aug. 30 1919 did the Senate Judiciary Committee hand in its report recommend- ing the appointment. This was followed by confirmation. His career as Attorney-General was widely, and it was generally felt justly, criticized by the public at large and by competent legal authorities as being both arbitrary and inefficient. At the Democratic National Convention in 1920 he had strong support for the presidential nomination, standing second on the first six ballots. After a prolonged deadlock, extending through 38 ballots, he released his delegates, who swung to James M. Cox, nominated on the 44th ballot.


PALMER, SIR WALTER, 1ST BART. (1858-1910), English manufacturer, was born at Reading Feb. 4 1858. He was the son of George Palmer (see 20.644), founder of the firm of Huntley & Palmer, biscuit manufacturers, of Reading, and was educated at University College, London, and also at the Sorbonne, Paris. He became a director of the firm and was also the first chairman of University College, Reading. He sat in the House of Commons for Salisbury during 1900-6. In 1904 he was created a baronet, and he died at Newbury April 16 1910. His elder brother, GEORGE WILLIAM PALMER (1851-1913), was chairman of the firm and sat in the House of Commons for Reading from 1892 to 1895 and from 1898 to 1904. He was made a privy councillor in 1906. He died near Newbury Oct. 8 1913.


PANAMA (see 20.664). The pop. of the South American republic of Panama at the end of 1911 was estimated at 336,742 for the area exclusive of the Canal Zone. The latter contained in that year 71,682 persons, the number decreasing to 31,048 in 1916 and to 21,707 in 1918. In the estimate made in 1911, whites and mestizos, those of mixed blood, numbered 238,200, and negroes and Indians 96,600. Foreigners included 3,500 Chinese