London, Feb. 21
Although the Pelestine Conference is generally regarded as having reached an impasse pending an authozitative statement on behalf of the British Government, Arab circles profess to see in the statement made at the conference yesterday by AN Maher Pasha, Egyptian delegate, on behalf of the surrounding Arab states, some departure from the uncompro= mising attitude which has hitherto been adopted, The Egyptian leader, it is said, in his statement, agreed to a modified form of guarantee for the Jewish minority in Palestine if Arab indepen ence were granted. Whereas hitherto the Arabs have had in mind the itnmediate establishment of an independent state in Palestine, the Egyptian leader had hinted at a transition period which should precede the grant of full independence.
Arab circles today declare that he spoke with the full assent of neighbouring states and Palestinian Arabs, The immense advances in the output of munitions, particularly aircraft and other supplies of the Air Ministry, he went on, showed the wisdom of the course which the Government had adopted in not appointing a Minister of Supply.
The first result of such a change, he said, would undoubtedly be to give a setback to that production at the very time when it was in full swing and when it was desirable that it should proceed still further in the same direction, Turning to the financial aspects, Mr. Chamberlain said: "I wonder whether, even now, the House has grasped the full significance of the scale of expenditure which is here contemplated. The figure is £580,000,000, which doe. not fall far short of the whole national debt beginning with the Gri War. That is by no means the end of the story."
He recalled the statement made yesterday by Mr. F. W. Pethick-Lawrence, Labour member for East Edinburgh, that there would be only power to borrow £250,000,000 te cover the last two years of the five-} year period and who suggested that the Chancellor of the Exchequel would have to come to the House of Commons again to ask for a still {further increase in borrowing powers n the last two years.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.