Palestine]
shipping. With these additions, and the provision of suitable warehouses, the country would be sufficiently well supplied, though minor improvements at the smaller places of call are no doubt desirable. The people of the Lebanon in particular are anxious for the development of the harbours on their littoral, and the French concession of 1913, already mentioned, provided that any new works at Yunie or Nebi Yunus should be granted to the Beirut Harbour Company.[1]
(b) Shipping Lines
Before the war Syrian ports would have enjoyed good sea communications if their harbours" had been more adequate and quarantine on vessels from Egypt less frequent. The following lines have regular services and carry mails:—
Messageries Maritimes: from Marseilles (1) weekly to Alexandria, Port Said, Jaffa, Haifa, Beirut (on the return journey Jaffa only is visited once a fortnight); (2) fortnightly to Constantinople, Smyrna, Rhodes, Beirut, north as far as Mersina, thence to Larnaka (Cyprus), Jaffa, and Haifa, returning to Marseilles by Beirut, Smyrna, and Constantinople. The second of these services provided the most rapid service between Constantinople and Syria. The company has a subvention from the French Government.
Austrian Lloyd: weekly from Trieste to Alexandria, Port Said, Jaffa, Haifa, Saida, Beirut, Tripoli, Latakia, Alexandretta, Mersina, and back the same way. Subsidised by the Austrian Government. Khedivial Mail Steamship Company: weekly from Alexandria to Jaffa, Haifa, Beirut and back, with fortnightly extension to Mersina, Smyrna, and Constantinople.
- ↑ The above remarks must be taken as referring to pre-war conditions. A good deal of uncertainty prevails regarding the present state of the country, but, in view of the reported depopulation of certain districts (see p. 87), existing facilities of communication might be expected to prove more than adequate for some time to come.
