The committee being set up in connection with the Government’s decision to extend financial aid to refugees will function as an allocations and policy making body, informed quarters said today. It is expected to formulate the general principles upon which the work will be conducted, although refugee-aid organizations will retain considerable autonomy.
It was learned that the Council for Jewish Refugees and the Christian Council for Refugees will be represented on the committee, which otherwise will be composed of individuals experienced in social work.
The Government, it is understood, has stipulated that relief given to refugee with the aid of Government grants must not exceed the customary unemployment allowances, although private organizations can supplement the grants from their own funds if they desire. It is estimated that relief organizations here require ?50,000 monthly to support an estimated 14,000 dependent refugees.
The Government decision to extend financial aid not exceeding ?27,000 monthly for the next six months was the successful outcome of protracted negotiations in which Christian and Jewish leaders and Sir Herbert Emerson, director of the Intergovernmental Refugee Committee, participated.
The written statement read in Commons yesterday by Home Secretary Sir John Anderson pointed out that most of the refugees in Britain had been admitted pending their re-emigration but that the war had forced the shelving of large-scale settlement plans. It was moreover desirable, Sir John said, for the duration of the war to utilize the services of many refugees who were able and willing to assist.
Sir John predicted that more refugees would be absorbed into British industry as the demand for workers increased, adding that meanwhile a substantial number of men and women had to be maintained and voluntary organizations were unable under war conditions to meet the whole charge.
Sir John estimated that since 1933, voluntary organizations had expended ?5,000,000 in aid of refugees while friends and relatives had expended ?3,000,000 for individual cases. He said that the Government had consequently decided to emulate certain European countries and supplement this voluntary effort.
Announcing that the grants-in-aid would be retroactive to January 1, the Home. Secretary pointed out that the money would be paid to the new committee which would have to approve the expenditures. “The intention of the Government,” he said, “is that the assistance which it is giving shall be a stimulus for the continuation of voluntary aid in money, kind, hospitality and, not the least, in service.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
