Mass Meeting in London Urges Britain to Establish War Refugee Board

The establishment of a British War Refugee Board similar to the Board established by President Roosevelt to speed rescue and relief of Jews and other Nazi victims in Europe was urged here tonight at a mass-meeting at Central Hall arranged by the National Committee for Rescue from Nazi Terror under the slogan “They Shall Not Perish.” The Archbishop of York, Chief Rabbi Hertz and members of Parliament were among the principal speakers.

In the House of Commons today an appeal was directed to the British Government by a number of members, asking the admittance of more Jews from Europe. No direct reply to the appeal was given, but Under-Secretary Osbert Peake, speaking for the Home Office, said; “The difficulty of food and accommodations in Britain is not the most formidable obstacle which confronts the Anglo-American governments in carrying out their joint policy of affording victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war.”

Richard K. Law, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, supplementing the statement of Mr. Peake, reported that the British Government has given 50,000 pounds to the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees as the first installment of the half million pounds pledged by Britain for refugee work. A similar sum, of about two million dollars, has been pledged by the government of the United States for the work of the Intergovernmental Committee, he stated.

Mr. Law pointed out that under the new expanded mandate given the Intergovernmental Committee it will have to deal with twenty million uprooted Europeans. “The most important change in the mandate is that refugees from all over Europe now come within the scope of the Intergovernmental Committee which is empowered to spend money for the maintenance, transfer and preservation of the refugees,” the Under-Secretary declared. He assured the House of Commons that ” the Committee is making every effort to forward its rescue work, consistent with the prosecution of the war.”