War Secretary Henry D. Margesson today promised reparations to refugees robbed and mistreated while being transported to Australia for internment on the S.S. Dunera. He declared, however, that it had been decided not to establish a court of inquiry on the matter.
When Col. Josiah Wedgwood, Laborite, raised the question in Commons on a motion for adjournment, Capt. Margesson said a court of inquiry would have to carry on for a very long time and the persons involved might have to wait until the end of the war for compensation to be paid to those who allegedly were robbed and suffered injustice.
The War Secretary said he would see what steps could be taken for immediate reparations without waiting for the result of any court and would see that compensation was made as expeditiously and as justly as possible. “This might prove costly to the Exchequer, but it is better to clear our good name, even if it is a little extravagant,” he said.
It will be made perfectly clear to crews that they are not to trade with prisoners on ships and “it will be seen that there will be no repetition of such unpleasant incidents,” the War Secretary stated.
Earlier, Col. Wedgwood had demanded publicity on the proceedings of the proposed court of inquiry, stressing that the refugees on the Dunera had been mostly Jews classed as friendly aliens. He urged that watches and wedding rings be restored to the owners and that the Government pay the unfortunate refugees a small weekly suspending the court’s decision. He also suggested that treatment of refugees transported to Canada on the S.S. Ettrick be investigated simultaneously.
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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.
