Financial Interests Back Settlement of Jews in Kenya

Important financial interests here were revealed today as in back of the project to settle German and Austrian refugees in Kenya, British colony in East Africa, to which Lord Winterton referred in his closing address at the Evian conference. The weekly journal East Africa and Rhodesia devotes considerable space to a discussion of the plan, declaring it has been in preparation for several months and also has the cooperation of leading men in Kenya.

The project, the periodical asserts, “may affect very materially the whole outlook for white settlement in Kenya. there is room in the colony, according to the article, for an influx of selected refugees, some of whom have their own capital while the rest “have the backing of compatriots of wealth and influence in the British isles.”

Declaring it premature to reveal details of the plan, the journal hints that it roughly follows the course of Palestine work. Referring to fears of nazi activities in Africa, the magazine declares: “Surely it is safe to assume that German and Austrian refugees will be the last people to fall victims of nazi propaganda or desire to live again under Nazi rule.”

The British press was sharply divided on the results of the Evian conference. The Times and the Manchester Guardian were at opposite extremes, the former asserting the conference had done its work “admirably,” while the latter considered the results “frankly disappointing.”

Said the Times: “It sifted methodically the material of a problem seeing chaotic and almost unmanageable and devised machinery which, if not blocked by the countries of origin (of refugees) will transform the haphazard flight of destitute Jews into an orderly exodus.” The Manchester Guardian said the conference’s only achievement was that it had perpetuated itself through a permanent committee meeting in London under the chairmanship of an American, who will be the personal representative of President Roosevelt.