More than 1,000 tons of Joint Distribution Committee relief supplies, which have been accumulating in government warehouses since ?gust, have been freed for distribution among needy Jews throughout Rumania following a meeting between Dr. Joseph Schwartz, European director of the JDC, and Finance Minister Vasile Luca, it was disclosed today.
The supplies, which include food, clothing and medicaments, arrived after ?abilization of Rumania’s currency last summer and could not be distributed because the JDC was unable to pay the heavy customs duties levied on them. Negotiations to secure tax exemptions were protracted because of recent government changes. Dr. ?chwartz told a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent as he was leaving the Finance Ministry that Mr.Luca had shown “full understanding” of the plight of the needy Jews.
Before leaving for Paris, Dr. Schwartz also settled the question of the composition of the board of directors of the JDC’s Rumanian branch. In negotiations with various Jewish groups, it was agreed that the present board should carry on until country-wide community elections can be held and permit a reshuffle enabling each group to be represented according to its actual strength. Establishment of a four?an executive board, comprising one representative of the Zionist, Jewish, Communist and Socialist parties, was also agreed upon.
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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.