The British Government declared today it was giving sympathetic consideration to the United States Government’s plan to aid refugees, but at the same time stated there was no territory in the British Colonial Empire where large-scale settlement of refugees was practicable.
The State Department’s invitation to Britain is being studied by the Government with “prompt and sympathetic consideration,” Richard A. Butler, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, told the House of Commons in answer to a question, adding that he hoped a reply would be made at a “very early date.”
Earlier, William G.A. Ormsby-Gore, Colonial Secretary, had told the House that owing to climatic and economic conditions and the existence of a large native population, there was no territory in the British colonial empire where large-scale settlement of refugees was practicable.
The Colonial Secretary replied to a question on whether the Government would evolve a scheme to offer Jewish and other refugees from Austria and other countries a new home in suitable British possessions overseas. He added that the governors of a number of colonies had recently been consulted concerning openings for refugees who possessed a small amount of capital, but he regretted that replies so far received showed that the openings were likely to be few.
Asked whether it was not desirable “to follow our traditional ideal of hospitality for suffering people,” the Colonial Secretary said: “Certainly, but we cannot send them to die in West Africa and places of that kind.”
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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.
