The Foreign Office Communique

Following is the text of the Foreign Office communique on today’s session of the Intergovernmental Refugee Committee:

“The director of the committee, Sir Herbert Emerson, made a comprehensive report on the present position of the refugee problem and the work of the committee. Lord Winterton ## formed the committee that, in view of the great difficulty found by private organizations a raising sums needed for the emigration of refugees, to which the director referred in his report, His Majesty’s Government had come to the conclusion it was necessary to depart from the principle agreed on at the Evian meeting, that no participating Government would give direct assistance to refugees.

“His Majesty’s Government were examining the manner and extent to which private subscriptions to the international fund to assist in defraying the expenses of overseas emigration of the refugees might be encouraged by government participation, if the other governments were prepared to agree to this change of principle and cooperate in such participation. His Majesty’s Government would take the initiative in proposing a scheme for the purpose.

“The United States representative, Myron Taylor; the French representative, Henry Berenger; the Brazilian representative, Helio Lobo, and the representative of the San Dominican republic, Dr. Maximilian Henriques Urena, recalled that this suggestion constituted a departure from the policy agreed on at Evian, but undertook to refer the matter to their government.

“At the conclusion, Myron Taylor conveyed an invitation from the President of the United States to the chairman, vice-chairman and director of the committee to meet him in conference at the White House, Washington, in the first week in September.”