PROFITS FROM REFUGEES

Chronicle (Levin), 2 July 1949, Page 5

PROFITS FROM REFUGEES

Wretchqd gerviqq Prpvided For Mifes WELLINGTON, July 1. Allegations that refugees in' Italy are not enjoying a standard of liviug commensurate' with the spending of vast sums out of the International Refugee Organisation's funds^ have been made by Elizabeth Ha(shek? a 35-yeai'Told Gzeeh who yeached New Zealand in the Dundalk Bay this week. Miss Hatshek contends .also -that the transport. of New Zealand-s newest immigrants from Trieste 1 6 Wellington "wgs good business • betweep l.R.,0. and the' vessel 's owner, ' ' but an upnecesasry indignity and eause of suffering to the displaced persons themselves. In an artiele which she prepared during »the voyage, Miss Hatshek said that I.R.O. paid ,Mr. H. P. Lenaghan, owner of the Dundalk Bay, £110 for eacli passage on phq ship." Th.e pver crowding and shortage of rations encountered by passengers, made this amount seem an overcharge, An official of the Department of Labour and Employinent said today that his Department was "not at all happy" about cqnditiqns on tpe ship. Neitlier, he continued, was MajorGeneral O. E. M. Lloyd, chief representative of I.R.O. in Australia and New Zealand, who had stated that if the Dominion decided to "take" a further draft of displaced persons, he would see to it that they travelled pnder hetter conditions on an American V9&The official said he was ont certain of ihe amount chargod for a passage on the Dundalk Bay but he had heard it was abqut £120. IVfajor.-General Lloyd, he added, had met the vessel on her arrival at Wellington and had flown subsequently po Australia- Mr. Lanaglian had travelled in his ship as far as Fremantle, had eompleted the journey to New Zealand by air, and was now also back in Australia. People of Misery Miss Hatshek ;s avti.ele deseribes the conditions she met with on joining the refugee camp at Grngliasco, near Turin, flve days before the Dundalk Bay left Triest. ."From the moment I entered the camp," sh.e says, "I got the idea of a displaced person 's misery. At first my passport was taken away and I received a food .card. Then it took two hours to lind a place for my field bed and mattress because the camp was overcrowded with about 2000 people. I got two dirty blanlcets and a pot with a spoon for fet.ching my meals— no piilow, nothmg else. When. I went to get .my first meai, 1 Saw two long lines standing before the kitchen. After waiting more thaii half an hour I got my supper — a small portion of boiled .potatoes mixed up wifh beaps.. I tried two spoouful of'it and then threw it away. It, was really ipipossibl.e to eat. Others did likewise in spite of thoir hunger. 'But wlyat are you living on all day?' I asked tbem. 'We are buying at the canteen with our own m.oney,1 butter and other • food and fruits, only cold things, but we are glad to get them.' "The next problem," continu.es Miss Hatshek, "were the to.ilets and lavatories which were in such a state that I couldn't use them ,sq I went to bed unhappy, hungry and dirty. Next day nobody- paid attention to my complaints. Somebody said 'you are staying only five days in this camp. You are leaving, but what shall we do? We are waiting months and months in this camp, always waiting for eommissions who will finally send us overseas. ' "How is it possible," asks Miss Hatshek "that displaced pepsons are treated so Ladly? The whole Western world is paying millions and millions for the International Refugee Organisation. "What is I.R.O. doing with these millions? It gets 3i dollars for every refugee living in camp but neither the food nor lodging corresponds with this amount. United Nations should call to account the responsible persons pf this organiastion which is supposed to protect refugees %nd not be n profitable enterprise for some people."