ACTION ASKED

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 102, 27 October 1945, Page 7

ACTION ASKED

DANGERS OF WINTER

FIVE POINTS SUGGESTED

LONDON, October 26. The Prime Minister, Mr. C. R. Attlee, has received a deputation" led by Sir William BeverMge urging that measures should be taken in view of the millions of human beings, particularly in Germany, who would inevitably _be in danger of death from starvation and disease in the coming whiter.

The deputation urged the Government, first, to negotiate with the Russian, Polish, and Czech Governments with a view to stopping forthwith the expulsion of Germans from their homes in eastern Europe and developing an agreed/inter-Allied policy on the subject before spring; secondly, in concert with the French and Americans to negotiate for an immediate common policy for the reception in the respective zones of such number 0_ those already expelled as can be housed and fed, in view of the existing commitments of the Western Powers to their own peoples and liberated countries; thirdly, in concert with the French, Dutch, and Belgian Governments to increase the Ruhr coal mines production by all . possible means, including the provision of adequate rations for the miners and their families; fourthly, to mobilise all available motor vehicles, whether British, American, or German, to break the transport bottleneck; and, fifthly, to use civilian and military food reserves which can be released for the urgent needs of the various populations.

CANNOT ACT ALONE

Mr. Attlee expressed sympathy and gave an assurance that the Government was doing everything in its power to meet the situation. He emphasised that unilateral action on the part of the British could not materially improve present conditions. The Kommandatura has decided to increase the rations for children aged 9 to 16 to 1543 calories a day by granting them an extra one-third of an ounce of cereals, one-fifth of an ounce of fats, and one ounce of sugar. The children will daily receive the following rations: Bread, lloz; potatoes, 14oz; cereals, l_oz; meat, two-thirds oz; fats, loz; sugar, 2oz. There is in addition each month ; a raiton of one ounce of coffee, threequarters of an ounce of tea, and 14oz of salt. The ration for non-working adults will remain unchanged at 1050 calories daily. The British have requested the Russians to hold up any further movement to Berlin of refugees wishing to proceed from the Russian zone to the British zone in western Germany. Reuters Berlin correspondent says it is stated that two trainloads of refugees arrived at the British sector

from RostocE this week, carrying papers issued by the Russians saying they were bound for the British zone.

HALT AND LAME,

The German refugees arriving were said to be all halt and lame, with hardly a single fit person among them. The Russian representatives promised that steps would be taken to halt these movements. An officer of the British military government said it was hoped to restart the movement of these people to the British zone in the very near future. All the refugees are persons who formerly lived in the British zone and have homes and relatives to whom to go. The British, French, and United States representatives protested at a Kommandatura meeting in Berlin against articles which appeared recently in German newspapers published in the Russian zone, giving the impression that the Berlin food shortage was caused by the failure of the Western Powers to fulfil their commitments.

The four Powers, following the protest, agreed that all articles in the Berlin Press dealing with food must deal with the city as a whole and they must use only information obtained from the Kommandature.