HELP FOR REFUGEES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 February 1939, Page 5

HELP FOR REFUGEES

REPORT TO INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OFFERS OF NEW HOMES AGRICULTURAL TRAINING NEEDED. MR G. RUBLEE RETIRING. (British Official Wireless., RUGBY, February 13. The Intergovernmental committee on Refugees has received a confidential report from its president. Mr George Rublee (U.S.A.), on his recent conversations in Berlin. An official statement says that the committee was also informed by Mr Rubice. whose tenure of office of director has been of a temporary nature, that he was retiring, having carried out his mandate of discussing the problem of involuntary emigration from Germany with the German authorities. Mr Rublee emphasised that his retirement had no cause other than the completion of the specific task for which he had been appointed. The commitee heard statements from representatives of the United States of America, France, the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic. Australia. Belgium. and the United Kingdom concerning the contribution which their Governments were in a position to make toward a solution of the problem of involuntary emigration. The chairman, Earl Winterton. drew attention to the large sums being raised by the United Kingdom in response to appeals on behalf of refugees and stressed the importance of the activities of responsible Jewish assistance organizations. He stated that the best hopes of resettlement of refugees lay in their being retrained for life as agriculturalists.

The United States delegate, Mr Myron Taylor, said that his Government was convinced that the problem of involuntary emigration was not yet of such a size that the members involved could not be reabsorbed by other countries without doing injury to their own interests. Already the United States was taking nearly 30,000 refugees from Germany each year. In the course of the discussion it was understood that the Australian representative, Mr G. S. Duncan, intimated that the Commonwealth Government was willing to accept 15,000 refugees over three years, while the Dominican representative made known the willingness of his Government to envisage the reception of 10,000 refugees, including members of the professional classes.