GUIANA AS REFUGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 May 1939, Page 5

GUIANA AS REFUGE

PLANS FOR SETTLEMENT OF REFUGEES LIMITED TRIAL PROPOSED. REPORT BY COMMISSION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 10. The report submitted by the British Guiana Refugee Commission to President Roosevelt’s advisory committee on political refugees on concerning' the possibilities of a largescale settlement of refugees from central Europe is issued as a White Paper today. The commission is of opinion that. though the territory offered for settlement in British Guiana is not an ideal place for the refugees from middle European countries and though the territory could not be considered suitable for immediate large-scale settlement, it undoubtedly possesses potential possibilities that would fully justify the carrying out of a trial settlement project. The commission is further of the opinion that in the area available for settlement there are soils suitable for permanent agriculture, that its natural resources would make possible corelated industrial development and that climate and health conditions are such that settlement by people of middle European origin is feasible. “The commission therefore recommends that a number of receiving camps and trial settlements be started as soon as possible, involving a population of 300 to 500 carefully-selected young men and women placed at pro-perly-chosen locations with a properly - equipped technical organisation and under competent leadership to supervise and direct their activities and to render them all possible technical, financial and other assistance.” The Colonia] Secretary, Mr Malcolm MacDonald, intimated in the House of Commons this afternoon that the British Government was giving the report active consideration and that he expected to be able to make a statement soon. JEWISH COMMENT. “THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PALESTINE.” LONDON, May 11. Rabbi Perlzweig, chairman of a section of the World Jewish Congress, commenting on the British Guiana report today, said that, though he was grateful for it, it was not an answer for the hundreds of thousands who must find a new settlement or perish. “There is no substitute for Palestine,” he added. I