British Guiana As Large-Scale Home For Refugees

Northern Advocate, 12 May 1939, Page 5

British Guiana As Large-Scale Home For Refugees

LONDON, May 10. A report submitted by the British Guiana Refugee Commission to Mr Roosevelt's Advisory Committee on Political Refugees, on the possibility of a large scale settlement of refugees from Central Europe, lias been issued as a White Paper. The commission is of the opinion that while the territory offered for settlement in British Guiana is not an ideal place for refugees from Middle European countries, and while the territory could not be considered suitable for immediate large-scale settlement, it undoubtedly possesses potential possibilities which would fully justify carrying out a trial settlement project.

A Feasible Proposal. Further; the commission is of the opinion that in the area available for settlement there are soils suitable for permanent agriculture and natural resources which make possible correlated industrial development, and that the climate and health conditions are of such a nature that settlement by people of Middle European origin is feasible. v ' ‘ ' Therefore, the commission recommends that a number of receiving camps and trial settlements be started at the earliest possible date, involving a population of 3000 to 5000, comprising carefully selected young men and women, to be placed at properly chosen locations, with a properly equipped technical organisation under competent leadership to supervise and direct the activities of the trial settlements and render them all possible technical, financial and other assistance.

The Colonial Secretary, Mr Malcolm MacDonald, intimated in the House of Commons this afternoon that Britain is giving the report active consideration, and he expected to be in a position to make a statefnent at an early date. No Home But Palestine. Rabbi Perlzweig, chairman of a section of the World Jewish Congress, commenting on the British Guiana report, said that although he was grateful for it, it was not an answer for the hundreds of thousands of Jews who must find new settlements or perish. There was no substitute for Palestine.