CZECH REFUGEES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23259, 31 January 1939, Page 12

CZECH REFUGEES

BIG LONDON FUND DETAILS OF ALLOCATIONS CLOTHING AND FOODSTUFFS [FHO3I OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] LONDON, Jan. 5 A report has been issued by Sir Harry Twyford—who in October, when he was Lord Mayor of London, opened a fund for the relief of Czech refugees—showing the present position of the fund. Within a few weeks a sum of £360,000 was subscribed, and of this £350,350 has been used in one form or another for the relief of refugees. Grants totalling £260,000 were put at the disposal of the Prague Committee, £BO,OOO allocated to the British Committee for refugees from Czecho-Slovakia and £SOOO each to the British Red Cross and the Save the Children Fund. The total expenses were about £2500, or .7 per cent of the sum collected. A sum of £3OOO has been set aside as a first contribution toward the assistance of journalists rendered destitute by the closing down of Czech newspapers, and a similar sum has been reserved for displaced teachers. Among the purchases were 2495 men's suits. 2255 overcoats, 3303 shirts, 3199 pairs of gloves, 5642 handkerchiefs, 5283 pairs of shoes and 3192 blankets. Several tons of cocoa, chocolate and dried milk were sent to Prague through the generosity of British firms, and ? gift of 100 barrels of pickled herrings from the Lowestoft herring fishing industry, while 300 bales of clothing and blankets were forwarded through the Red Cross. This fund should not be confused with Earl Baldwin's Fund for Jewish and other refugee "victims of religious and racia! persecution."