HOMELESS REFUGEES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23945, 21 October 1939, Page 11

HOMELESS REFUGEES

PLAN FOR RESETTLEMENT . i NEW YORK. Oct. 19. The Washington correspondent of the New York Times states that President Roosevelt’s refugee statement indicates that he is giving increasingly serious consideration to a vast plan for the resettlement of millions over the globe. It is the British Empire, through its wide possessions in Africa, which has been the centre of a gigantic scheme that has been discussed with President Roosevelt, but to . send millions of homeless to these lands cannot be sensibly considered until an engineering survey has been made. Taken alone, this survey is the largest enterprise ever suggested for mankind. The Panama Canal beside „ it is a small blue-print, and. the mapping of America a routine task.. One name is invariably suggested as competent for this colossal labour—Mr Herbert Hoover. Beyond his .prestige, technical skill, and caution is his solitary eminence. as a humanitarian organiser of relief. No other has his exoerience or aptitude for this surpassing task. ALASKA AS A HAVjEN SUGGESTION FOR COMMITTEE WASHINGTON. Oct. 19.' Oct. 20. at 6.30 p.m.) The Secretary of the Interior (Mr Harold L. Ickes) indicated that Alaska will be suggested to the Refugee Committee. He. said that his opinion was that the resources of Alaska were sufficient to help in solving the refugee problem to a considerable extent. He added that the Alaskans would welcome refugees with sufficient financial backing to warrant resettlement, ranging from agriculture requiring large initial investments, to business ventures in the cities and towns requiring relatively small investments. “It has been said for years,” Mr Ickes added, “that we should save Alaska for our own people, but that is a dog-in-the-manger- attitude. Our own people won’t have anything to do with it at present. There will be only 30,000 whites in the entire territory in 1940,”