HC Deb 15 May 1939 vol 347 cc981-3
47. Mr. T. Williams

asked the Prime Minister when the memoranda provided by the experts to the British Guiana Refugee Commission will be published?

The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Malcolm MacDonald)

I have been asked to reply. The memoranda which were received with the report are now being printed and will be published as a Command Paper. They are of considerable bulk and will not be available in the ordinary course for another three or four weeks.

48. Mr. Williams

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the last two lines of paragraph 4, page 12, of the report of the British Guiana Refugee Commission, he anticipates that sufficient funds will be forthcoming from voluntary sources to conduct the trial settlement recommended in the last paragraph of the report?

49. Mr. Noel-Baker

asked the Prime Minister from what source it is intended to provide the £600,000 required to finance the first experimental settlements of refugees in British Guiana?

50. Mr. Hannah

asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the promising prospects of refugee settlement in British Guiana, he will consider a Government guarantee for a loan of the £600,000 ($3,000,000) considered by the British Guiana Refugee Commission to be the approximate cost of establishing and maintaining a trial settlement of 5,000 people for the first two years?

Mr. MacDonald

As the Prime Minister stated in his reply to a question by the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. T. Williams) on 12th May, His Majesty's Government assume that experimental settlement will be financed from private sources. The exact amount required will depend upon the scheme decided upon by the refugee organisations, and I cannot say yet what resources they may have at their disposal. As was stated in the previous reply, His Majesty's Government will help and co-operate in other ways in the settlement.

Mr. T. Williams

In view of the fears and doubts expressed by the Commission, do the Government anticipate that the sum of money called for, 3,000,000 dollars or £600,000, is likely to be forthcoming from voluntary sources?

Mr. MacDonald

The hon. Member will recollect that the Commission not only expressed some fears and doubts but also some hopes. It would be premature to make any kind of estimate as to the assistance which might be received from private funds.

Mr. Noel-Baker

In view of the speculative nature of the hopes in which the Commission indulge, will the Government refrain from stimulating too great hopes in this enterprise, having regard to the urgent and desperate condition of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Germany now?

Mr. MacDonald

In view of the urgent need, which we fully appreciate, I hope that hon. Members of the Opposition will not discourage unduly the hopes that can be centred in British Guiana. With regard to the general question, the House may rest assured that we shall keep in close touch with the refugee and other authorities on the matter, and will endeavour to do whatever is strictly practicable.

Mr. T. Williams

If the optimism of the Government is so fully matured, will they back their hopes by providing a loan to the extent of the sum referred to in the Commissioners' report?

Sir A. Sinclair

Will not the amount of the support to be anticipated from private and, especially from Jewish, organisations depend largely upon the amount of support which His Majesty's Government are giving to the Jewish National Home in Palestine?

Sir Stanley Reed

Will the Government, before considering a loan for the settlement of refugees in British Guiana, give consideration to the prior claims of the overcrowded populations of the British West Indian Islands, particularly in Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados?

Mr. MacDonald

The importance of populations of the West Indian Islands will be kept fully in view by His Majesty's Government in considering this matter.

Mr. Hannah

Are not the highlands of British Guiana quite unsuitable for negro peoples?