CZECHO-SLOVAKIA (FINANCIAL CLAIMS AND REFUGEES) BILL. (Hansard, 30 January 1940)

§ LORD TEMPLEMORE
My Lords, this Bill, as your Lordships may have realised, is a very technical and complicated Bill. It has a very long Preamble, which I think is as long as, or longer than, the whole of the rest of the Bill put together. But, although the reasons for the Bill are explained in the Preamble, I think your Lordships may like me to try to explain it for a short time in somewhat simpler language. The Bill has its origin in the two Acts of Parliament which were passed last year—namely, the Czecho-Slovakia (Financial Assistance) Act and the Czecho-Slovakia (Restrictions on Banking Accounts, etc.) Act. Under the former Act His, Majesty's Government undertook to give to the Government of Czecho-Slovakia a free gift of £4,000,000 in order to assist refugees, and also to 446 grant a loan of £6,000,000 to help with the reconstruction of their country. These two separate sums were placed to the credit of the National Bank of Czecho-Slovakia at the Bank of England, and were drawn on from time to time up till March 15 last year, which was the date, your Lordships will remember, of the invasion of Czecho-Slovakia.
I am informed that the state of the two accounts at the moment is as follows. In the case of the gift account of £4,000,000 there is £3,000,000 left, and in the case of the loan account of £6,000,000 there is £3,500,000 left. But there was in the case of the gift account another little complication—namely, that the Czecho-Slovakian Government elected to earmark £500,000 out of this gift for a special fund to assist in the emigration of refugees to Palestine, and they started an account for this at Lloyds Bank, which was known as the Lloyds Bank gift account. The state of this account now is, I understand, that about £400,000 stands to its credit. Therefore we have this position: we have the loan of £6,000,000, and the gift of £4,000,000, and this gift in its turn is subdivided into two amounts of £3,500,000 and £500,000. Then came, as I have said, the invasion of Czecho-Slovakia on March 15 and His Majesty's Government at once took steps to ensure that the German authorities should be unable to obtain the Czecho-Slovakian assets in this country.
Under the Act which I have mentioned, known as the Czecho-Slovakia (Restrictions on Banking Accounts, etc.) Act, which was passed in March last year, all the Czecho-Slovak bank balances, gold, and securities were blocked after March 15. These included the balances on the loan account, the gift account, and what I have described as the Lloyds Bank gift account. The National Bank of Czecho-Slovakia could not operate them and neither could anybody else; in fact, there existed what I see has been described as a legislative standstill with regard to these two refugee funds. During the debates on the second Bill it was made clear that His Majesty's Government intended as soon as possible to make these gift accounts available for their original purposes—namely, the assistance of refugees—and in anticipation of this the sum of £2,500,000 was voted by the House of Commons in July of last year, to be credited to the Trustees of the 447 Czecho-Slovakian Refugee Fund. The causes which I have stated are the reason for the present Bill.
To go shortly through the Bill, Clause 1 provides for the sums standing to the credit of the three accounts which I have mentioned to be paid by the two banks to the Treasury on demand, and discharges the banks from all liability to any person in respect of the sums after they have been paid to the Treasury. Clause 2 provides for the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Financial Claims Fund; the Treasury is to pay the sums received from the Bank of England Loan Account into this Fund, which is to be under the control of the Treasury. The Fund is to be used in accordance with a Treasury order, for satisfaction of obligations to be specified in the order, subject to the conditions of the order. These obligations are in any case to be obligations incurred before March 15, 1939, by the Czecho-Slovak Government or by persons (including the corporations) who on that date were resident or carrying on business in Czecho-Slovakia, or incorporated under Czecho-Slovak law. Any expenses incurred by the Treasury in this respect may be charged on the Fund, and any sums received by the Treasury in respect of the satisfaction of any such obligation are to be paid into the Fund. The clause gives power to revoke or vary orders made under it by subsequent orders; and it provides that no order made under the clause shall come into force unless a draft has been laid before Parliament and approved by Resolution of each House.
Clause 3 provides for the disposal of the sums standing to the credit of the two gift accounts when they have been paid to the Treasury. An amount equal to the amount already advanced to Trustees of the Czecho-Slovak Refugee Trust out of voted moneys is to be treated as having been repaid by the Trustees and will accordingly be paid into the Exchequer. The balance is to be paid into a fund to be called the Czecho-Slovak Refugee Fund, which will be under the control of the Treasury, who will issue out of it to the Trustees such sums as are required for the purposes of the trust. Clause 4 provides for the audit of the funds by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, and for an account with his report to be laid before Parliament. Clause 5 is merely the Short Title. That is the Bill. It is, 448 as I have said, a rather technical and complicated measure, based on the two Acts of last year, and dealing with two separate sums of money, one of which in its turn is subdivided into two parts. I hope I have made it as clear as possible, but I will endeavour to elucidate any further points about which your Lordships may be in doubt. I think, anyhow, I may say that the Bill is non-contentious, and is destined to carry out what not only this House but the whole country, I think, desires—namely, the original scheme of the first Act of last year, which was to give as much assistance as possible to the unfortunate inhabitants of a very gallant country. I beg to move.

LORD STRABOLGI
My Lords, my noble friends do not desire to offer any opposition to the Bill, and will do their best to facilitate its passage into law. I would like to congratulate the noble Lord, if I may on the very brief but very full and complete account of it which he gave, and which I think explains the complicated measure quite satisfactorily. Your Lordships will have noticed from the remarks of the noble Lord and from a reading of the Bill that orders have to be laid before Parliament and passed by Parliament giving effect to the Bill's provisions. When these orders are before your Lordships we shall have an opportunity of seeing the exact details. In the meantime, I understand, it is impossible for the Government to know the total amount of the claims as they have not to be in until the end of this month, when it will be necessary to draw up a complete scheme for satisfying the claimants. The Bill has been very fully discussed in another place, and the only remark I have to make now is that when the orders are laid we should be careful to see that the genuine English claimants, of whom there are some, are fairly treated. I am sure that is the desire of the Government.

§ LORD MOTTISTONE
My Lords, I need hardly say that in this quarter of the House we support His Majesty's Government whole-heartedly, and if there should be any further dispute about it we are entirely on their side. As the 449 noble Lord has said, any desire the Government may have to help these very gallant people in their distress will have our support. Indeed if they should think of helping another very gallant people now struggling in their distress, Finland, we hope His Majesty's Government will not forget that we are a generous people.