§ Mr. Rhys Daviesasked the Home Secretary whether, in allocating the grant-in-aid of £100,000 and the £1-per-£1 grant up to a maximum of £27,000 per month, made available for the assistance of voluntary organisations dealing with refugees, due regard will be had to the needs and obligations of such voluntary organisations which deal with all or any of the categories of refugees from Austria, Czecho-Slovakia, Finland, Germany and Poland; and whether, with a view to stimulating further voluntary contributions, the voluntary organisations concerned with these categories of refugees are, on the analogy of the Government's £1-per-£1 grant given to relief societies working in Central Europe in 1920, drawing the attention of their subscribers and of the public at large to the Government's action?
§ Sir J. AndersonThe sum of £180,000 recently voted by Parliament was a contribution towards the expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the voluntary organisations which are assisting refugees in this country from Germany and Austria only. As explained in the Supplementary Estimates £100,000 is a retrospective contribution in respect of the period during the last four months of 1939, while the balance is in respect of the three months ending on the 31st March, 1940, and is payable on a £ for £ basis in respect of contributions raised by the voluntary committees. It is obviously to the interest of these committees to raise as much money as possible from the charitable public, and I have no doubt that they will take every possible step to enlist public support. There is an entirely separate fund for refugees from Czecho-Slovakia, provision for which is made in the Czecho-Slovakia (Financial Claims and Refugees) Act, 1940.
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