§ Mr. H. Wallaceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the early winding up of the International Refugee Organisation and the appeal made to Member Governments to help the organisation to complete its work, he will make a statement in regard to the Government's intentions as to admitting any further refugees and displaced persons into the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. EdeThe United Kingdom has already made a very large contribution to the solution of the refugee problem. In addition to refugees from Germany and Austria admitted during the late thirties, to the number of 80,000, over 200,000 aliens who were or would otherwise have been in the care of the International Refugee Organisation have during and since the war been admitted 211W to the United Kingdom, and we are bound to have regard to this in judging what further contribution we can make.
In response to a suggestion made by the International Refugee Organisation it has been decided to admit up to 2,000 displaced persons and refugees now in the care of the International Refugee Organisation in Germany and Austria for whom accommodation and maintenance can be provided by relatives, friends, private persons or voluntary organisations, who are prepared to take continuing responsibility for them. Discussions about the arrangements for the admission of these persons are in progress with the International Refugee Organisation and the voluntary societies in this country who are interested in the refugee problem.
His Majesty's Government are also considering a suggestion that they should accept responsibility for some 2,600 Polish refugees, who are the residue of those Poles who entered the Middle East from Russia in 1942, and who are at present in the care of the International Refugee Organisation in the Lebanon and East Africa. The question of how far it is necessary or desirable to bring these refugees to the United Kingdom is being considered and I will make a further statement about them later.