§ Sir J. Smythasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what progress has been made with the distribution of the proceeds of Japanese assets announced on 26th November last.
§ Mr. WoodThe United Kingdom's share under Article 16 of the Peace Treaty with Japan amounting to £1,439,870 was received from the International Committee of the Red Cross shortly after the announcement on 26th November last. Immediate steps were taken to distribute the money and payable orders have been despatched in 57,366 cases, most of them before Christmas.
In order to save the beneficiaries from having to apply personally, and to save time, the payable orders were sent to them at the last address they had given. In 1,275 cases where they have apparently changed their addresses without notifying the Department it is not possible at present to redirect the orders. There may also be some eligible people 227W who had not applied for their shares under the earlier distributions. It is important that any ex-prisoner or civilian internee who has not yet received his share should write (if he has not already done so) to the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, Thames House, Mill-bank, S.W.1, as soon as possible, and in any event not later than the 30th June next.
228WWhilst the distribution is being made primarily on the basis of individual shares it is the intention of the Government to allot part of the money to certain voluntary organisations specially concerned with the interests of ex-prisoners and internees of the Japanese. The precise amounts of these allocations will be decided when it is known how many further claims for indiviual shares are made.