Request of the Spanish Government for the technical assistance of the League in the study of measures for providing food supplies for refugees (report)
1938-11-03 032-0199-006 - 5 - In short, the refugees are a category apart, clearly differentiated, numbering anything from 2,400,000 to 3,000,000. 8. The rationing of the Army is conducted separately under Army control. All other rationing is under the control of the Director of Food Supply...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English |
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03 November 1938
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/CF32F006-998B-4798-8C06-EADA0F8BEB23 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/A67D9944-E79C-4EE5-B218-8373A707512F |
| Summary: | 1938-11-03
032-0199-006
- 5 - In short, the refugees are a category apart, clearly differentiated, numbering anything from 2,400,000 to 3,000,000. 8. The rationing of the Army is conducted separately under Army control. All other rationing is under the control of the Director of Food Supply, who allocates the necessary supplies between the refugees and the civil population, keeping the supplies for the two categories strictly apart in his books from ports to points of issue. 5. As Republican Spain is now cut off from its grain, meat and fish producing areas, the bulk of the supplies has to be imported, chiefly by sea. Difficulties at the ports owing to the air blockade are considerable; but though no statistics were available to us, we were assured that losses have represented a very small percentage of the imports. 10. The responsibility for all purchases and shipments from abroad rests with a Board under the Minister of Finance, known as Campsa Gentibus, in which is concentrated the control of the whole foreign trade, both import and export. Its responsibility ceases with the discharge of the supplies at the ports. Responsibility for transport by rail and road to zone centres and thence to points of actual distribution rests with the Director of Food Supply. 11. In Catalonia, the autonomous Government, though like the rest of Spain drawing the refugee supplies from the Central Government, charges itself with the work of billeting and distribution of food through the agency of zone and village committees, on which the mayor, a refugee, and a Food Supply Official are essential elements. In the rest of Spain, distribution remains a charge on the Central Government working through the Director of Food Supplies and the Ministry of Labour and Social Assistance, which latter is also responsible for the billeting of the refugees. According to the possibility or otherwise of arranging for communal feeding centres, rations are issued in wet or dry form on the production of refugee tickets, which are subsequently returned to headquarters as proof of issue. 12. Thus, despite regional differences in detail and constant breakdowns due to lack of supplies, deficiencies of transport and other difficulties, an organisation exists for the feeding of the refugees as separate and distinct from that of the civil population. The problem of their feeding is a mass problem; with the approach of winter, the time-factor is all-important. This alone precludes us from contemplating the setting up of an independent organisation of relief distribution. The only practical course is to utilise and reinforce the Government machinery that exists, enlisting the collaboration of and assisting the expansion of all voluntary relief organisations, such as the International Commission for the Assistance of Child Refugees in Spain, the Society of Friends and the Swiss Relief, whose work, wherever we have had an opportunity of seeing it on the spot, has commanded our admiration. 13. An essential feature of any comprehensive scheme would be the appointment of a Relief Commissioner, working in closest collaboration with the Spanish Government, to supervise and energise the refugee relief organisation. We have been given assurances that such an appointment would be welcome to the Spanish Government. The Relief Commissioner would
292/946/32/199(v) |
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