Request of the Spanish Government for the technical assistance of the League in the study of measures for providing food supplies for refugees (report)
1938-11-03 032-0199-009 - 8 - ANNEX II. MEMORANDUM BY THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT The Government of the Spanish Republic has made a close review of the needs of the refugee population in the area under its authority, as a result of which it has arrived at minimum figures which are notoriously below the...
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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/10796/40860929-A05F-4228-B0C8-958FEB726043 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/E01F9BFB-7758-4C99-ABA6-FFFAAE887C01 |
| Summary: | 1938-11-03
032-0199-009
- 8 - ANNEX II. MEMORANDUM BY THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT The Government of the Spanish Republic has made a close review of the needs of the refugee population in the area under its authority, as a result of which it has arrived at minimum figures which are notoriously below the truth, inasmuch as the calculation has been based on a figure of 2,400,000 refugees, whereas for an accurate calculation as many as 200,000 or 250,000 more persons would have to be reckoned, on account of fluctuations due to the military situation and other causes. It is plain that the total amount of relief sought - £476,000 sterling per month - is not sufficient to provide adequate food for the men, women and children who have taken refuge in the zone loyal to the Government of the Republic to escape from the awful consequences of the war, which has destroyed their homes and deprived them of their normal livelihood. It is indeed a considerable, but an incomplete measure of assistance that the Spanish Government needs to achieve a purely humanitarian aim, which it has hitherto sought to attain through its own resources, but which it will in future be unable to pursue on the same lines on account of the growing difficulties due to the prolongation of the war. The Government of the Spanish Republic accordingly hopes that the League of Nations, in the spirit of co-operation and humanitarianism which are inherent in that institution, will lend it this assistance. In return, it can give the most formal assurance that the saving on its expenditure which may be brought about by the economic assistance in question will be employed wholly in improving the diet of that part of the civil population which is suffering most severely through the reduction of its standard of living. It is the idea of the Government of the Republic that the humanitarian purposes to be met should be supplied by gifts. The Government of the Republic would, however, be prepared, so far as the minimum necessary amount (£476,000 sterling) could not be provided in that form, to arrange a credit operation on the security of bills or promissory notes renewable at term, drawn on the Official Foreign Exchange Transactions Centre (Centro Official de Contratacion de Moneda), which, through the Banco Exterior de Espana (both of these bring Government authorities), received all foreign exchange derived from the export trade of the Spanish Republic. The principal and interest of the credits might be paid off completely within a period of 10 to 15 years, reckoned from the year following that in which the war comes to an end.
292/946/32/199(viii) |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |