I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1949, for the Alleviation of Distress in Europe due to War, including Grants to International and other Organisations in respect of relief activities; and for relief supplies for refugees in Palestine.
This is a token Vote of £10. The original Estimate, as framed, is in terms of the alleviation of distress in Europe due to war. During the year a request was made, in the first instance, by Count Bernadotte, the late mediator as between Palestine and Arabia for relief, and, secondly, the Secretary-General of the United Nations made a request for relief. The relief that was requested in both these communications was in respect of about 333,000 destitute Arab refugees from Jewish-controlled areas in Palestine and about 7,000 Jewish refugees from Arab-con-trolled areas. Thirty percent. of these refugees are children under five years of age and 10 per cent. are expectant mothers. It was suggested that relief in kind would be the better way of giving this alleviation, and, after certain consideration, we decided on the sending of potatoes and oatmeal as the best way of replying to this appeal. Arrangements were accordingly made to ship about 200 tons of potatoes, the cost of which would be something short of £3,500, about £3,421 odd, and, at the same time, arrangements are still in course of being made for the shipment of 500 tons of oatenmeal at a cost of about £20,000.
It is not possible, as the Estimate is drawn, to grant this relief, because the Estimate is tied to relief in Europe. The Supplementary Estimate is therefore introduced and has as an addition to the heading: "For Relief Supplies for Refugees in Palestine." A token Vote only is being requested, because there are savings on this Vote otherwise, and the amount of money can be found without any new money having to be voted. Originally, for the relief of distress in Europe, a sum of about £3,000,000 was regarded as the proper expenditure, and because of the fact that particular commodities could not be obtained at certain times, it was not possible to have that sum of £3,000,000 distributed within the year in which the original provision was made in 1945-46. This, however, will be the end of it. It is estimated that when the present year's commitments, which, of course, are more than the particular moneys I am looking for, are completed, not less than the amount of £3,000,000 will have been expended.