Office of the Historian

840.48 Refugees/1610: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State

London, May 10, 1939—4 p.m.
[Received May 10—11:15 a.m.]

654. For Mr. Myron Taylor from Pell. Winterton called a meeting this morning to hear the decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Refugees yesterday.

(1)
It was decided that every effort should be made by the Government here, and that the American Government should be asked to join in this effort, to persuade the private financial groups concerned to take immediate steps to set up a private international corporation;
(2)
Lord Winterton was instructed to despatch a telegram as chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee to Mr. Myron Taylor, the head of the American delegation, enquiring as to the progress which had been made in the United States towards the formation of the corporation, and what concrete decisions had been taken as to capitalization, composition and scope;
(3)
Winterton was instructed to point out to Mr. Taylor that it was believed here that the Intergovernmental Committee was morally committed to the plan of action which had been proposed to Mr. Rublee by Mr. Wohlthat and that before Wohlthat came to London on 1st June the Committee should be in a position to state to him that a private corporation was set up.
(4)
Winterton also communicated the information that the Cabinet Committee had decided to establish in the Colonial Office a special branch, to be headed by some one drawn from outside the civil service, to handle the British Guiana project in collaboration with such private corporation or company which should be formed to finance the project. He emphasized the view here that in accordance with the discussions which had taken place with the United States Government in the autumn the Guiana project should be financed in the United States although there would be a nominal contribution from British private persons. [Pell.]
Kennedy