2 - RELIEF

Summary

The meeting of Allied Governments-in-Exile, under discussion during the summer of 1941, took place at St James's Palace on 24 September with Mr Eden in the chair. The meeting established an Inter-Allied Committee on Post-War Requirements with a bureau, headed by Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, responsible to it.

A week before the meeting, Leith-Ross, anticipating its conclusions and in response to various requests he had received as to Britain's expected relief role, wrote to Keynes asking for the Treasury's views on the finance of relief and the use of surplus stocks already in the U.K. for relief purposes. On receiving the letter, Keynes minuted.

To S. D. WALEY and others, 19 September 1941

Sir Frederick Leith-Ross is, I think, pressing us to reach definite financial decisions at too early a stage. But he is entitled to have some rather more definite indications of the course of procedure which the Treasury would approve than he has at present. I suggest the following as a basis of discussion.

(1) The first question to be decided is whether our assistance is to be in the form of kind or whether we should prefer to contribute each to a joint fund administered by some relief and reconstruction body, which would then pay the fair price for supplies from whatever source. Sir Frederick Leith-Ross is assuming that our contribution will take the form of supplying those articles which we have immediately handy or which we have bought up in connection with surplus difficulties.