[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—May I add a
postscript to my letter published in your last issue on the subject of aiding German refugees ?
I concluded my letter by describing how I had been told that, in order to obtain the temporary English permit I was seeking, I must obtain the American quota number issued to the refugee in question in Vienna. I cabled the boy's parents to send me this number and received in reply a letter stating that the quota number is not allotted until the American visa is actually available, in which case there would, of course, be no need to apply for a temporary permit to enter England as a half-way house between the Dachau Concentration Camp and the new and permanent home awaiting the young man in America. The letter added that if I were to enquire at the American Consulate in London, the writer was sure that this would be confirmed.
I telephoned the American Consulate in London and they did confirm that these quota numbers for which everyone was being told by the English authorities to ask, were in fact unobtainable. They also expressed their annoyance that the responsible English authorities should still be telling people that in the case of aliens who intend proceeding eventually to the United States, the quota number must be given. (This instruction is printed on the forms that are being issued.) Surely the whole question of the refugees is fraught with sufficient difficulties without introducing utterly fictitious
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