852.48/1532: Telegram
The Ambassador in Spain (Hayes) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 14—10:49 a.m.]
1267. Your 1062, May 11, 11 a.m.66 I agree that the flow of refugees should not be interrupted but should rather be speeded up. British Embassy policy is to divest itself of all responsibility for care of refugees. It still has in mind desirability of a refugee camp for all nationalities in North Africa. (Your 777, April 6, 5 p.m., which seems not to have been repeated to Algiers.)
It now wishes to turn over to the North African representation the care of the bulk of declared Canadians not eligible to release as such and therefore not eligible to be evacuated to Gibraltar. This would increase financial burden on North African representation in the amount of some 2 million pesetas a month.
Because of the proximity of Gibraltar and of British naval control over this area, the British enjoy special facilities for getting out refugees in whom they are interested including those of other than French nationality and Frenchmen who have declared themselves Canadians and are eligible for release as such.
We evacuated our first large group of French refugees declared as such via Setubal, April 30. Since then Malaise has been unable to obtain shipping from the British for further evacuations although Spanish and Portuguese Governments prepared to facilitate evacuation.
It is damaging to prestige and morale of French who have declared themselves as such for other nationalities and Frenchmen who under British auspices have declared themselves of other nationalities to be evacuated while declared French are unable to leave because of British failure to supply shipping. It is also of course very expensive for North African authorities to maintain them here and burdensome on French representation as well as on this Embassy.
Whether refugees now under British auspices, whatever their declared nationality, are allowed to go to North Africa would appear [Page 302] from our point of view to be a matter for decision of North African authorities but they should not be evacuated at cost of having declared French in Spain.
Repeated Algiers, London and Lisbon.