LEAGUE OF HAT I Oil S.
ioated to G . 4-54.M.168 „ 1324 ,Y li. ounoil and t o embers of the GSIJEVA, September 2nd, 1924.
FAMIIŒ1 IH S0RTHS3II AL3AIJIA.
Beport by Monsieur Henri Cuénod.
ITote by the Secretary-General»
The attached report is communicated to the Council and the Members of the League.
Previous documents: C .198,11.59 .1924. Official Journal, 5th Year, IIo.7 .1924.i.inutes of the Council Meeting of June 11th, 1924. tCLIEP o r ?AMHTE IS ITQxiTHB1SJ AL3A1ÏIA.
crt 1)7 H» Henri Cuénod.
At a meeting held on June 11th, 1924, the Council of the jae of Hat ions dealt with the xieport by professor P ittard, the gue's agent for relief work in Albania, and adopted the lowing proposal submitted by Lord Parmoor:
(1 ) The Council calls the attention of other Uembers of
League to the facts given in M. Pittarô’s report so that they
, if bo disposed, contribute towards the fund and thus carry ough to a completely successful conclusion the worl: which hap eady given the best results.
(8 ) M. Pittard is invited to return to Albania as soon as sible to continue his work of administering the relief funds oh have been raised on behalf of the League, or, if it is ossible for him to go himself, to nominate a competent perso^ position and a u th o r ity to take h is p la c e .
Professor Pittard being unable to return to Albania owing ;ao fessional engagements, appointed me in h is ste ad to ad m in ister
funds and complete the relief work in Albania in accordance h the plans and agreements drawn up by him on behalf of tne
‘5M of Hâtions during his first visit to Albania.
M. Sohlemmer, general delegate of th e International C^cso A tittee, Wiio had already done work for the League, was to go h ho in order to introdude mo to tne Albanian authorities and
£ist ae in my m ission. ■frien I was appointed to act for the League, the relies work
4 reached the following stage.
P r o f e s s o r P i t t a r d had examined conditions on the spot and, view of the reouirem ent s of the different districts of northern - 2 -
tiania and the problems of communication involved, had cone
the following decisions:
(1) To distribute only maize to the populations in need of
sistance, maize being the staple food of the Albanians.
(2) To organise four distribution centres, via. - Scutari
d Saint Jean de Médua- Alessio for the Adriatic side;
ves and Kolgecaj for the eastern side.
(3) To distribute supplies at the rate of 2u J.ilos per head
the inhabitants of the districts concerned, in accordance
lithe lists drawn up by the local authorities during his stay,
ese lists showed a total of 52,000 persons - about 40,000
r the Adriatic district and 12,000 for the other.
Furtner, Professor Pittard had enlisted the valuable help of)
ofessor Bottalico, President oi the Italian Bed Crojs at Bari,
d had purchased a first consignment of 900,000 kilos of essarabian m aize. O'./iir- to delay in th e payment of p a rt of he funds contributed to the League relief scheme, Professor ittard was not able to arrange for the maize to reach Albania efore the disturbances which took: place in that country at the
Dd of last spring, and he was obliged to have it warehoused at ari.
On June 14th the new Albanian Government telegraphed to the eague to say that order had been restored in the country and arnestly begged that the relief work: should be carried through without d elay .
On June 17th M. Schlemmer was approached by the League and
*e telegraphed to me. By the kindness of the International Red
Cr°ss Committee, which released him at once so that he flight
Mertake this work, we were able to start for Albania on
J^e 2 2 n d .' i/e reache.. Bari on June 23rd. After paying a visit to
Bottâlico, we all went with him to the store houses to
Ispect the maize in bond and to make arrangements for its
|ompt dispatch to Albanià.
On June 24th we landed at Durazzo where we were very kindly
leived by the local authorities. In that town we visited His
lellency the Marquis Durazzo, diplomatic representative of Italy
Albania, the British Legation, where we were received by Ur.
:r, the rirst Secretary, who explained to us the work he had
■eady undertaken in the Dibra and Uati regions., and His lellency M, Panourias, the diplomatic representative of Greece.
Je went on the same day to T irana and in the evening got
;o touch with Mgr. Fan H oli, the Prime Minister.
On the next day we came to an agreement with the various
fitments to maintain the arrangements made between Professor
[tard and the local authorities of the districts concerned,
we obtained a guarantee from the Government that it would issue the necessary o rd ers to p rev en t/m aize being c o n fisc a te d as payment
debts instead of being distributed to the stricken populations.
At Tirana we visited the American diplomatic representative,
^rant Smith, and i-.I, Mar ko witch, representing the kingdom of
Serbs, Groats and Slovenes, together with various leading
anians.
the 26th we left for Scutari, stopping on the way at
3sio and St. Jean do Médua. On ascertaining at Alessio that
lists were to be found at the Prefecture, we accompanied the
k-refect to St. Jean de Médua in order to inspect the premises,
M were to be put at our disposal for storing the maize pallidPg di stïiMtions Qji reaching dcuti ri we went "to see tne prefect end examined
■ stg which had "been drawn up. At the outset of our
ieW we noticed th at, in the figures supplied to ssor Pit tard by the Albanian Government for the "various refeotures, the inhabitants of a large number of mountainous lets had been omitted. The local authorities who showed us ists made application on behalf of a larger number of ns, the additional names being given in a supplementary list, pointed out to us a t th e same time th a t se v e ra l v illa g e s
had been passed over would certainly claim relief.
In order that persons mentioned on the lists and therefore
ting assistance might not be bitterly disappointed, we were lied to accepted the lists as the;, were; but at the same
we felt it our duty to add to these lists various supple-
lists and to leave a certain margin to provide lor
puent valid claims » tie gathered that the population, and particularly tne
it ants of the mountain districts, weraindire sti oit ü, o.s
i'evious year’s crojs were exhausted and this year o
et available. In view of this and the urgent necessity
ossing no time in giving assistance, we decided uo be0in t~e of distribution immediately, according to plan, reserving
right to consider claims as they arose and to deal with then
er as the resources furnished by the League would allow.
A-fter making arrangem ents fo r bringing th e m<>i~e .rk " "
Jean de Médua and Scutari, we telegraphed to J±an tne
evening, giving instructions that it should be sent
ncc„
Aîter that we paid a v i s i t to M. 3 é g u i n - 3 illccocq_, the
Cn C hargé d 'Affaires. r. the next day, Juno 27th, we set out for the frontier
on Serbia and Albania, passing through most of the stricken
lets in order to form an idea of the conditions, and, in con-
ion with the local authorities of the Prefecture of Ko g so v o .
-9 arrangements for distribution in that district. During
journey we realised that, as Professor'Pit tard had shown in
eport, the orly way to supply the needs of the Kossevo district
0 procure in ai?. 6 from Serbia,
ih went on to Puka on the 2Sbh and arranged with the Sr,b-
ct that he. should explain the position to the persons con-
1 in his district, as most of them were to go down to Scutari
revisions (a 2 or 3 days' journey), whereas the villages on
astern side were to share in the supplies distributed from
On the 29th we ware a t KUkes and we met th e re th e P re fe c t of
Kogsovo district. On the following day we went through the
8 which had been drawn up, As everywhere else, the numbers he lists had been increased, but they still did not include all villages needing a s s is ta n c e ,
Owing to the great difficulties of transport in the so ports of flia we came tn an agreement with the local authorities that the ributicn h ead q u arters should be tr a n s f e r r e d from Kolgec:-^ to -M.orina„
On the 30th we were at Prizrend, on territory belonging to the aom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, from which oufr two main
els of distribution - Kukes and Cafa Morina - were to be fed»
"ere told that the frontier was closed to the export of maize, the Prsfaeb gave us to understand that the authorities would tobteaiy give u s th e n ecessary àu the r:! g at ion» ÎL Schlsmme r went to B elgrade to o b ta in tho lic e n c e s r e quired and the help which hud been promised to the League by tho
Government of the Serbs, Groats and Slovenes, and also to make pur chases and organise the transport service»
1 returned to Scutari on July 4th, just as our first supplies f maize from Bari wore unloaded at Scutari and St. Jean do Médua- he work of distribution began on July 5th and v/as completed by ugust 14th. The populations of certain mountainous districts ad been told by tho Prefect that the distribution was now to begin
id had come en masse to Scutari» For instance, the famine tricken Dukagjins, who numbered officially only 747, were now more han nine thousand strong, and this is certainly one of the poorest
istriots in Albania. There was a similar increase, though on
smaller scale, in the case of the Mi rid it es and inhabitants of
6 at or Malessia^»
At the request of the Government s and recognising myself that
8 claims were valid, I had to provide for additional purchases
maize, But whatever quantities of maize I bought, they would
t have been sufficient for all those poor people. As Scutari
3 from every point of view clearly better off than tho mount aü;:o us
^ricts, I agreed to the suggestions of the local authorities and
toced the rations of the inhabitants of the town to 15 kilos per
The amount of maize this saved was added to that recently
^ t , and so the far more needy inhabitants of the mountainous
8^ricts and the starving persons of Scutari not included in the
"uS were at least partially satisfiedo - 7 -
îhe amounts distributed we re as follo.vsê-
1226,810 kilos to the town of Scutari,
87,875 villages in the neighbourhood of Scutari, er |195,450 Orrealy Hal es si a
1132,920 " !T " the Sub-frefecture of the Dukagjins,
61,960 " " " " of Puka,
1164,150 ,T " ' Mirditia
1110,900 " ” " " Alessio,
20,000 for the district of Mati. x "he receipts are duly submitted as annexes to this Heport.
it Belgrade - in spite of the fact' that the frontier was
[closed - M. Schlemmer obtained from the Government of the Serbs,
[Croats and Slovenes permission to export to .lbania, the quantity
|of maize required for the distribution centres of Kukes and vaf&êMorina. It was possible to buy, in the Zing do m of the the 344>000 kills of maia 9 r e q u ire d , Uarbs, Croats and Slovenes ,/44,000 kilos being obtained at prizrend, so th at d istrib u tio n began at once. The Joveminent I allowed, free transport by rail of the 200,000 kilos purchased elsewhere, and in this way gave material assistance to the [League in accordance with its promises
M. Schlemmer then returned to Prizrend and to Kukes to |0r§uiiise the transport, delivery and distribution of the maize., l-o left Mr. Pouchkareff in charge on the spot, who superintended
IUq carrying out of M. ochlemmer's measures - The distributions, pagan at Pukes on July 15th and at Oaf a Morina on the 20th, were
completed by August 16th,
mese receipts are in possession of the Secretariat. - 8 - t Cafa Morina th e re was the same d i f f i c u l t y as a t jc u ta r i and t AlessioJ whole villages, which had been omitted from the lists ravm up, assembled at distribution headquarters and claimed hat they were entitled to as much as the others. The total ount to be distributed was as far as possible increased, and, •5 t the sanle time, a reduction of the individual rations v/as greed to, at the request of the Minister of the Interior, in rder to satisfy as many people as possible. 84,000 kilos were istributed at Cafa Morina and 160,000 kilos at Kukes.
My journey through Albania and the many days I spent uring the period of distribution among the populations to -vhom eliaf was sent convinced me that the help given by the League
Nations same a t the most opportune moment: the re se rv e s from e previous year's crops being exhausted and it being too early
r this yearTs harvests, the peasants would have been forced to
1 1 the small quantity of live-stock they possessed in order
live until the next harvest, as had happened during tho last
» yeara. The distribution of the maize has enabled them to
eP their live-stock and to devote their whole attention to the
Pa. Moreover, the fact that this large quantity of maize v/as Parted, at the season when prices are ^generally speaking, at . considerable air highest level, caused a/ fall in prices, by which the
0rer classes benafitted greatly.
The coming harvest is likely to be better than last
^ 8 , and we have every reason to hope that, if there are
■arther d is a s te r s , the in h a b ita n ts may, by w orking, become
^■supporting.
Ifl addition to the official expressions of gratitude which
e been addressed directly to the league, I have to voice
Wnks of the inhabitants themselves, who, on
6ral occasions, sent special delegations to say how v8ful they were*- - 9 -
The ./ork accom plished i s c e r ta in ly not p e rfe c t, but i t aned. to us absolutely 1 necessiry that, for tho reasons dicatûà above, it should be carried out -vith all possible ieed. Moreover, the precarious state of the country at that ad „„nd tha e::trerae difficulty of communications caused un- oidable delay in respect of certain claims Subm.tted to us, id it v/as practically impossible to do justice to these claims no3 the credits at our disposal ./ere already depleted.
2 he recent cont ri butions made to the Le~ gue since the stribution of supplies ended enable us to repay our debt to is International "Savo the Children” Fund. -ith its per- ssion we had used for general purposes part of the monies îtanded exclusively to help children. This organisation pro ves to undertake this . vork itself.
I hope shortly to submit detailed accounts to the icretariat. There will probably be a balance of about 10,000
;iss francs. This sum was not spent because it .vas not actually reived until the maize had been purchased had distributed. It ’too modest a sum to make i t v/orth while to proceed to f u r th e r stribution with all the expenses of administration ./hich would
■ involved. .vfc the some tim e i t i s too sm all a sum to be
>paid to the respective benefactors, and they would probably iprecate any such repayment.
I vvouldtherefore to suggest to the Council that this sum
ÿit be used for the purchase and distribution of quinine in the stricts where tho m^ize was distributed. In point of fact,
'iaria is raging in those districts and it is one of the causes
• general distress. 1 do not think that the money could be
4 to any better use.
* am informed that the Health Committee of the league has
1-1 0l its officials - 3r. Haigh - now carrying on investigations 4 0 -
.n ü'oaaia, and the lealtii Section of tho Leaguo night unisrtake the purchase and distribution of the qulnino»
If tha Council approves this suggostion tha administrative espenaaa will bo very small, and v/e shell have found an e?,collent use for the balance of the funds placed at the disposal of the League for relieving distress uir.ong the inhabitants of ITorthei-n Albania.. (Signed) H, CTJ21I0D
GEEjWA, August 29th, 1924.