DUTCH FLOOD LOSS
PUT AT $263,000,000
NEW Y0KK riUES
FEB1 1
Use of U.S. Counterpart Funds
and Canceling of Tax Relief
to Help in Rebuilding
Special to Ths New York Times.
THE HAGUE, the Netherlands,
Feb. 11Premier Willem Drees
today gave Parliament a rough
calculation of 1,000,000,000 guilders
($263,000,000) as the damage toll
in the eleven-day-old flood in the
southwest Netherlandsthe first
official estimateand indicated
how rehabilitation would be fi
nanced.
The two-day debate in the lower
house, in which Jacob Algera, Min
ister of Waterways, outlined what
would be done to repair and im
prove the country's defense against
the North Sea, showed that all
parties except the Communists
were satisfied that the Govern
ment had done what was humanly
possible to cope with the emer
gency and was giving due atten
tion to averting any future catas
trophe.
By an unrecorded but over
whelming vote, the House approved
a resolution, sponsored by all par
ties except the Communists, ex
pressing gratitude to "friendly
Governments and nations" for the
stream of aid they had sent and
voicing Dutch determination to
prove worthy of it. Premier Drees
castigated the Communists for
their criticism of the acceptance
of foreign assistance, telling them
that "if Russia had offered heli
copters, we would have gratefully
accepted them."
Check on Inflation Sought
Dr. Drees said that to finance
reconstruction the Government
would use the guilder counterpart
of United States aid grants and
would cancel some projected tax
cuts and reduce its industrial in
vestment program. Though Herr
Drees did not mention it today, the
Government also is reported to be
considering a large bond issue.
The Government policy is to use
counterpart funds as sparingly as
possible because of the inflationary
effect and to sop up the additional
buying power thus created by such
fiscal measures as taxes and pub
lic loans.
Of 900,000,000 guilders in coun
terpart funds still uncommitted, it
is understood the Mutual Security
Agency here has been authorized
by Washington to release up to
200,000,000 guilders for flood-dam
age reconstruction. To expedite
matters, the agency has been em
powered to bypass the usual pro
cedure for counterpart utilization,
entailing submission of specific
projects, approval of various de
partments and endorsement of the
National Advisory Council.
The Dutch Government also has
asked the United States to turn
over about $10,000,000 in counter
part funds statutorily reserved for
the possible purchase of raw ma
terials for American stockpiles.
Because this money is under United
States control and represents a
claim on the Dutch economy, it was
felt that its use was theoretically
1
less inflationary than employment
of the Netherlands' own guilder ac
count. But it is understood that
this request has been turned down
by Washington.
The Netherlands also has advised
United States authorities of her
tentative willingness to use 300,-
000,000 guilders of counterparts
fund for military production if eco
nomic conditions permit and sub
ject to a Dutch review of specific
projects. The Dutch had previ-;
ously taken the position that the
countervalue of Marshal Plan
grants was not available for mili
tary uses, but with the suspension
of "defense support" dollar grants
it became necessary for them to
reconsider their stand or be left
without enough guilders to finance
military production.
Dr. Drees reiterated that the
Government had no intention of
going back on its defense com
mitments to the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. His state
ment also implied that there was
no present intention of asking for
a resumption of direct dollar aid.
The Premier appealed to coun
tries abroad not to harm Dutch
economy further by acting on ex
aggerated reports of flood damage.
He referred to ships diverted from
Rotterdam on the impression that
the port was not operating, with
drawal of orders from Dutch fac
tories and cancellation of tourist
reservations. He said "our na
tional life is going on, our harbors
are open, our transport is work
ing, our industry is ready to fulfill
orders."
U. N. Staff Plan# Aid
Special to The New York Times.
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y„ Feb.
11A committee headed by John
P. Humphrey, Director of the Di
vision of Human Rights of the
Department of Social Affairs, will
begin next week a collection among
United Nations Secretariat mem
bers for flood victims in the Neth
erlands, Britain, Belgium and
France.
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