CHILD EVACUEES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 150, 26 June 1940, Page 11

CHILD EVACUEES.

SETTLEMENT PLANS.

FINDING HOMES IN N.Z.

STATEMENT BY MINISTER,

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, Tuesday.

Plans for the settlement of children to be evacuated from Britain to New Zealand for the duration of the war have been communicated by the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry, to the Mayors of each of the main centres of the North and South Islands.

"It is proposed to provide for 2500 children coming to New Zealand," said the Minister, "but it probably will be possible to extend that number very materially. In undertaking this responsibility the Government was conscious of the wholehearted support of the community and it was desired that local authorities throughout the Dominion should collaborate to the fullest extent by ascertaining the number of person* in their particular localities who were willing to provide honves for these children.

The Minister expressed the opinion that the work could better be handled on a zone basis, and for that purpose New Zealand had been divided into 26 zones, and one local authority selected for each zone as the responsible zone authority. In his communication to the mayors of th<: different centres, Mr. Parry states that after the children reach New Zealand, their New Zealand foster parents would be expected to assume full responsibility for their maintenance. The New Zealand Government had declined Britain's offer to contribute towards their maintenance.