CHILDREN FOR OVERSEAS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 21 June 1940, Page 4

CHILDREN FOR OVERSEAS

PLAN FOR SUBMISSION TO DOMINIONS Mr Shakespeare, Under-Secretary of State for the Dominions, referring to the plan which is to be submitted immediately to the Dominions whereby large numbers of children between the ages of five and 16 will be evacuated to the Dominions, emphasised to parents that their decision whether to send their children or not would depend on their weighing the relative hazards of the sea voyage or remaining in Britain. Parents would not accompany their children except in special cases, such as soldiers’ widows. No children would be sent to institutions. The question of safety throughout the \oyage, he said, was being discussed between the Admiralty and the Ministry of Shipping. As soon as possible after the war the children would receive a passage home. Both passages would be free. It was estimated that 400,000 children in England, and over 30,000 in Scotland, were at present in reception areas. The Government, said Mr Shakespeare, was anxious that Allied refugee hildren should take their proper place within the scheme, and it was hoped that many of them would remain overseas as part of a balanced migration scheme. All would undergo a thorough medical examination in Britain before their departure.