PLAN SUSPENDED

Opotiki News, Volume III, Issue 319, 4 October 1940, Page 3

PLAN SUSPENDED

MOVING CHILDREN >. HqMES OVERSEAS DANGER TOO GREAT WINTER IN ATLANTIC (New j by Cable.) RUGBY, Oct. 2. In announcing a decision that no more children can be sent.;overseas under the children’s reception scheme until further, notice, the British Government states: “The recent sinking of vessels carrying children overseas illustrated the, dangers to which passenger vessels are exposed even when in convoy, under the weather conditions now, prevailing in the Atlantic, and the Government ha s come reluctantly to the conclusion that during the whiter season of gales l and heavy seas it cannot take the responsibility of sending children overseas under the Government scheme.

“The Government recognises that keen disappointment will be felt by parents who hoped to be able to send their children overseas under the scheme and expresses warm thanks to the very many people in the Dominions and the United States who so generously offered hospitality to children from vulnerable areas in Britain. The Government is sure, however, that our friends and kinsfolk overseas will be the first to appreciate that the Government’s decision is taken solely out of consideration for the best interests of the children themselves. “Although the operation of the scheme is suspended for the time being, it has not been abandoned. The question of whether the board will be able to resume operation next year must turn on the conditions then obtaining.^. “Some 2650 children have already gone overseas under the scheme. The parents of these children may be assured that there will be no suspension of the arrangements made for their welfare in their new homes.”