SAFETY OF CHILDREN

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21155, 3 July 1940, Page 7

SAFETY OF CHILDREN

SANCTUARY IN DOMINIONS TRADES UNION APPOINTMENTS KNOWLEDGE OF MIGRATION (United Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received July 3, 1 p.m.) LONDON, July 2 Mr G. H. Shakespeare, in the House of Commons, announced that Mr George Gibson, well known in trades union circles for his knowledge of migration, has been appointed to advise the Children’s Overseas Reception Scheme on questions connected with migration. Mr Tom Henderson, equally well known in Scotland, will be liaison officer between the scheme and the Scottish organisations. Applications have been received from local authorities in England and Wales regarding over 40,000 children attending grant-aided schools, also about 12,000 applications direct from parents. . . , Liaison officers will be appointed on the staff of the Dominion High Commissioners. The grouping of hundreds of children for evacuation to the Dominions has reached the stage whereby a number of parents will be notified to-morrow that their children have been provisionally accepted. Mr Shakespeare was announcing the latest details in the House of Commons as German bombers again crossed the coast in a daylight raid. Mr Shakespeare said: "Parents must send the children at their own risk, and must choose between the risk of a voyage and the risk of staying in this country. Our object is to proceed as quickly as human ingenuity can devise, but we will not dispense with precautions for safety and welfare. Doctors appointed by the Dominion High Commissioners will give a personal medical examination to every child, and doctors, nurses' and chaplains will accompany every ship. The children will regularly be taught about the conditions in the Dominions, and on arrival they will be accommodated in hostels which will serve as clearing houses. Mother Country’s Debt “We are importing fighting men from the Dominions, and we are exporting to the Dominion the best of our children. For this double blessing the Mother Country is forever in the debt of her daughter Dominions.