Evacuated Businesses and Civil Servants
Out of 3,600 business concerns which left London last September 600 have now returned, and many others are weighing up the pros and cons in situations which in every case have one obviously uncertain factor. The request for guidance addressed by the London Chamber of Commerce to the Minister of Home Security received, as might be ex- pected, a non-committal reply, for even the Minister is not in Hitler's secrets, and cannot be sure of the effects of bombardments. He could say little more than that the general situation remains as it was in September, and that it is for each individual concern to balance for itself the advantages against the disadvantages of dispersal. Even Government departments have obviously not found it easy to make up their minds ; for whilst some sections of Civil Servants were moved away at the beginning of the war, others have been kept on in London and have only recently been transferred, or still await transference. The dissatis- faction among those who have been moved to remote parts of the country is natural enough. It is due partly to doubts as to whether the removal was really necessary, partly to the additional expenses incurred, and especially to the separation from relatives and friends and the break-up of families. Whether the evacuation of this or that depart- ment is necessary is a matter on which the public cannot possibly form a judgement, except in declaring that no trans- ference should be made for the sole reason of justifying pre- parations for transference. That would be inexcusable. When it takes place fair allowance should be paid for addi- tional expenses and for occasional journeys to families left in London.
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