THE GREAT EVACUATION Sta,—The letter under this heading from "A

Victim" is rather worse than the general run of anonymous complaints. which are usually at least founded on fact ; whereas the implications in this specimen are false from start to finish. and therefore demand refutation. If " A Victim " had him- self engaged in the difficult and necessary task of making the scheme work, or had interested himself in the facts, he would have known what thousands of voluntary helpers and million, of people who can read printed English know--the simple published regulations of the scheme. Here are his three case- analysed.

(r) The " economic hardship " need not exist. If the chil- dren need clothes they can be obtained through the Relieving Officer, who will give an order to purchase. All evacuation workers have received this information and have probably made it available to all but the deaf and the illiterate.

(2) The " working wife " in his story receives 17s. a week for two evacuees. That means that they are unaccompanied children, who, as everybody knows, cannot be compulsorily

billeted. If this prevents her from earning her living, why did she volunteer to take them?

(3) The " retired folk " likewise could not be compelled to take " three urchins." In addition, no furnished house can be commandeered as " A Victim " suggests. All so easy to find out, if one is the sort of person to whom the facts matter.

Now, Sir, as a corrective to this untruthful outburst of spleen, may I inform "A Victim" of how decent people actually behaved in similar circumstances? My cases are actual ones.

Cr) "Economic hardship." Mrs. Baker, of Newell's Cot- tage, Heyshott, being of sound mind, and being (unlike most of us) unable to obtain spare clothing for her two evacuees from their parents, applied to the Relieving Officer in Mid- hurst, who gave her an order on a local shop for jerseys, vests, shirts and boots.

(2) " Working Wife." The same Mrs. Baker also goes out to work to supplement her husband's earnings. While keep- ing on her job she is also able to cook and wash for the two children, who are clean, well-fed and happy.

(3) "Retired folk." Mr. and Mrs. H. J. R. Murray, of Upper Cranmore, Heyshott, answer remarkably to the descrip- tion given by " A Victim " except that they are both actively interested in the welfare of their neighbours. They did not attempt to fly their home ; they took four children, as we call them, or " urchins," boys from 5 to 13, and gave them a wonderful home.

These are the people of England, who take on heavy respon- sibilities and do not whine about them. The scheme is not a good one, I most heartily agree ; but while there is no other alternative before the children but the risk of air raids on over- crowded and under-protected cities, it must be made to work. The Bakers and Murrays of this village and a thousand other villages are doing this job. They do not call themselves " victims." They are merely the rank-and-file doing their age-old work of retrieving the mistakes of the " generals." Victims they may be of Chamberlain, and Hoare, and Ander- son, but they are not the victims of their own selfishness and

ill-temper.—Yours faithfully, T. L. POULTON (Billeting Officer, Heyshott).

Heyshott, Midhurst, Sussex.

Sta,—Since Mr. Ensor's article in your issue of September 8th, everyone has discovered that the " great evacuation " has been a muddle rather than a triumph. Many of your correspondents quote cases of verminous and ill-behaved London children billeted in clean country houses, few quoted the cases (which have also occurred) of clean and well-behaved London children billeted in verminous homes and being made to feel how very unwelcome they are.

The proportion of these unfortunate cases is probably very small. Some were bound to occur in a scheme of this magnitude, and it is not on these that an indictment of the authorities should be based.

The evacuation is a muddle principally because of the lack of co-operation between billeting and education authorities. The evacuation scheme as proposed to the schools, and through them to the parents, was based on the assumption that as far as possible each school should be kept as a unit, with its

own teachers. Apparently this fundamental principle had never been communicated to the Reception Areas. Con- sequently, when a school arrived as a unit at the rail head, a Dispersals Officer speedily hustled the children into 'buses, sometimes with, sometimes without teachers, and sent each 'bus to a different billeting centre, in spite of urgent protests made by the responsible teachers. The result is that schools, both elementary and secondary, find themselves broken up and scattered over immense areas, sometimes in two or even three counties, and in each village, instead of having one school which could be properly supervised by its own teachers and have some sort of corporate life outside the necessarily restricted school hours, there are detachments of four or five schools, some with none of their own teachers within reach.

There is a headmaster in this area who has to go 88 miles to visit all his boys, there is a Central School which is spread over some too square miles, and there is a village in which a young master with 25 boys found himself sharing the place with 3o adolescent girls with no woman teacher at all (until he telephoned and secured one).

The point of view of the teacher has not been expressed in your columns. He or she has been used in the evacuation simply as a policeman to get the children in and out of trains; having been directed before evacuation to be prepared to help billeters in dealing with children who needed special consideration, he has been swept aside by billeters and told to keep out of the way till children are settled. He has had to watch nervous children being sent alone to distant billets, sisters separated, children who he knew would make a fatally tiresome combination billeted together. He himself has been put so far from his pupils that it is only by the most strenuous exertions that he can see them at fairly frequent intervals. He is then criticised for the " hooliganism " of the children he cannot supervise, and for not providing adequately for their leisure. Is the dis- content your correspondent refers to altogether surprising ? It is easier to complain of children and to criticise teachers than to re-billet, but if schools are to remain evacuated the re-billeting must be undertaken.—Yours, &c., AN EVACUATED HEADMISTRESS.

SIR,—I cannot but regret the unsympathetic tone of Janus' comments on evacuated teachers in your issue of Septem- ber 22nd. There are doubtless some cases in which teachers are not rising to the extraordinary demands made on their strength, nerves and adaptability—just as there are some cases in which their hosts, in billets and in schools, are behaving with a surprising lack of generosity and imagination.

But I am convinced that on both sides there are isolated cases only. As a headmistress of a secondary school in the biggest reception area in the country, I have for the past three weeks been in charge of one of the distributing and billeting centres. In the first week we billeted over boo children and teachers, and I have been impressed by the energy, initiative and devotion shown by both men and women teachers in visiting their children's billets, in devising amusements for them and in watching over their health. They have, indeed, assumed almost parental responsibility in many difficulties.

Meanwhile, the majority of such teachers are in billets which, even when comfortable, give them no privacy for quiet work, and this becomes more serious as the schools reopen. Moreover, many of them left behind them flats or houses— even families—for which they are still financially responsible, and this adds to their anxieties. If there are expressions of dissatisfaction here and there, I hope, Sir, you will find it possible to avoid singling them out for reprobation, remem- bering how few are the grumblers in comparison with the great number of devoted if silent workers.—Yours faithfully, M. RICHARDS.

County School for Girls, Nevin Road, Hove, 4.

SIR,—As one of the helpers who went away with the evacuating children, I should like to give another point of view to that expressed by your correspondent.

Firstly, I have to say that the organisation that I encoun- tered at both ends was exemplary, and I think that the authorities have every right to congratulate themselves in every way.

We left our school at to a.m. (with a mile to walk to the station), and were all received, fed, sorted and in our billets by 3 p.m.

There were, of course, a few misfits, but in the vast majority of cases the children were, and still are, perfectly happy, and the foster-mothers are very pleased with than.

Teachers are also happy and comfortable.

The misfits and complaints were rapidly adjusted by the tact and good spirit of the teachers.

With regard to the grown-ups, of course there was more difficulty and it was unfortu tate that people from the very poor districts occasionally arrived dirty.

But personal uncleanliness comes largely from lack of opportunity and training. Some of those receiving them could save the drift back by treating them with understand- ing instead of with repugnance.

To my mind the reception areas have tremendous and far- reaching chances of showing their guests ways of life which are very different to those to which they are accustomed, and of doing this without any feeling of superiority. The great mix-up which has come with the evacuation seems to me to afford one of the most hopeful outlooks the War gives us for a real improvement of national standards, and it should not be wasted by a lack of sympathy and in- sight on the part of those whe seem to be overcome by the difficulty of dealing with a diffrent type to themselves—which is not the fault of the authorities.

It is very distressing that so many women are drifting back to their own areas, partly because air-raids were not immedi- ately forthcoming (also not the fault of the authorities, who had to be prepared for any eventuality) and partly because the newcomers also found it difficult to adjust themselves, for which the fault must lie primarily with the higher and more educated people, who thus lost their opportunity for giving the greatest National Service that can possibly be offered.

There were, of course, certain errors in the organisation, but a constructive, instead of a complaining, attitude would have oiled the wheels instead of jamming them. Of course, many have been perfectly successful, and the complaints come, as usual, from a minority.—I am, yours obediently,

MARGARET SASSOON,

Hon Sec. Huntingfield School Care Committee, Roehampton.

Ashley Cottage, Roehampton, London, S.W. 1.5.

SIR,—You have published a certain number of letters dealing with the Government evacuation scheme, many of them con- taining unconstructive criticism. I wondered, therefore, if you would care to publish the following, which presents a possible solution of the problem.

Since the commencement of the war, many stories have been circulated regarding hardships and difficulties arising out of the evacuation scheme, and we should be deceiving our- selves if we did not admit that in many respects the great evacuation is far from a success.

I submit that billeting on a large scale is bound to be unsuccessful, and that it should only be regarded as a very temporary measure. The real solution to the problem is, in my opinion, the construction of camps for evacuees. These camps could be properly camouflaged, and situated in the more remote parts of the country, where the people inhabit- ing them would be far safer than in many reception areas. Each camp would be a small community, the members of which would probably have come from the same district and be similar in type. Work and recreation could be efficiently organised, and the evacuees would be far happier than dumped into a household where they do not fit.

It is true that the Government has started a camp building scheme, but we hear very little of it, and arc left in doubt as to its magnitude. I am sure that evacuees, and their hosts and hostesses, would be far happier if they were assured that the billeting scheme is only a temporary safeguard, while a broader scheme is being prepared.—I remain, yours