THE RIGHT TO SELECT REFUGEES
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—It appears from a recent announcement that in the event of war householders in the Home Counties will have to provide refuge, whether they wish to or not, for three million or more Londoners. They arc to have no choice in the matter. Every householder in that area will be compelled to take under his roof whoever is planked on his doorstep, according to the room available. He may have to shelter these refugees for years, and, apparently, cannot have any choice or say as to what age, sex or class the person or persons will be who are forced upon him. One could hardly look for more arbitrary treatment at the hands of an army of occupation. Now that a respite has been granted to us, I sincerely hope that the plan of evacuating Londoners in the event of war will receive more careful consideration from the public and the authorities than has yet been possible, for it is capable of the most appalling abuses.
We who live in the Home Counties are no less willing to take our share in national effort in the event of war than are the inhabitants of other counties, but we are staggered to hear that we may be ordered to house millions of strangers just because we happen to live in that area.
Though we may not be granted the right to say whether we will have refugees or not, at least we should be given the choice of saying whom we will have. Many of us have sons, daughters, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, other relatives and friends who live in London, and who may have to turn to us for shelter, but should they happen not to be in the first wave of refugees who leave London, they may easily arrive to find their natural shelter already taken by people without any other claim on it than what has been given them by an arbitrary authority.—Yours, &c., H. G. LYALL.
The Hazels, Mount Pleasant Lane, Bricket Wood.
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