EVACUEES AND HOSTS Sni,—Your sane and balanced remarks on the
above are timely. In case of genuine need, country-people are extraordinarily kind, but they are not saps. In 1939 as in 1944, evacuation started in holiday time. Then, as now, evacuees were offered free transport to, and free accommo- dation in country areas. Then, as now, they were free to return when- ever the spirit moved them. (The Times recorded last week that thirty evacuees returned to " Southern England " because they could not all be accommodated in one house on the sea-front of a well-known resort!) Then, as now, only for the " hosts " does compulsion rear its ugly head.
As to the London papers suggesting that wives and children of soldiers are harshly treated—not all the forces come from London. Country-bred forces have vivid memories of the misery, dirt, disease, and—in some cases death—brought to their unprotected homes by the 1939 " invasion." As long as evacuation is voluntary—and therefore irresponsible—and reception compulsory the seeds of the " hate cam- paign" will yield a bumper crop!—Yours faithfully, G. E. M. GIBSON.
Strathyre, Perthshire.
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