§ 6.13 p.m.
203§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government why it is considered necessary to eject residents from the flats they are occupying in London in order to accommodate persons evacuated from Gibraltar; why the numerous empty houses and flats in London are not utilised for this purpose; and why, in view of His Majesty's Government's declared policy of dispersal, it is considered, necessary to accommodate evacuees and refugees in London instead of in country districts.]
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (LORD TRYON)My Lords, it was necessary at very short notice to find accommodation for about 11,000 refugees from Gibraltar, of whom the majority were women and children, unable in many cases to speak English. In order to provide supervision, feeding and medical attention, it was essential to house them in as large units as possible. For these reasons it would have been impracticable to use isolated empty houses. Very large numbers of cooks, doctors and welfare workers would have been required and their work would have been carried out in very difficult conditions. It was, therefore, necessary to make use of hotels and large blocks of flats. Having regard to the many other demands for billeting and lodging accommodation throughout the country for women and children generally, for civilian evacuees from defence areas, for members of the Services and for other people, the reception of the refugees from Gibraltar could not, in the short time available, be arranged outside London.
LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for his very full reply, I would like to say that he has really missed the main point of the question. May I therefore ask him this: why it was necessary to eject some twenty-three English families from these very-large blocks of flats when there were so many other vacant flats in the same buildings? Would it not have been possible to have left those families where they were? My noble friend surely realises that they would not object at all to these British families from Gibraltar who are their fellow-subjects, but why turn out people who were in the few occupied flats when in these buildings there were great blocks of flats unoccupied?
§ LORD TRYONFor the very good reason that the feeding and managing of these 11,000 people had to be conducted on a large scale in these buildings, and it would have been extremely inconvenient and impracticable to leave a few people mixed up with them in the same large building. At the same time, in these days when the Civil Service is very much criticised, I would like to take this opportunity of thanking the officers of my Department for arranging for the disposal of this very large number of 11,000 people satisfactorily at such short notice while displacing only twenty-three tenants.
§ LORD RANKEILLOUROn a point of order. Is the noble Lord entitled to ask more than one supplementary question?
§ VISCOUNT CALDECOTESO far as I know there is no restriction on the number of supplementary questions, but I hope the noble Lord opposite will not pursue his advantage too far.
LORD STRABOLGII was really only going to ask this. Will my noble friend try to arrange in future that people who are living in a building will be left undisturbed?
§ LORD TRYONOf course, whenever we can avoid disturbing people we always shall do so.