§ Brigadier Lowasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that, owing to transport difficulties, many British girls, married to members of the U.S.A. fighting services, are unable to travel to America for some time and will be without adequate allowances in the interval, particularly if the husband has been discharged from the U.S. Forces in the U.S.A. in the meanwhile; what representations he has made to the U.S.A. authorities in regard to this matter; and what is the present state of the negotiations.
Mr. McNeilThis matter has already been discussed with the United States authorities, who explain that the available shipping space is being allotted in the first instance to sick and wounded, ex-prisoners of war, and high-point men who are entitled to demobilisation upon return. All these categories include persons who have been long separated from their families and it cannot, I think, be expected that wives of American soldiers married in this country should be given precedence over them. I am, however, assured that the matter is constantly under review by the competent American authorities, who are fully alive to the hardships involved and are anxious as far as is consistent with their obligations, to provide transport.