.4
is the treatment accorded to the women who remained
behind: why cannot those who obeyed the orders of
His Majesty's Government be put on the same basis?'
There is no doubt, however, that to do this would
mean that a very large number of women would come
back here, even though no children were allowed to
come. From the defence point of view the situation
would deteriorate considerably and I could not
conscientiously recommend such a change at the
present time.
I think it is not unlikely that before
long you will get a letter from the Husbands
Committee setting forth, I hope dispassionately,
the full effects which this disruption of their
lives, especially upon men who cannot afford to
keep two homes going. At my meeting with the
Committee, for example, I was told that no less
than fifteen divorce cases had already been started
and that these were attributable to this enforced
separation. In many other cases spouses of one sex
or the other are, I gathered, living in a perpetual
state of suspicious fear of the other party's
conduct, often, of course without any foundation
other than imagination. Still that all makes for
misery. I have advised that that letter be drawn
up and sent, partly because I think it will relieve
feelings a good deal if these grievances are set on
paper and sent to the Secretary of State, and partly
because the case ought to be put before him as they
see it. I have told them quite definitely that I
can hold out no hope that such a reason would bring
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