APPENDIX 3
LETTER FROM THE BRITISH CHILD MIGRANTS
SOCIETY (NZ) Incorporated TO THE CLERK OF THE COMMITTEE
CHILD MIGRANTS (CM 5)As
Chairman of the British Child Migrants Society (NZ) Incorporated,
I was elated to learn that the British Government is to conduct
an enquiry on Post-War Child Migration out of Britain.Our Society's
aim is to seek an enquiry here in NZ on behalf of the 600 children,
aged between five and 17 years of age, sent to NZ between 1949-54.
A petition for an enquiry is currently before the
NZ Government.Much has been written on Child Migration in the
aftermath of WWII; an enquiry here, and in the UK may help to
heal the wounds of those former children who now seek answers
to a scheme, that can only be described as callous and contemptible,
a scheme where Britain abandoned their children to the colonies
with a one way ticket, and NZ's shame was not to bestow citizenship
on them until 1995. These children (now adults) had been stateless
for close to 44 years.We are led to believe the scheme was to
populate this country with good English stock, but these children
were not selected for their excellence, but taken from orphanages
and vulnerable families who were desperately trying to rebuild
their lives after the war. It seems like the Government and its
agents preyed on these families with the promise of a better life
for their children. They signed away their guardianship many never
to see their families again.Today, nearly 50 years later, these
children tell of the deprivation and rootlessness they feel, the
rejection of their birth country, the loss of their family and
the life and the stigma they have endured during all those years.Stories
are now emerging of abuse and child labour the scars are still
there. These children have never forgotten Britain but Britain
has forgotten them. Is it not now time that this wrong was put
right?As Chairman of the above Society, I would like to be informed
of any progress that may take place, on behalf of British Child
Migrants sent to NZ. We are not affiliated to the British Child
Migrant Trust, based in Nottingham. We are a registered Society
formed three years ago acting on our own behalf, here in NZ.We
believe those responsible should listen to us, so this may never
happen again, and we eagerly await its outcome and your reply.
22 August 1998
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