The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-01

parently to become the host of some in- teresting noble Belgian refugee families, and they promptly came to the conclusion that they must pick and choose whom they would receive but this the official committee for looking after the refugees declared could not be done.
 The English landed arstocrat would be rerfeetl' ready. for the most part, to offer the accommodation of his house to Eel gian refugees irrespective of their class or rank, but the real difficulty arose when a mixed assortment of refugees was sent to a country house. for Belgians even in times of trouble and adversity are as apt to maintain class distinctions as any other folk
 Finicky for Guests
 lady Ellis, for example who has handsome residence on the royal estate near Windsor. offered to receive half a dozen refugees. Two railway officials and their wives were sent to her in company with a Belgian merchant and his wife, and doctor and his spouse. The mer- chant and his wife stayed two days and fhen secured accommoda tsons in q small hotel at Windsor and the doctor and his wife remained. but made so much un- peasantness about being housed under the same roof and treated as the social equal of railway workers that Lady Ellis was compelled to find them accommodate ton elsewhere.
 But apart from these difficulties. people who. in a moment of generous epthd- siasm. offered to house refugeesf have had their ardor damped by other problems which have arisen in connection with the exercise of this particular form of hos pitality.
 One lady who received 27 refugees at her country house tthey were mostly the wives and children of clerks and the arr tisan class) finds that 1t Is expected of her not only that she should house and feed them, but clothe them and provide them with at least some of the luxuries of life and amusements for the children The lady Is widow of a country land owner and is not too well off and her new nrotegcs will cost her at least $6O week. There is, moreover no prospect of get ting rid Of the refugees until the end of the war and there might even be some difficulty about doing so then. This diff culty was never even thought of by those who offered their homes to the refugees or if it was 1t was generally assumed that the government would pay for their keep if the owners of the houses who received the refugees could not afford to do so.
 A neiehbor of the King at sandring- ham and a personal friend of his majes- tvs, was sent 15 refugees: he has not a large house and his offer to the com mittee was to receive a few Belgians To accommodate them he and his wife have had to give up every bedroom in the house, get their servants accommodated outside and to sleep In thelr own drawing room.
 Government Takes Charge
 At last, at the urgent request of several influential people who were finding the housing of the refugees not altogether pleasant experience, the government took the matter more energeticafly fin hand and the poorer refugees are now being housed at the Alexandra palace. In North Lon don. where accommodation for some thou sands can be found
 l But the refugee problem does not end | here and 1t Is already beginning to give ! trouble to the authorities. There are thou sands of English women and children 1 whose husbands are at the front in very distressed circumstances and they are beginning to ask why they are not az comfortably housed or as we'll looked l after as the refugees. who are the wiveB
 and children of the Belgian working class. Mrs Herbert Asauith daughter-in-law 1 of the prime minister. is one of the ener | getic social workers who perceived tho | necessity of grappling with the problem | and she started a committee of women | for finding work for the refugees and
 making some of them seif-supporting. lt, | has not proved an immediate success. Th4 1 committee discovered that young Bel | gian girls made good domestic servants. and that was all right as far as t vent l Numbers of Belgian girls were QulcIkly found situations in domestic service butt l unhappily. at the expense of their EnGllnh 1 sisters. who were dismissed. What can we do about the refugeee$s is now a stock question at the dinner and | afternoon tea tables of the society hoe tess whose special care the Belgian Pof1ze ~y- l- AH<-<<m~ M&u