As I was leaving him he referred to the question of conditions of residence in the Six Counties. This gave me the opportunity to repeat to him vigorously our protest in the Aide Mémoire of 1943¹ and which I renewed again as recently as October 24th when Lord Addison handed me the Aide Mémoire which, I understand, Sir John Maffey transmitted to you.

In reply Lord Addison said that they were having to move their own people from one part of England to another part. On my rejoining that the cases were in no way analogous, Lord Addison agreed but said that they had to deal with the situation as they found it. My Government urged that owing to the acute political conditions in the Six Counties, the right course would have been to have let matters alone when these employment questions would have found solution by normal methods. He knew, I said, that if it were merely a question of seeing that their Ex-Service men were not prevented from resuming work in the situations they held prior to the war, we would have not the slightest objection but would readily accept an arrangement designed to secure equitable treatment. But Lord Addison could not be unaware of the systematic intolerance encountered by our own people in the Six Counties and in view of that very serious and continuing circumstance, we urged that the Order should be withdrawn. Lord Addison said he did not think this was practicable.

He made great point of the fact that he had had a big fight to get the Home Office to agree to the principle that every case must be taken on its merits. Couldn't we let matters proceed on these lines he asked because he was very ready to take up the question again if events showed that there was political action involved?

I formed the impression that at heart Lord Addison is not really in sympathy either with this Order or on the larger ground of the Six County Government itself. If this impression be correct, I think it likely that if there were any unfair treatment of our people, he would be as good as his word and take up the question afresh.