Thousands Of Aliens On Way To Australia

Chronicle (Levin), 12 February 1947, Page 5

Thousands Of Aliens On Way To Australia

Press Assn.-

REPORTS BEWiLDER CITtZENS

By Telegraph .

-Copyright

(Epeciai Correspoudent ). Received fTuesday, 7 p.m. SYDNEY, Feb. 11. Australian citizens, aiready puzzled by the spate of conflicting statemencs -md news items concerning migration, are further bewildered by well authentieated reports that many huudreds of .ilien refugees are actually on their way to Australia. When the Minister uf Immigration, Mr. Cahvell, made his recent report that the granting of landlug permits to aliens on purely humanitarian grounds had ceased, there were aiready rumours that three Dutch ships were bringing refugees to Australia. fhese rumours have cryst'allised into r'act and concurrently Mr. Calw.ell says that the people concerned hold landing permits issued over a year ago. Three Dutch liners totalling 50,500 tons, will reaeh here probably before the end oi Marcti with a total passenger list of 3900 for Australian ports. Of these at ■least 2600 are Jews from Poland, Austria and Germany who are now either en rouce or assembling at foreign emuarkation ports. Air. Calwell promised that for every alien to reach Australia there. would be ten migrants of British stock but according to i'acts now avail►tble, the figures should have been reversed. So far this year 200 British artisansiiave reaehed- Australia. Aliens who arrived from the Far East by the Kwa lien, formerly. the Alaori, outnumbered thein two to one. The Returned >Soldiers' League has ample evidence that while British artisans brought here to aid in building were accommodated iu a military camp in Canberra, many aliens were able to move without delay into flats and houses secured for thern in advance by friends, in the more exelusive suburbs of Bydney. Despite the housing sliortage those people plannedl so far ahead that they were able to> ;)aiut the addresses of their new liomes" on their heavy baggage before ioading in (Shanghai. But the .Jolian de Witts is aiready on its way with 900 passengers including 600 European Jews in the hold. The Oranje will leave Anisterdam on Febru ary 20 to lif't ftnother 1500 and a fort uight later the Joha.n Van Oldeubarneveldt wilJ pick up a similar consignment. The American and Netherlands Jewish Organisktion which chartered the vessels, is denying Australians and ' even Dutch nationaJs passages in the I ships. The Australian legation iu the ! Netherlands has been toid repeatedlv that the ships ai-e not for returning Australians. * Bome were permitted aboard the Johan de Witt but all troop deek accommodation was reserved for J ews. The only explanation of the obvious confusion in otticial circles is that dur* ing past years Air. Calwell 's departnient has authorised thousands of landing permits on applieation by "ciose reiatives" of the refugees. These permits were marked *'not vaJid £or tran sit via United Kiiigdom". As the Commonwealth Government accepted no re'sponsibility for providing means oi transport, it has now no method of con trolliug or even predicting the numbera of people holding thesC permits,- who sail from foreign ports in foreign ships. As they hold landing permits it cannot even titri! them away.