TREATMENT OF ALIENS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 264, 27 July 1918, Page 8

TREATMENT OF ALIENS

DANGEROUS MEN INTERNED

"PLEA FOE DISCRIMINATION

"of^nfien e f >1 » t 1 ion I re ? arth 7 ,g the oiv Ti.n. 1 °. by tbo City Council M A"t 1, r s bwu *« to ule tenlay and the Ti&te mtTsjimo i^oktion nS 0U thoiSub j ect ma "« of 'tke ft U Stnb W™ hoi ."P the of •Bt"wß&yjfc.VS StmenUf nT tWs (I,lcslioll - the n i.pl nfi a ! ens Y° are adopting very afiii'sifsss -f' 0 "awl ifVy doiot iiitwn ft" Work H ' e o,fer tllem wa limy imM„ S ?m - , But we have intorncd-practiefr-ail W ti 8 l° llowed tho Bl ' iUsh «w«i i i I I 0 wbo are ln any wav cons l<el . etl te digloyal Mda ywaj Ihe best service that can be rendered by the people who are talking so much about enemy aliens would bo to tell ha about any whom they kiiow. are disloyal or dangerous. Then we can make /nil inquiries about the persons, and if tho hem ma nl 1S Tf' ,ve can intern real sen-ice® W ° Uld beren( k™K us somo nn3 h 5" • I , venture <»'Snr that the proposal to intern every man born of enemv know nf W ° ' "? te gTave 'liustico. I to hefi C , aae ?' threß w ho went German fnf'i wero the sons of a ueiman father. In the Battlo lof Messines 1 am told that they were the hnii T" over n , tlle to P'( in the New Zealand lorce. Two of (hem were killed, and one wounded on the same day. Theso S ndV br ? tllel ; in tll6 Public Sci° StLf 2 rdlD? u t0 mm 0f the "80jution.s that havo been passed the Govornment would have to take this man out ot the service and intern him. ' I am not .prepared to endorao such a policy. J. know the case of anothor son of a German who fought with great valour in our torco at Gafiipoli. f n his unft all tho officers were lulled, and the men rebl 6 . e ', 6oted lunl to lead them. This w? i- x 6 Pccml success. Later the i?4n 7h« 1 W '/ iC \ Wtts , opportunity of electing an officer, and this man was elected. He ?? 3 , 6ln ™ been killed in France. Tho tact is that one has to discriminate, and if the pubhc will help us in making proper discrimination we shall be-happy! lhero has been a deal of talk about putting enemy aliens to work. Thero is ft difference between a combatant prisoner ot war and a civilian prisoner of war. AYe have power to put combatant onsuariviHViT ar • wort ».' ,ut no Power to put civihan prisoners of war to work except in light ffttiguds about their camp. If they are put to work othc-r than light fatigues about their cnnip they must ba ?«■«,„<• w ou ' d nofc bjeot B0 much to tiiat, but their own Government—the wvernment of Germany—has sent them instructions not to work. We havo very tew combatant prisoners of war in New Zealand—as a matter of fact we have only the few men taken from the See Adlerand to put these men to work would mean that a guard would have to bo provided for them. And the guard .would cost more than the labour of the wen would be worth; n, ■fll' course, we have to remember that the other sido can retaliate if we do anything foolish, and that retaliation will be not only against us, but against our Allies. In any case questions of tins sort are determined not by the.New ■iealiuid Government, but by the Imperial _ Government. New Zealand cannot settle international questions. New Zealand is now following as far as possible the practice in Britain- so far as it is applicable, and, as I have said, wo have gone rather further in that we have given certain aliens the option between bovenunent work and internment."