ALIENS IN BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 177, 22 April 1919, Page 5

ALIENS IN BRITAIN

RESTRICTION BILL IN HOUSE 0F

COMMONS

DIFFICULT PROBLEM

By Telegraph—Press A66odatlon-oopyright London, April 10. ' Mr. E. Shortt (Secretary for Home Affairs). in moving the second reading of the Aliens Restriction Bill, said that there was considerable difficulty in dealing with enemy, neutral, and friendly aliens now resident in Britain or desiring to'come to Britain. There wcm 24,200 enemy aliens still interned at the time of the armistice, and 21,0)0 at libertv. Nineteen thousand had been repatriated. and the number of those remaining" was rapidly decreasing. The rate of repatriation depended nn it e shins available. There was a total of 200.000 aliens no win Britain. No proper machinery, for the exclusion of aliens had existed" before the war, and twentyeight Orders-in-Council had open issued. The Bill proposed to continue those regulations for two years. _ A committee under a Judge was 'considering the cases of enemy aliens who .wero miiviliinjr to be repatriated.

Many members supported a motion for the rejection of the Bill, on ihe ground that the Government should boldly declare a polii jof absolute exclus : c.n of undesirable races, and legismre accordingly, instead of leaving particu.::r cases to thft Home Oliic-> acting thcuugn ;)r----deis-in-Council. They decl.vv] that this was tho only way of preyen'.injj Hr'tain again becoming a dumping irrunnd.

Sir Ha mar Ureer.wood (Under-Secrelary for Home Affairs) assured tho House that there was no danger of tho Home Office forgetting the pledges of the J'reinier and Mr. Bonar Law, Ik- added that there were- 92,000 Russians '.n Britain,. 10,000 talians, 16,000 Frenc-., and a large flouting population of S?c mdmsivian. Chinese, andsother foreign sp.mu.-n. ' Tho motion was withdrawn after Sir Ifamar Greenwood had promised to limit the scone of the Bill to one jear. -\us.N.Z. Cable Assn. ,