ORGANISING ENTRY INTO AUSTRALIA

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5308, 22 January 1947, Page 5

ORGANISING ENTRY INTO AUSTRALIA

( Press Assv-

^ many rich refugees CREDENTIALS CLOSELY EXAMINED

-Rec. 11.30 p.m.)

SYDNEY, Jan. 21. Commonwealth investigation ha.y. revealed the existence of two organisations in Sydney, oue communist-controlled and and the other dominated by White Russians, which are sponsoring refugee entries into Australia, says the Canberra correspondent of the Sydney Sun. Ile claims that money is no object, particularly to some refugees entering the Commonwealth from the Far East, and that agents discovered that one man had more than £40,000 in his possession. Other refugees were found to have eredits amounting to thousands of pounds in London and New York banks. The correspondent eredits a senior official as saying that the inquiries are directly related to disclosures at the Canberra spy ring. trials. The credentials of some refugees who were not interned by the Japanese during the war are being closely examined. Arrivals styling themselves White Russians, are being checlced carefully, with jiai'ticular reference as to how some of them had snch large sums in the Far East. The artiele states that a member of Parliament was offered £100 a head for each succcessful sponsorship. Contrary to pjopular belief, the investigators say that the refugees from Kurope are mostly short of money, and are guaranteed accommodation and care by their sponsors. A Commonwealth record is kept of transactions by aliens in Australia or the amount of land, property or husinesses they aequire. The im migration authorities refuse to disclose the number of aliens that arrived in Australia; but a Yeturn by the. Oomxivonivealth statistician lists 2794 aliens as permanent new arrivals in the first nine months of 1946. Of these, 930 were l'rom the United States, and cannot be elassed as refugees. Of 520 originating from China, only 106 were Chinese. The Minister of Immigration, Mr Calwcll, said to-day that there were only 200 more people in Shanghai with permiH to come to Australia, and that no more permits would be issued for some time.