ALIENS IN ENGLAND.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12452, 15 March 1906, Page 6

ALIENS IN ENGLAND.

JtishouldmothaTerbeen necessary for Mr Herbert Gladstone to explain, as he is reported to have done in to-day's cable messages, that a ship arriving in en English port with less than twenty aliens on board is not liable to inspec-. tion. This was one of the features of the Alien Immigration Act of- last year, being contained in the clause providing that a ship is an immigrant ship within tho meaning of the Act only when it brings to the United Kingdom more than twenty aliens who are steerage -passengers. Tho Home Secretary ie empowered to vary tho number, and any alteration made, by Mr Gladstone in the' administration of tho Act would doubtless be in the direction of relaxing its provisions. In its present shape, however, it- oannot be considered an unduly harsh measure. It imposes entirely novel restrictions upon the admission of aliens into England, but no one who has studied, from the point of view of the Englishman, the condition of affairs in some parts of London- arising from tho alien influx can* doubt that it vnas a necessary piece of legislation. A» immigrant can only be regarded as an "undesirable," and consequently refused permission to land, on three grounds—lf he i-s unable to prove that Jjo can support decently himself and his family; if he is of unsound mind, or suffering from Hianagd which would mako him a burden, on the rates, or a detriment to tho public; if he has been sentenced in a foreign country for an extraditable crime. The right of asylum for political refugees is safeguarded, as we indicated yesterday, and this humane provision is apparently being need by Mr Gladstone to open the doors rather more widely than the la*e Government intended. Immigrants from districts on the Continent are being given the benefit of any doubt as to their being political refugees, and in view of what has beem going on in Russia, it is clear that this generosity will enable. many to land who might otherwise be regarded as decidedly undesirable. The moneyed alien, it may bo noted, can land without inspection, or examination. But no amount of wealth can save him from expulsion if his actions bring him under the penal clauses of the Act. These provide that all aliens who render themselves liable to imprisonment without the option *of a fino, or who aro in receipt of charitable aid in the chape of parochial relief, may bo required to leave the country. But this portion of the' Ac* confers large discretionary power upon the Home Secretary, and in /view of Mr Gladstone's violent opposition io the Act last year it will aesurelly not be administered during the life of the present Government with any degree sof rigour. . . ■'