ALIENS AND PROPERTY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 80, 2 October 1944, Page 4

ALIENS AND PROPERTY

The need for exercising' some control over transactions entered into'by aliens,: friendly or otherwise, can be admitted,, especially when so many men arel absent from the country in the Armed', Forces, but the, facts revealed in ai case mentioned in Parliament last weeksuggest the desirability. of making any' control measures , more uniform in their application. . A Chinese market gardener who was anxious to secure the freehold of his'property was told that a condition of the transfer would be that he should contribute £1000 to the war loan.. This'amount was subsequently reduced to , £500. The principle that all aliens should be called upon to do something" to- preserve the privileges they enjoy as sound, but the •method employed in. the case under review raises certahi questions. There ;are a number of aliens who have either acquired properties in New Zealand or have entered into businesses and professions. Have all these aliens been called upon to invest in war loans or to" make some other contribution to the country's war effort? If not, then it would.appear that there is need for a system of control that would operate more equitably. No class of alien, no matter ..how willing he may be to meet any condition imposed, should be 'singled out for treatment which does not apply in the case of other classes. There should be no distinction between aliens who desire to acquire property and those who desire to enter a business or profession.