ALIEN ENEMIES

Evening Star, Issue 16664, 21 February 1918, Page 7

ALIEN ENEMIES

THEIR INTERNMENT CALLED FOR. ~ HON. A. M. MYERS IMPUGNED. [Special 'to tiie 'Staiu'] NAPIEUj February 21. The Municipal 'Theatre was packed for the meeting convened by Mr Vigor Brown, M.P., to consider the question of alien enemies. After an address by Mr Brown and remarks by other speakers, the meeting unanimously decided to 'request Mr Brown to forward tho following resolution to the Governor-General: May it please your Excellencq, we, the people of Napier, in public meeting assembled, humbly pray your Excellency to remove from among your Advisers those of German or Austrian blood. We a-lso humbly reqi est your Advisors themselves to forthwi'n rsmovß officials of the same nationality from the highest and lowest Government offices. The present positiou of these men must, we feel, heaxten our enemies, and lias probably contributed to the kto scandal of the escape of dangerous German prisoners from Motuihi. Our patriotic sons and husbands are laying down their lives on the battlefield, or are being returned to us, their dear ones, wrecks of humanity. Wo are enduring this, and pray that *ve ir/iy bo <ible to continue to enduro it; but with all duo deference, your Excellency, wo cannot say how much longer we shall be able to endure seeing at the same time men of _ enemy blood sitting at the highest councils, and actually adjudicating on matters relating to the welfare of the country and to that of our dear maimed ones. Assurances of their loyalty notwithstanding, we humbly claim that this country is fighting for its existence in this Ger-man-made war, and will be better served by men of British blood than by men of German blood. What a tragedv it is, sir, that British mothers of British soldiers fighting and dying for Empire should do compelled to petition the ' King's Representative in order to have men of German and Austrian blood removed from positions of trust in the middle of this bloody war with Germany—a war which has been waged three and a-half years, and is. still being waged. In view of the foregoing, we, the people of Napier assembled, again humbly request your Excellency that this state of things bo ended. - The resolution was carried unanimously, followed by loud applause. A further resolution was unanimously carried as follo-vs:—"Tha<, in accordance with the new Empire Naturalisation Bill shortly to be introduced into the Imperial Parliament, this meeting vigorously support the future definition of natural-born British subject as a person whose father was at the timo of such person's birth a British subject." This was also carried unanimously. A returned soldier said he had been asked to speak on behalf of the association in favor of interning all alien enemies. They had. gone away to fight for their country, and on coming home maimed found 'that the only persons enjoying full liberty were alien enemies. He moved—- " That this meeting call upon the Government to intern all pure-bred Germans and Austrians without exception during the period of the war, and. to utilise their services in a manner wihich will return value to the State." The motion was seconded by another soldier and carried amid enthusiasm.

The meeting unanimously requested that Mr Tigor Brown should forward the firstresolution to the Governor-General and the second and third to the Prime Minister. HON. A. M. MYERS'S POSITION. NO INTENTION OF RESIGNING. AUCKLAND, February 21. A petition, promoted as the result of a recent meeting of Auckland women, prays for the removal of "all German blood" from Government offices. Mr Robert Sloan, in a letter to the Hon. A. M. Myers, said that he had no reason to doubt the latter's loyalty, but suggests that " it might be for the country's good at the present juncture, as well as for your own good name, that you resigned your offices in the Government." The resignation of Prince Louis "of Battenberg, the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, early in the war, was cited as a precedent. The Hon. Mr Myers, in reply, says that in comparing' the Battenberg case with his Mr Sloan had entirely overlooked the fact that "the Prince is very largely German in blood (although so loyally British in sentiment and character), whilst I am a natural-born British subject, having been born under the British flag, and that I have not a single relative outside the British Empire." The Minister, after referring to the fact that his two brothers, who were resident in England when war broke out, enlisted, and have since been " doing their bit" for the Empire, proceeds : As regards my mother, I have never heard of any relatives of hers existing in Germany. She was herself born in Germany, but (with her two sisters and two brothers, being orphans) emigrated to Australia nearly 70 years ago to join other relatives already there. Ten years afterwards they took up their residence in New Zealand, and, as early pioneers, went, through all the vicissitudes of pioneer life, possessing all the qualities of vigorous citizenship. . . . My father's family have resided in England for over 200 years, but my grandfather went to Russian Poland as a rabbi, .where my father was bo_rn. He, however, returned to England whilst still a child, and there he was brought up and educated. He was a naturalised British subject before he married my mother, and emigrated to Australia about 1859. My wife is a daughter of the late Mr= B. W. Levy, of London, who was granted the freedom of Liverpool, Manchester, and Salford in recognition of his generous gifts and services to these cities. . . . I do not see that I should be justified, at the instance of a few people—who, however patriotic and honest in their intention, are quite uninformed as to my exact antecedents and as to my British origin—in resigning my position, as though there were some question as to my loyalty, or as though there were any grounds at all for the suggestion you put forward in your letter.