Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1938. THE REFUGEE PROBLEM.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 151, 27 May 1938, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1938. THE REFUGEE PROBLEM.

There is no country in the world to-day, other than those which have caused the problem to arise, .that does not wish to solve the troubles of political refugees. There was a time when Great Britain stood highest among the countries of Europe as a sanctuary for oppressed people, but the Great War required the existing statute to be repealed. Until then it was provided that an immigrant who proved he was seeking admission to Britain solely to avoid prosecution or punishment on religious or political grounds should not be refused leave to land merely on the ground of want of means. This traditional right of asylum which, it has been observed, enriched Britain’s national life through the residence there of men like Victor Hugo, Mazzini, and Kropotkin, was ended by the compulsion of the war years and has never been restored. Instead, the Aliens Act of 1919 empowers the immigration authorities to deny, without right of appeal, admission to immigrants who cannot satisfy them as to means, reasons for coming, destination, and in some cases their political orthodoxy. That legislation has a particular bearing upon the desire of refugees now to enter the United Kingdom, and it has made Britain do less than other Continental countries “for the victims of brute force. In the House of Commons, this week, the Prime Minister was asked to convene a conference of Empire countries to formulate an Imperial policy regarding political refugees. Mr Chamberlain correctly replied that their admission is-a matter for each Government to decide in the light of local conditions, but an opportunity will be afforded of discussing the matter at a meeting of nations in July to which, he understands the Dominions are being invited. ■ The conference has been called by the United States to co-operate in methods for providing assistance for Austrian racial and political refugees, twenty-four nations replying favourably and Italy refusing. 1 U,;' 1 Since the Great War ended, it has been estimated, no less than four million people have joined the wandering legions of the homeless. They are people without a country, often without any legal status in a foreign land, although they have committed no crime except to offend some intolerant regime by their racial origin or political faith. This forced migration has known no parallel, it has been said, since the expulsion of the Jews and the Moors from Spain in the 15th and 16tli centuries, and the flight of the Huguenots - from France. Russians, Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks were among the earliest to suffer in the

past two decades;, anti-Fascist Italians later .were forced to flee from Italy, and then the antiNazis from Germany. Thousands of Jews were compelled to sacrifice everything, in order to leave the Germany many of them had fought for in the Great War, and the same is true now of Austria. German annexation of that unhappy State has made the plight of its Jewish population many times more desperate as despotism works through brute force its evil way. The Spanish war sent thousands of refugees into flight from a terror They seek to escape, and in China a hapless people are trying to escape from the murderous aggression of Japan. Valiant work has been done by the League of Nations, the refugees’ sheet-anchor, through the Nansen Office, and several countries including France have given them the home denied elsewhere. But a pressing problem for many years now has been aggravated by the rape of Austria and the Spanish War, and America’s humanitarian proposal offers a means of showing practical sympathy for these hapless people.