INTERNING ALIENS

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 13947, 27 July 1918, Page 5

INTERNING ALIENS

MB THOMSON SPEAKS. A MILD RESOLUTION. Mr W. Thomson addressed about two hundred people in Everybody ’s Theatre last night on the question of the internment of aliens. Mr G. V. Graham presided. Mr Graham, in introducing the speaker, said that the resolution that Mr Thomson would put to the meeting was a very mild one, a little too mild, ho thought. He thought in connection with tho recent sinking of tho Wimmera that there was room for suspicion that it had been caused by the act of some enemy alien. The mine might have been manufactured under our very noses. The time was ripe to call upon tho Government to take more drastic measures. Mr Thomson said that he -would rather that the Mayor had called the meeting and had shown a lead to the people of Palmerston North in this matter, The policy of waiting to see which way the cat would jump in regard to the town’s affairs might eventually bo his undoing. The matter on which ho •was to speak was not one which could be treated hastily. There must bo no savagery or Germanism. We must be true to the traditions of our own people. Because the Kaiser Germans behaved like his Satanic majesty there was no reason for our following in their footsteps. Whereas the traditione of Germany were akin to those of the devil, the people of the British Empire behaved something like angels. (Applause.) We had a duty to those that came after us, that they might cherish the traditions of the nation. He wished it to be distinctly understood that they did not wish to damn disloyal Germans, but to deal with disloyal Germans. There were Gorman pioneer settlers who had fallen the bush and sown the country. But. there was the other German amongst us scheming to destroy us. When the Germans went and bombarded Sunderland it had been said that the guns wore directed by flashlights. He enumerated other eases of treachery, in the Old Country. They had done the same thing in Belgium. This peaceful penetration was as bad ag German warfare and peaceful penetration had undermined Russia more than warfare, Such men might be here in New Zealand and were we to allow them to undermine our national life? The same thing had happened in India. Missionaries had gone from Germany in ecclesiastical garments to India to spread Gorman propaganda. Referring to the sinking of the Wimmera ho said that it was quite possible that it had been brought about, by Germans in our midst, the .same Germans that rejoiced over the sinking of the Lusitania. On that occasion the “Standard” had said in an editorial that it knew of a gang of aliens not a hundred miles from Palmerston North, who had openly rejoiced on the receipt of tho news. He .was quite prepared to believe that statement and that the editor knew where those Germans wore located and who they were. It was his obvious duty to have published their names and whereabouts. Referring to Mr Crabb ’a letter in regard, to interning aliens, he said that Mr Crabb had pleaded for mercy for Germans. He had appealed to us not to tiasat their naturalisation papers as scraps of paper. This same Mr Crabb had been dumb when a lady well known to him had said that most of the men at Home were immoral and when she had reflected upon the morality of our soldiers in India. Referring to the treatment of Count Von Luckner, he said that it wag scandalous that a man who was under suspicion of being responsible for the death of 26 of onr people in the Wimmera should be moved about the country because it was too cold for him in one place. He ought to have been shot, in Wellington. He moved: — That this public meeting in Palmerston North demand from the Government that immediate steps be taken (1) to see that all Germans and those of German origin in the first generation, be culled upon to forswear, without any equivocation or mental reserve, their allegiance to the Kaiser and to Germany and at tho same time to swear their loyalty to the British Empire, their sympathy with the Allies, and their readiness to help the Allied cause in every possible way. (2) That this meeting calls on tho Government to conscript for public work at rates of pay not to exceed that given to soldiers (a) all those who refuse to swear as

above, (b) those who have been interned, and (c) hereafter all those /whom it may be found necessary, from any other cause to put under restraint. The motion was seconded by Mr Bradley and carried unanimously.

THE GOVERNMENT’S POLICY. STATEMENT BY SIR JAS. ALLEN. [Per Press Association.] WELLINGTON, Last Night. “We do intern enemy aliens,” said Sir James Allen to a reporter to-day, “nhcn we have any indication at all that they are likely to be dangerous or disloyal to the British Crown, but it is ludicrous to suggest that any German, naturalised in New Zealand, who has lived for years and years here in friendliness with the people, may not be thoroughly loyal to the country. I know a» a fact that some persons described as Germans are thoroughly loyal. “I know a case of three sons of a man who was born in Germany. Those throe sons went to the front and fought at Mcssincs. They were among the first to move into the open out of the trenches. Two were killed in that advance, and one was wounded. A brother of those three soldiers is in the Public Service, and it is suggested that he should be turned out.” Sir James indicated unmistakably that he would not help to oust such a man merely because his father happened to be a German who had loft his country in early life. The Minister mentioned another ease, a German’s son who had fought with remarkable valour on Gallipoli. This soldier’s feats had won the admiration of his comrades, who unanimously recommended him for appointment as an officer. Referring to the argument that enemy aliens should be forced to work at military re.' • pay. Sir James said that tin-) fru, iny of persons who were civilians —no! prisoners of war—could not be done The Government had received advice fne the Imperial authorities on that matter, and also the aliens had been iirntmcb-d by their own Governments to refuse to be coerced in this war. Comp' tent prisoners of war could bo Tirade to work, but civilians were on a different basis. Xf the New Zealand Government acted in accordance with