BAN ON FOREIGNERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21549, 22 January 1932, Page 9

BAN ON FOREIGNERS

THEATRICAL “TURNS” STRICTNESS IN BRITAIN. It is stated that since the advent of the British National Government foreign actors and actresses, circus performers, and all theatrical “ turns ” are finding it impossible to obtain permits to perform in Britain. It was revealed recently that there has been a considerable tightening up in income tax regulations affecting foreign artists, but this latest move is designed with the sole object of creating employment for British actors and actresses. No fewer than 3059 of these alien performers, engaged in all branches of the entertainment business, were allowed to work in Britain last year, and in only 119 cases was permission to land refused. Cabaret “turns” and vaudeville acts, singers and dancers, saxophonists and drummers invaded the country from abroad, while many British artists were on the verge of starvation. The Ministry of Labour Aliens Department is now making a determined effort to put an end to all this. The case of the two American entertainers, Joe Sargent and Stewart Ross, who lately received an intimation from the Home office that they could be permitted to remain any longer in England is one of the first moves. Circuses will suffer by the ban, and a number in London and the provinces may have to be abandoned. They signed contracts- with foreign performers months ago, and because it was extremely uncertain whether these foreigners would be allowed to land, the_ majority of circus programmes were being held up in the last weeks of 1931. A Ministry of Labohr official made this statement in an interview: “Applications for permits for foreign troupes of acrobats will not bo granted if there is already an undue proportion of foreign turns in the particular programme in which they are engaged to appear.”