INTERNED ALIENS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1674, 26 June 1919, Page 5

INTERNED ALIENS.

A DIFFICULT PROBLEM

[Special to The Sun.l

WELLINGTON, June 25

The number of Germans and others held in internment in New Zealand at the present time is 136. The disposal of these men is governed primarily by Ihe terms of the Peace Treaty, and no more can be made until the Treaty has been given full effect, and certain instructions have been received from the Imperial Government. In any case the prisoners present some problems that will not easily be solved. The internees comprise the following groups:—Germans interned from within New Zealand, 73; Germans deportees from Samoa, 32; Austrians (including several nationalities), 19; Russians, 4; aliens (not enemy aliens), 3; others, ,">. The Germans interned within New Zealand consist of persons who do not wish to return to their own country. They had the opportunity to do that when the Willochra took away a large batch of prisoners and internees. Many of them are New Zealanders residents of long standing. Some of [hem claim to be loyal British subjects. Most of these men would like to stay in New Zealand where some of them have business interests and family connections, including wives add children. The forcible deportation of some of these men would involve either the separation of husband from wife and child, or Ihe dispatch of New Zealand women to Germany. The German deportees from Samoa consist largely of men who have business interests in the islands, and wish to return there. Some of the men are planters whose Samoan properties, though probably depreciated, arc still valuable. It appears that the Government has power under the Peace Treaty to take over the properties, and leave the late owners to collect their compensation from the German authorities.

The Austrians and Russians include Czechoslovaks and Jugoslavs. The military authorities have not essayed the almost impossible task of delining nationalities with exactitude. The men were interned because the authorities had reason to believe that they were not loyal to the British Empire, and the matter rests there pending the final settlement. Some Slavs, who have been able to prove their right to citizenship of the new States, have been released already. The other men included in the list of internees may be classed generally as "undesirables."