ALIENS IN BRITAIN.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17552, 22 April 1919, Page 2

ALIENS IN BRITAIN.

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES

AB3OLUTE EXCLUSION URGED

LONDON; April 20. The Rt. Hon jS. Shortt, Secretary of State for the Horn* Office, in moving the second leading of the Aliens Restric-. tion Bill said there was considerable difficulty ir. dealing with enettiy and neutral friendly aliens now resident in or desiring to ooihe to Britain. There v/ere 24,200 enemy aliens still interned at the armistice, also 21,000 at liberty, while 19,000 had been repatriated. "The remainder were rapidly decreasing, depending upon the ships available.^ A total of two hundred thousand aliens were now in Britain. There was no 'proper machinery for the exclusion of aliens before the war, and 28 Orders-in-Council had had to be issued. The liill proposed to continue those regulations for two years. A committee under a Judge was considering the cases of enemy aliens unwilling to be repatriated.

Many members supported a motion for tho rejection of ihe Bill on the ground that the Government should boldly declare a policy of absolute exclusion sof -undesirable races, and legislate accordingly, instead of leaving particular cases to the Home Office, acting through Orders-iu-Couneil, this policy being declared the only way of preventing lilngland from again becoming v, dumping ground* Mr Greenwood assured the House that there wns no danger of the Home Office forgetting the pledges of the Premier and Mr Bonar Law, He adde that 92,000 Russians were in Britain, also 19,000 Italians ana 16,0UU Jftymch, besides a tarjje floating population of Scandinavian, Chinese and other foreign searn«n.

The motion was withdrawn after Mr Greenwood had promised to limit the Kill's scope to one year.