ENEMY ALIENS

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 May 1948, Page 6

ENEMY ALIENS

N.Z.R.S.A. PERTURBED HAS GOVERNMENT BACKED TRIBUNAL’S FINDINGS? (P.A.) Wellington, May 3 The following is an official statement issued by the N.Z.R.S.A to“The N.Z.R.S.A. has always been concerned with the question of enemy aliens, and is especially concerned about those enemy aliens whom the Aliens’ Tribunal recommend for deportation. Repeated requests, over a period of months, have been made to the Prime Minister to ascertain if the recommendation of the tribunal has been carried out, but the only replies have been bare acknowledgments from the Prime Minister’s secretary. “The R.S.A. cannot understand the reluctance of the Prime Minister to reply and can only conclude either that the aliens have not been deported, or that the Government do not intend to carry out the recom mendation of the tribunal.

“It is understood that the regulations in reference to enemy aliens have been revoked. This means that those aliens recommended for deportation can acquire property, or enter business or any vocation they may choose in competition with exservicemen, and in fact may be naturalised.

“If this is the position, then the seriousness of the position must be apparent to every citizen of the country. If the behaviour of some enemy aliens during the war was such that the tribunal, presided over by a judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, recommended deportation, then such enemy aliens were not fit and proper residents of this country. Yet if they are still here, and now are allowed full freedom, the people of New Zealand should know it, and know why the recommendation was not carried out.

“The N.Z.R.S.A., having failed to get answers to letters, asks the Government: Have these enemy aliens been deported? If not, what is their present status in the country.”