Major Cazalet:

asked the Minister of Labour whether the wives of refugee internees are treated as eligible to receive unemployment benefit if their husbands were contributors to the scheme while in employment?

Under the unemployment insurance scheme, dependants' benefit in respect of the wives of insured contributors is only payable if the contributor himself is in receipt of benefit. It would, therefore, not be payable in respect of the wives of persons who are interned.

Major Cazalet:

Will the hon. Gentleman consult his right hon. Friend to see whether this gross injustice can be remedied?

The hon. and gallant Member will recollect that cases of this sort can be dealt with under the Prevention and Relief of Distress Regulations.

Are we to understand that if the internee is entitled to receive benefit, the wife will get benefit?

Benefit is payable only to the applicant, and cannot be paid to the applicant's wife.

Are we to understand that the wife and children get no relief whatever?

I pointed out that they are entitled to apply under the Prevention and Relief of Distress Regulations.

If an internee comes within the scope of the Unemployment Insurance Acts, is he not entitled to receive his benefit; and by what right do the Government withhold it?

The Minister is acting under the terms of the Unemployment Insurance Acts. He is not in a position to pay the allowance to the wife. It is possible to apply for assistance under the Prevention and Relief of Distress Regulations.

But will the hon. Member answer my question? If a person comes within the scope of the Unemployment Insurance Acts, and is rendered unemployed by Government action, is he not entitled to receive benefit, and are not the dependants entitled to receive theirs?

No, Sir, he is not so entitled in these special circumstances.

Is he not prevented only by the fact that he is unable to register; and will the Government set up offices at the camps, so that these people may register?

I understand that the real difficulty is that these people are not in a position to take employment.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department the grounds on which the Austrian Social Democrat ex-deputy and trade union leader Herr Allina, who has already been interned by the Nazis in Buchenwald camp, is now in a British internment camp; and whether, in view of his proved hostility to the Nazi régime, his age and illness, he will at once release him?

This gentleman was interned in pursuance of the general policy applicable to males of enemy nationality. I am inquiring about his health so that I may decide whether his release can be authorised on medical grounds.

In view of the great assistance that this gentleman can render towards the attainment of an independent Austria, will my right hon. Friend reconsider the position of this man?

I propose to deal with the question in the Debate.

Is it not true that the man has rendered very valuable services to the British cause already?

asked the Home Secretary whether he can assure the House that, in releasing from British internment camps those who have been hostile to Fascism, he is not releasing those whose devotion to the cause of Communist world revolution is as great a menace to the peace and institutions of this realm as either Fascism or Nazidom?

Yes, Sir. I can give the assurance asked for.

Are we to take it from the Question and answer that the maintenance of the capitalist system of society, with all its poverty and unemployment, and all its institutions, is to continue? This is a shameful business.

Mrs. Adamson:

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that Mr. Walpole, 17, Dartford Road, Bexley Heath, Kent, a British subject, has been detained in Brixton Prison for nine weeks; and whether his case will receive early consideration?

I am informed that Mr. Walpole has made objections to the Advisory Committee. I am not in a position to say on what date the Committee will be able to hear his case, but the Committee has been enlarged so that it can sit in several divisions, and I hope that this arrangement will enable it to dispose of outstanding cases without undue delay.

Mrs. Adamson:

Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied that the information which led to the detention of Mr. Walpole came from a reliable source, and will the informant be required to establish that information at the hearing of the case?

I was satisfied on the information available before I made the order. It will be for the Advisory Committee to decide what evidence they will take in dealing with the application which the gentleman in question has made.

Mrs. Adamson:

May I again ask whether the informant of that evidence which led to the detention of this man will be required to substantiate his charges?

As I have said, that is a matter entirely for the Advisory Committee; they have full liberty in the matter.

Miss Rathbone:

asked the Home Secretary for how many interned aliens have applications for release been made since the issue of the white paper, Cmd. 6217, in July, or since any other convenient date; how many of the applications have been granted; how many refused; and whether he can now give an estimate as to the approximate number of cases that can be decided per week by means of the existing procedure and personnel?

Mr. Graham White:

asked the Home Secretary whether he is now in a position to make any statement with regard to the progress in the review of applications for release of interned alien refugees?

asked the Home Secretary how many cases of interned aliens have now been reviewed by the inquiry bureau; how many have been released; and whether he can give any further information as to the prospects of the many still interned?

Owing to the fact that in most cases several applications are being received on behalf of the same alien, the exact number of individuals for whose release application has been made cannot be readily ascertained, but up to the evening of Tuesday, 20th August, over 3,000 cases had been examined since the publication of the white paper on 31st July. Of these, 832 were found not to be within any of the categories. Necessary inquiries are in progress to verify statements made in over 1,500 applications, and in 805 cases release had actually been authorised. As regards cases not covered by existing categories, I would ask my hon. Friends to await the statement which I propose to make on the Motion for the Adjournment.

Miss Rathbone:

Would the right hon. Gentleman answer the last part of my Question, as to the approximate rate of procedure? Surely three weeks is enough to enable him to judge how quickly he can get on with the task?

Not quite. It is not possible to fix a definite rate, because we are constantly adding to the staff, and we are hoping to increase the rate at which these applications can be dealt very materially.

asked the Home Secretary when it was decided to establish the camp for interned refugees at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham; what preparations were made before the refugees were taken there; whether it is intended that the camp shall be permanent or temporary; whether he is aware that they are sleeping seven in a tent on the bare ground; that the average age of the internees at the camp is over 50; whether he is satisfied that the general conditions are suitable for middle-aged and elderly people; and how long it will be before conditions are improved?

I would refer to the statement made on 20th August by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for War in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for East Birkenhead (Mr. White).

asked the Home Secretary whether he will have records kept so that hon. Members can obtain information with reasonable promptitude in proper cases concerning the whereabouts and welfare of interned aliens; how long should elapse in a normal case between an inquiry on such a matter and a reply; and whether he can now give the hon. Member for Stretford the information in regard to W. Kaldauke, asked for on 22nd July?

As was announced in the Press and by the B.B.C., an Inquiry Office at St. Stephen's House, Westminster, was opened on 12th August in order to give inquirers information as to the whereabouts of interned aliens, by means of the Central Index now established there. This should enable relatives and friends to get in direct touch with internees in camps in this country. Inquiries are answered with the least possible delay, and, when the initial rush of applications, amounting to many hundreds a day, has subsided, it is hoped that the interval between inquiry and answer will not exceed 24 hours. As regards internees transferred overseas, inquiries should, for the present, be addressed, in the case of Canada, to The Director of Operations, Base Army Post Office, Ottawa, Canada, and in the case of Australia, to Prisoners of War Information Bureau, Melbourne, Australia. The records show that W. Kaldauke left for Australia on 10th July.

Does that mean that the Australian Government regard these internees as prisoners of war?

As I have explained previously, it is merely a postal address.

If we do not know whether a person has gone to Australia or Canada, or even gone abroad at all, how are we to know where he is?

That is the purpose of the Inquiry Bureau.

Will the right hon. Gentleman ask the Australian Government to change that postal address, because to send letters to these people addressed to a prisoners of war camp, casts a slur on them which they naturally resent, as they are mostly strong anti-Nazis?

I will consider that point.

asked the Home Secretary whether he will review the cases of Mr. Paul Rad, a missionary of the Irish Presbyterian Church in Danzig for many years, from which he was driven out by the Nazis, and his wife, who are interned in the Isle of Man, with a view to their release as they are of proved loyalty to Great Britain?

I will look into these cases and will communicate with my hon. Friend as soon as possible.

Is it a fact that this man has the confidence of the Irish Presbyterian Church, which granted him a pension for faithful services in Danzig after he was driven out of that city?

The hon. Member should inform the Minister of these facts by letter.

asked the Home Secretary whether it is intended to remove out of the jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, any subject of His Majesty detained under a Defence Regulation as many aliens have already been?

I regret that I cannot add anything to my answers to previous Questions on this subject, except that the action indicated in the Question could not be taken under the law as it now stands.

Miss Rathbone:

asked the Home Secretary what arrangements have been made for dealing with the cases of several hundred aliens now detained in prisons all over the United Kingdom under deportation or detention orders issued in accordance with security Regulations; whether these persons have been or will be given opportunities of knowing the grounds for their detention and of presenting their own case for release, after consultation with legal advisers and with such confirmatory evidence as they could produce from reliable British or other persons; whether a tribunal has been set up to which such cases can be referred automatically or on appeal; and, if not, whether he will now appoint such a tribunal?

As the answer, like the Question, is long, I will, with permission, arrange for it to be circulated in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Miss Rathbone:

Will the right hon. Gentleman give some indication as to what the reply is, since it is important to know this in view of the Debate that is to take place? Cannot we be given some idea as to whether these unfortunate people, some of whom have been in prison for weeks or months, are to be given an opportunity of clearing themselves if they can?

I think that is a matter that can be raised very well in the Debate.

Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that this is doing grave harm to our national interests in many countries where it is most important that the name of this country should stand high?

Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is a growing feeling that in a great number of these cases what the right hon. Gentleman has done is a gross abuse of the powers reposed in him?

That is a matter for debate.

Following is the answer:

I think my hon. Friend has two classes of aliens in mind. First, there are some about whose record and conduct I have full information which has satisfied me that they ought to be deported, if deporta- tion were practicable, and that they cannot safely be left at large under present conditions. In such cases no useful purpose would be served by further investigation by a tribunal. Secondly, there are others who came to this country recently and could not satisfy the Immigration Officers that they ought to be treated as genuine refugees to whom the hospitality of this country should be offered. In many such cases detention is necessary for the purpose of further inquiries. These inquiries are proceeding as rapidly as possible, and I am anxious that in all such cases the aliens shall be released as soon as it has been ascertained that this can be done without prejudice to the public security. I do not, however, feel that the inquiries which are necessary for security purposes would be facilitated by the appointment of a tribunal such as is suggested in the Question.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that General Torcom, now detained at Pentonville, had offered his services to the British Government, and was drafting proposals related to that offer at the time of his original detention; that General Torcom desires to know of any allegations against him, and to submit to any examination or proceedings; and whether the military records and personal papers taken from him have now been fully scrutinised and can be returned?

I am aware of this gentleman's record, but I am unable to add anything to the reply which I gave to a Question by my hon. Friend on 7th August. As regards the last part of the Question, I will make inquiries and communicate with my hon. Friend.

Does not the right hon. Gentleman feel that it is rather unfair that this man, who has done valuable work in the past, should be detained in this way without any kind of allegation being made against him, and would it not be better that he should be acquainted with any allegations made against him or his career?

That goes to the root of the whole question of preventive detention.

Has not this officer fought with the French Army in this war for our cause, and did he not come to this country on the recommendation of British military authorities?

I do not know whether it is so, but I know that his record has been very carefully examined.

asked the Home Secretary whether it will be possible to release Franz H. Weinberger in time for him to leave for the United States of America with his family by a boat sailing at the end of the month, on which tickets have been bought after all other formalities have been complied with?

If this man is in possession of the necessary documents, including a visa for the United States of America, I am anxious that—as in all such cases—arrangements shall be made to enable him to sail on the boat on which a Passage is available for him.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this man has been summoned to attend at the American Consulate in order that he may be given the final papers for America? May we be assured that that will be made possible? The summons was issued on 31st July.

Certainly, facilities will he given.

asked the Home Secretary by whom an application can be made for the release of an interned alien who was doing work valuable to the nation's war effort on his own account?

In the circumstances described it is open to the alien himself to apply for his own release.

Has that been made clear, as it seems from the white paper that their employers have to apply?

The white paper is a bit ambiguous in that respect, but the point has been made clear.

Can my right hon. Friend account for the very great delays in releasing a number of these valuable key men? I have some cases myself.

I should be glad to go into any cases brought to my notice.

asked the Home Secretary when he will be able to give a decision as to the release of Julius Bernet, interned at Moorah Camp, Ramsey; Fritz Loebl, Robert Loebl, Fred Lewing and L. Roedelheimer, interned at Douglas; Martin Lion and Hans Frohlich and Alexander Ichenhaurer, also interned at Douglas; and whether he is aware that the employment of over 100 British subjects is dependent upon their release in industries in several instances attracted to this country by British consuls and started with the full approval and after complete inquiries by the Home Office?

I hope to reach a decision on all these cases at a very early date, and will then communicate with my hon. Friend.