- (1) An alien shall not for any purpose assume or use or purport to assume or use or continue after the commencement of this Act the assumption or use of any name other than that by which he was ordinarily known on the fourth day of August, nineteen hundred and fourteen.
- (2) Where any such person as aforesaid carries on or purports or continues to carry on or is a member of a partnership or firm which carries on, or which purports or continues to carry on any trade or business in any name other than that under which the trade or business was carried on on the fourth of August, nineteen hundred and fourteen, he shall for the purpose of this Section be deemed to be using or purporting or continuing to use a name other than that by which he was ordinarily known on the said date.
- (3) A Secretary of State may, if it appears desirable on special grounds in any particular case, grant an exemption from the provisions of this Section.
- (4) Nothing in this section shall—
- (a) affect the assumption or use or continued assumption or use of any name in pursuance of a royal licence; or
- (b) affect the continuance of the use by any person of a name which he has assumed before the commencement of this Act
1230 if he has been granted an exemption under the Defence of the Realm Act or the Aliens Restriction Order; or - (c) prevent the assumption or use by a married woman of her husband's name.
- (5) The Secretary of State when he grants an exemption under this Section shall not permit, an alien to assume any name at haphazard but shall ensure, as far as possible, that the new name is the equivalent in English of the alien's former name.
- (6) A fee of not less than ten guineas shall be paid by any alien on obtaining an exemption under this Section; but the Secretary of State may remit the whole or any part of such fee in special cases.
- (7) A list of the persons to whom the Secretary of State has granted an exemption under this Section, shall be published in the "Gazette" as soon as may be after the granting of the exemption.
- (8) Any person to whom any such exemption is granted shall, if the Secretary of State so requires, within one calendar month thereafter publish at his own expense, in some paper circulating in the district in which he resides, an advertisement stating the fact that the exemption has been granted.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODI beg to move to leave out Clause 7.
This is one of the new Clauses inserted in the Bill against the wishes of the Government by the active party below me. It deals entirely with the question of the change of name. It is divided into two parts. The first part prevents any alien from changing his name or from continuing to use a name which he has adopted since 4th August, 1914. The second part deals with firms or businesses. There are two arguments, and only two, against this Clause with which I will trouble the House. In the first place, the best way of turning a bad German into a good Englishman is to allow his name to be changed. It may be that the children or the grandchildren will not forget their origin, but in nine cases out of ten the grandson of a man with an English name will naturally believe that he has always been English. We have seen that over and over again in connection with the Huguenot families who form such a large part in our life to-day and who take such an active and patriotic part in the Army and the Navy and in the Civil Service at the present time. We have almost forgotten, just as the families themselves have forgotten, that they came over from France. They have become acclimatised in this country and their names have become English. How much more certain is it that those names which are changed from German to English will become so English that every member of the family will regard himself as a patriotic Englishman 1231 having all the same ideas and I am afraid the same ideals as the hon. Members below me. There is no better way of assimilating a foreign element than to allow them to take the names that prevail throughout the country in which they live. If a man is always going to be labelled with an alien name, then and then only can he be expected to maintain alien sympathies. Here in this country, with the birth-rate going down and the population decreasing as time goes on, we have to do our best in the future, as we have done in the past, to assimilate all alien elements. We are already a composition of Celts, Saxons, Angles, Normans, Danes, French, and Flemings. All these mixtures go to make up an Englishman, and why should we now, at the bidding of the students of history below me, suddenly reverse the process, and say that this composite Englishman shall suddenly become stereotyped and make the perfect Englishman? This Clause is particularly hard when it is directed against people whose names cannot be pronounced. Here in this country there are Russians, Poles, Czecho-Slovaks, and Jugo-Slavs, and if it is to be said that their names are to be perpetuated for all time, to be something which no member of the English race can possibly pronounce, all I can say is that it really is childish. You are reversing all the principles of civilisation which follow natural economic laws and the laws of development. You are trying by Act of Parliament to preserve for all time the weird names we see down Whitechapel way. The sooner you allow the alien element to assume English names and the higher English characteristics the better it will be for the whole country. There is another thing about this Amendment which strikes me as being the real thing which we have to fight: it is the spirit of persecution behind the Clause itself. After all, what do these hon. Members want? They want to see that the man who is now having the finger of scorn pointed at him for being a German shall always be in that unfortunate position. If the object were to preserve the pride of the German, if it were to preserve the dignity of the man's name and see that the father's name goes down to the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren, then I could understand the Clause. But it is brought forward by people who want to continue these people in the pillory for all time. They know that dur- 1232 ing the last five years they have been in the stocks and have been pilloried simply because they bore foreign names, and the desire of some hon. Members is to continue this for ever. They ant to ensure it shall not be forgotten that they are Germans, so that the finger of scorn may continue to be pointed at these unfortunate people. Among the people who will bear the brunt of this are the English born wives of these men. The men may have gone back to their country but their wives continuing here are to bear the foreign name and their patronymic is to be passed on to their children and their children's children. They are to be labelled for all time as men and women with German names. You have in fact in this Clause an epitome of the worst and basest motives which lie behind the whole of this wretched propaganda. You have the bullying view which marks the perpetuation of the hatred of the War, and the determination never on any account to allow the unfortunate mouse to escape the cat. I do not like this Bill or any part of it, but this Clause is particularly un-English and unintelligent because it pursues these unfortunate people with unbridled hatred.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODMay I ask if the way in which it is proposed to put the question will rule out my Amendment to omit Sub-section (1)?
§ Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKERYes. The hon. Member cannot have two chances.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODBut may I not withdraw the Amendment. [HON. MEMBERS: "No, no.")
§ Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKERNo, it is too late. I have already put it, before the House.
§ Mr. SHORTTWe have listened to a very amusing speech which I am quite sure was not intended to be serious. The whole point of this Clause is for the protection of ourselves. It refers only to people who are aliens and choose to remain aliens, and that lovely picture of children and grandchildren — [HON. MEMBERS: "And wives "]—is all beside the mark. These children and grandchildren will be British born. This does not affect British born 1233 people or naturalised subjects. These trill have the same right to change their names as other British subjects have.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODBut who is to pay for it?
§ Mr. SHORTTThat is not a very serious matter.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODNot for a poor man?
§ Mr. SHORTTIt is essential we should know who people are. This gives absolute control. It also gives discretion in right cases to allow a change of name. That can always be done if there is really good ground for it. But where people choose to remain aliens for some ulterior or improper motive then the Clause will operate. That is all this Clause proposes, and I hope the House will not accept the Amendment.
§ Amendment negatived.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODI beg to move, in Sub-section (1), to leave out the word "name" ["use of any name"], and to insert instead thereof the word "surname." We might possibly get sufficient mercy from the benches below me to allow an alien to change his Christian name, even if his surname must remain unchanged. It must be obvious that this is a question which affects children far more than anybody else. A child at school with a foreign name has much greater difficulty at school than even grown up people, and I think it might be possible to allow such a change of name as this, because it would not interfere with the police arrangements of the right hon. Gentleman opposite, and at the same time it would be a step in the direction of humanity, and help to do away with the unpleasant distinction between the alien and the British-born.
§ Amendment not seconded.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODI beg to move, in Sub-section (1), after the word "he" ["by which he "], to insert the words "or his wife."
This Amendment would allow a foreigner to take the name of his British-born wife, so that they might carry on that family name. There have, of course, been in history an enormous number of people even in the best families who have taken their wives' names. While we are dealing with this Clause prohibiting the change of name it might be worth while to call attention to the fact that most of our best 1234 families now bear family names which they do not own or rather which were not the family names of their ancestors. An obscure Irish family of the name of Morris has adopted the proudest name in Christendom—Montmorency. People of the name of Power became De la Poer, actually changing an English name into a French name. The real name of the House of Percy is Smithson.
§ Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKERWhat has that to do with the Amendment dealing. with the wife's name?
§ Colonel WEDGWOODIt has all to do with it. So many of them have taken their wives' names. A Smithson, as I said, became a Percy, a Bailey married a Paget and took the name of Bailey, an Adams married an Anson and took the name of Anson, and nearly every family in the land has adopted a wife's name in preference to that of a family ancestor. Even the noble house of Carrington had the original name of Smith. That in itself was the grossest of impostures, because the family name was not Smith. This right of changing the name has been allowed to another house and to English people generally, and it should also be allowed to an alien who marries an English wife. He should be allowed to take the English wife's name instead of making her take his foreign name. If we do not protect the foreigners, we might protect the English women who marry aliens. There is an enormous number of them who marry, not enemy aliens, but friendly aliens. If we allowed them to take the wife's name we should find these families carrying on the good English family names instead of allowing those names to die out. I cannot understand why it should not be permissible to make a change like this. If a man's mother's ancestors were English and he carried on that mother's name it is all the more certain that he will identify himself in every way with the land of Ids mother's birth. We should allow this one grace, that where an English woman marries an alien he should thereby, although he may not for many reasons take up British nationality, be allowed to accept her name instead of her having to accept his. There are thousands of reasons connected with landed property abroad why a man cannot give up his nationality. There is no reason why an alien who marries a British wife and settles down in England should not be able to take her English name, with all the advantages of 1235 unsingularity which the adoption of the English name would in that case give to him
§ Captain W. BENNI beg to second the Amendment.
I do so for the purpose of asking the Home Secretary for some reply. We want to be fair. Some of us hoped that we had got a new spirit in the world, and that, having fought the War, we were going to settle down to a better feeling between nations, instead of which we find that some people, with more time to dispose of than we have, have concocted all this spirit of suspicion, mistrust, and dislike which we thoroughly resent. I thought we had come to a new and better time. Those are general remarks on the Clause. The particular point I wish to put to the Home Secretary is this: Suppose an English woman has married a German and carries a German name she has become an alien. The man bearing that alien's name may have been deported back to Germany, his native land—
§ Colonel WEDGWOODOr to the United States.
§ Captain BENNOr to America, or her husband may die and she may desire to revert to her original name. I am sure that hon. Members below the Gangway who are prosecuting this campaign sincerely would not desire to inflict such a hardship on a woman who has married a German and has thereby become an alien as to deprive her of the right to bear her maiden name, or some other name in order to escape the invidium which for some time must attach to her having married a German.
§ Mr. KILEYI would invite the Home Secretary to explain to us his definition of a "proper and reasonable application. "He mentioned a few moments ago that if a person made a reasonable and a proper application the Home Office would favourably consider it. I would like to call the attention of the House to a matter on which I went to the Home Office. It was the case of a naturalised person who had changed his name by deed poll in the proper ordinary way. He married an English wife after he had done so, and since then he has had an English-born family. He was ordered to go back to his original name. He made what I consider a reasonable and proper application to the Home 1236 Office to be allowed to continue the name which he had in a reasonable and proper way assumed. The Home Office refused to permit it. 1 took the case back to the Home Office and asked whether there had not been some mistake or misunderstanding. There is nothing known against this man. He has lived in this country a number of years and changed his name in the proper legal manner, and I asked that in view of the fact that he has married an English wife and was married in the new name and had a family in the new name—
§ Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKERIf he took his new name before the War then the case is not relevant to this Amendment. We are dealing only with the case of an alien who is proposing to take his wife's name.
§ Mr. KILEYI would support the Amendment for the reason that I do not think the Home Office will act reasonably. If in the case of an application being made of a proper and reasonable kind in a case which I consider far stronger than the one which is in the Amendment the Home Office has rejected the application, how can we expect the Home Office to treat an application made at the present time?
§ Mr. SHORTTThis Amendment, if carried, would destroy the whole of the control of the Bill, because, however much it might benefit a perfectly proper person who wanted to change his name for proper reasons, it would equally benefit a fradulent person who wished to do the same. So far as regards the case of the wife of a German, referred to by the hon. and gallant Member for Leith (Captain W. Bean), if the woman chooses she can make an application to change her name. There are several cases now I know of where the woman and children are known by one name, and the man himself, both personally and for purposes of his business, has had to revert to his own name.
§ Captain BENNWould the Home Secretary grant applications of that kind if made to him?
§ Mr. SHORTTIt depends upon the circumstances of each case Every case is gone into. The hon. Member opposite (Mr. Kiley) has cited some cases in which he says that The action of the Home Office appears to him to be very harsh, but, like many other people, my hon. Friend accepts one side of the case without hearing the other. I do not know what case he 1237 referred to, but in every case I have looked into there has been some strong reason why refusal should be made. In the first place, it must have been because the man had changed his name since the War Before my hon. Friend condemns the Home Office, he might at least ensure that he knows both sides of the question. He has heard one side, no doubt, but that is all very well till another is told. This Amendment, if accepted, would simply remove the whole control of the Bill, and therefore goes to the root of what the Clause is intended to do. On that ground I ask the House to reject it.
§ Amendment negatived.
§ Amendment made: In Sub-section (2) leave out the words "such person as aforesaid," and insert instead thereof the word "—[Mr Shortt.]
§ Mr. SHORTTI beg to move, at the end of Sub-section (3), to add the words
but shall not do so unless he is satisfied that the name proposed to be assumed or used or to be continued to be assumed or used is in the circumstances of the case a suitable name.This is really a drafting Amendment. Sub-section (5) says, "The Secretary of State, when he grants an exemption under this Section, shall not permit an alien to assume any name at haphazard, but shall ensure, as far as possible, that the new name is the equivalent in English of the alien's former name." That is not very well drafted. The word haphazard is not a good word for an Act of Parliament, and the words which I have proposed and the place where I propose that they should be put in seem more convenient and carry out the intention more completely. The words "shall ensure as far as possible that the new name is the equivalent in English of the alien's former name" might lead to very considerable difficulties. There is a very large number of Germans whose name is Fleischer. I do not know whether my hon. and learned Friend (Sir J. Butcher) would like to have a large number of aliens called Butcher.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Sir H. NIELDI beg to move, after the words last inserted, to add the words "and such special grounds shall be put in writing and shall be recorded by the Secretary of State."
I do not ask that this shall be done by the Secretary of State's own hand, or that a special register shall be kept, but that there shall be a full note of the 1238 grounds upon which the Order is made, recorded in such a way that it may be reasonably and quickly accessible to the officials of the Home Office, and allow no doubt as to its interpretation if any Member of the House desires information. It is not a matter of very great consequence to divide the House upon, and I hope the Home Secretary will give an assurance that there shall be an adequate note made at the time of the Order being made which shall be recorded in some manner at the Home Office, so as to give no doubt if consulted at some future time.
§ Sir J. BUTCHERI beg to second the Amendment.
§ Mr. SHORTTEvery alien has his record at the Home Office, and on his file there would be recorded any exemption, any licence and the special grounds for it, and all information. Naturally, it would be at the disposal of any Member who chose to put down a question or obtain it in other ways. The Minister would, or course, give it to the Member, and if he refused, the House might have something to say.
§ Sir H. NIELDWhat I want to avoid is any cryptogrammic way of recording it, so that when an officer has left the Home Office his successor might not be able to understand it. I want it in plain English and in longhand.
§ Mr. SHORTTI can assure the hon. and learned Gentleman that would be done. It is all minuted. First or all, there are the suggestions from the Department, then there is the reason for the decision of the Secretary of State himself.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODHas the right hon. Gentleman considered the possibility of a later Government coming into power in four years, and having a first rate bonfire of all your records about aliens?
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODI beg to move, to leave out the words
(a) That the applicant, although a former enemy alien, is in fact a member of a nation or a race hostile to the states recently at war with His Majesty and is well disposed to His Majesty and his Government.I see no need for the insertion of this paragraph. After all, if the poor alien is-not to have a chance we will see that the rich alien, the Junker from Prussia, does 1239 not have any better chance of becoming a British subject. This, of course, affects people who have assumed a new surname since 4th August, 1914. There have been certain distinguished families who have taken English names since that date, I presume by Royal licence. I do not complain about this, but I want to know what other families have taken on English names by Royal licence, and whether we can have an example of this gross case of one law for the rich and another for the poor. After all, if we are to hunt aliens let us hunt all the aliens and not make a selection of all the poor miserable people who cannot defend themselves, and run away from the big people who can make things unpleasant for us. This paragraph is meant to protect the noble families. Let the Bill be exposed in all its naked beauty to the public when it becomes an Act of Parliament.
§ Mr. SHORTTThe paragraph has nothing whatever to do with rich or poor, but only with maintaining the species of control which exists at present.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODWho have changed their names under Royal licence?
§ Mr. SHORTTI have not got that in my mind. So far as the poor are concerned they are as carefully protected under (b) as any who have taken a Royal licence under (a).
§ Mr. SHORTTI really do not have the facts in my mind at present. If the hon. Member really wants the information I will try to get it for him.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYI rose to second after some little hesitation because I was waiting to see if anyone below the gangway would second. I hope they will. One hon. and learned Gentleman in the early stages of Committee,
§ when challenged from these benches by the hon. Member (Mr. J. Jones), who asked if an alien in Park Lane was going to be proceeded against, said certainly; he was as keen as the hon. Member to see that the aliens in Park Lane gained no particular advantage over the alien in the East End of London. Now we have an absolute test. We all know what a Royal licence means. People wish to hyphen their names or add their wife's names to theirs. I cannot see why these people should be exempt, and it would be most unfortunate if the Home Secretary allows it to be said that this is only aimed at the poor and the rich are exempt. There is too much of one law for the rich and another for the poor. I want to see that done away with. This is simply feeding that flame. I hope the Home Secretary will reconsider, and will allow this very simple Amendment to go.
§ Sir H. NIELDI perfectly concur with what has been said. I do not treat the Park Lane alien any different from the alien in the East End. I should be glad for the paragraph to go out. I propose to leave out paragraph (b) and I would not mind if (a), (b) and (c) went out. It is purely departmental. Do not let any section of the House suppose that while asking for the protection of the British communitiy against an influx of aliens such as we have had for the last thirty or forty years we are doing anything which is against the best interests of this country. These aliens will not do as the Huguenots did, assimilate in the population and bequeath the best traditions of their race; but they are aliens who have aroused the antipathy of the British public, by keeping themselves aloof and while under-selling the British workman are ever ready to take advantage of the asylum we have given them. Treat them all alike, rich and poor. I would like to see England rid of aliens from top to bottom.
Question put, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Bill."
§ The House divided: Ayes, 163; Noes, 47.
1241| Division No. 121.] | AYES. | [8.58 p.m. |
| Adair, Rear-Admiral | Barrie, Charles Coupar (Banff) | Bruton, Sir J. |
| Agg Gardner, Sir James Tynte | Bell, Lt.-Col. W. C. H. (Devizes) | Burdon, Colonel Rowland |
| Archdale, Edward M. | Bentinck, Lt. Col. Lord H. Cavendish | Burn, Colonel C. R. (Torquay) |
| Ashley, Col. Wilfred W. | Bigland, Alfred | Butcher, Sir J. G. |
| Baird, John Lawrence | Bird, Alfred | Campbell, J. G. D. |
| Baldwin, Stanley | Blake, Sir Francis Douglas | Carew, Charles R. S. (Tiverton) |
| Baifour, George (Hampstead) | Borwick, Major G. O. | Carr, W. T. |
| Barnett, Major Richard W. | Boyd-Carpenter, Major A. | Cayzer. Major H. R. |
| Barnston, Major H. | Bridgeman, William Clive | Chadwick, R. Burton |
| Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. J. A. (Birm., W.) | Hopkinson, Austin (Mossley) | Peel, Col. Hon. S. (Uxbridge, Mddx.) |
| Chamberlain, N. (Birm., Ladywood) | Horne, Sir Robert (Hillhead) | Parkins, Walter Frank |
| Clyde, James Avon | Howard, Major S. G. | Perring, William George |
| Cobb, Sir Cyril | Hughes, Spencer Leigh | Pollock, Sir Erhest Murray |
| Colfox, Major W. P. | Hunter, General Sir A. (Lancaster) | Purchase, H. G., Ramsden, G. T. |
| Colvin, Brig.-General R. B. | Illingworth, Rt. Hon. Albert H. | Raw, Lieut.-Colonel Dr. N. |
| Cope, Major W. (Glamorgan) | Inskip, T. W. H | Reid, D. D. |
| Cowan, D. M. (Scottish University) | Jephcott, A. R. | Richardson, Alex. (Gravesend) |
| Curzon, Commander Viscount | Jones, Sir Evan (Pembroke) | Roberts, Rt. Hon. G. H. (Norwich) |
| Davidson, Major-General Sir John H. | Jones, G. W. H. (Stoke Newington) | Robinson S. (Brecon and Radnor) |
| Davies, Alfred Thomas (Lincoln) | Jones, J. Towyn (Carmarthen) | Robinson, T. (Stretford, Lancs.) |
| Davies, Sir Joseph (Crewe) | Jones, William Kennedy (Hornsey) | Roundell, Lt.-Colonel R. F. |
| Dawes, J. A. | Kellaway, Frederick George | Rowlands, James |
| Edgar, Clifford | Kerr-Smiley, Major P. | Samuel, A. M. (Farnham, Surrey) |
| Edwards, Major J. (Aberavon) | Law, Rt. Hon. A. Bonar (Glasgow) | Sanders, colonel, Robert Arthur |
| Eyres-Mansell, Commander | Lewis, Rt. Hon. J. H. (Univ., Wales) | Seager, Sir William |
| Falcon Captain M. | Lewis, T. A. (Pontypridd, Glam.) | Seddon, James |
| Falle, Major Sir Bertram Godfray | Lloyd, George Butler | Shaw, Hon. A. (Kilmarnock) |
| Farquharson, Major A. C. | Locker-Lampsan, G. (Wood Green) | Shaw, Captain W. T. (Forfar) |
| Fell, Sir Arthur | Lorden, John William | Shortt, Rt. Hon. E. (N'castle-on-T., W.) |
| Flannery, Sir J. Fortescue | Loseby, Captain C. E. | Sprot, Col. Sir Alexander |
| Forrest, W. | Lynn, R. J. | Stanler, Captain Sir Beville |
| Fraser, Major Sir Keith | M'Donald, Dr, B. F. P. (Wallasey) | Stanley, Col. Hon. G. F. (Preston) |
| Gange, E. S. | M'Laren, R. (Lanark, N.) | Stephenson, Colonel H. K. |
| Gardiner, J. (Perth) | Macleod, John Mackintosh | Stewart, Gershom |
| Geddes, Rt. Hon. Sir A. C. (Basingstoke) | Macmaster, Donald | Strauss, Edward Anthony |
| Gibbs, Colonel George Abraham | Magnus, Sir Philip | Sturrock, J. Leng- |
| Gilmour, Lieut.-Colonel John | Maitland, Sir A. D. Steel- | Sutherland, Sir William |
| Glyn, Major R. | Mallalleu, Frederick William | Sykes, Sir C. (Huddersfield) |
| Gray, Major E. | Malone, Major P. (Tottenham, S.) | Thomson, F. C. (Aberdeen, S.) |
| Greene, Lt.-Col. W. (Hackney, N.) | Matthews, David | Thomson, T. (Middlesbrough, W.) |
| Gregory, Holman | Mlldmay, Col. Rt. Hon. Francis B. | Thorpe, J. H. |
| Greig, Colonel James William | Montagu, Rt. Hon. E. S. | Townley, Maximilian G. |
| Gretton, Colonel John | Moore-Brabazon, Lieut.-Col. J. T. C. | Vickers, D. |
| Griggs, Sir Peter | Moreing, Captain Algernon H. | Wardle, George J. |
| Guinness, Lt.-Col. Hon. W. E,(B. St. E.) | Munro, Rt. Hon. Robert | Wheler, Colonel Granville C. H. |
| Hanna, G. B. | Murray, William (Dumfries) | White, Col. G. D. (Southport) |
| Harmsworth, Cecil B. (Luton, Beds.) | Nall, Major Joseph | Wilson, Colonel Leslie (Reading) |
| Harris, Sir H. P. (Paddington, S.) | Neal, Arthur | Wilson-Fox, Henry |
| Henry, Denis S. (Londonderry, S.) | Newman, Major J. (Finchley, M'ddx.) | Woolcock, W. J. U. |
| Hiller, Lleut.-Colonel F. | Newman, Sir R. H. S. D. (Exeter) | Worsfold, T. Cato |
| Hills, Major J. W. (Durham) | Norman, Major Rt. Hon. Sir Henry | Young, Sir F. W. (Swindon) |
| Hinds, John | Norris, Colonel Sir Henry G. | |
| Hood, Joseph | O'Neill, Capt. Hon. Robert W. H. | |
| Hope, James Fitzalan (Sheffield) | Parker, James | TELLERS FOR THE AYES—Lord E |
| Hope, Lt.-Col. Sir J. (Midlothian) | Pease, Rt. Hon. Herbert Pike | Talbot and Captain F. Guest. |
| Hopkins, J. W. W. | ||
| NOES. | ||
| Adamson, Rt. Han. William | Henderson, Rt. Hon. Arthur (Wisbech) | Smith, Capt. A. (Nelson and Cohn) |
| Bann, Capt. W. (Leith) | Hirst, G. H. | Thomas, Rt. Hon. J. H. (Derby) |
| Billing, Noel Pemberton | Hodge, Rt. Hon. John | Thomas, Brig.-Gen. Sir O. (Anglesey) |
| Bottomley, Horatio | Jones, Henry Haydn (Merioneth) | Thorne, G. R. (Wolverhampten) |
| Bramsden, Sir T. | Kenworthy, Lieut.-Commander | Tootill, Robert |
| Carter, W. (Mansfield) | Kenyon, Barnet | Waterson, A. E. |
| Davison, J. E. (Smethwick) | Kiley, James Daniel | White, Charles F. (Derby, W.) |
| Edwards, C. (Bedwellty) | Lunn, William | Wignall, James |
| Entwistle, Major C. F. | Lyle, C. E. Leonard (Stratford) | Williams, Lt-Com. C. (Tavistock) |
| Galbraith, Samuel | Murchison, C. K. | Wilson, W. T. (Westhoughton) |
| Griffiths, T. (Pontypool) | Murray, Dr. D. (Western Isles) | Wood, Major Mackenzie (Aberdeen, C.) |
| Grundy, T. W. | Newbould, A. E. | Young, Lt.-Com. E. H. (Norwich) |
| Hall, F. (Yorks, Normanton) | O'Grady, James | Young. Robert (Newton, Lancs.) |
| Hallas, E. | Rees, Captain J. Tudor (Barnstaple) | |
| Hancock, John George | Rose, Frank H. | TELLERS FOR THE NOES.—Col. |
| Hayday, A. | Royce, William Stapleton | Wedgwood and Mr. Hartshorn. |
| Hayward, Major Evan | Short, A. (Wednesbury) |
Question put, and agreed to.
§ Sir J. BUTCHERI beg to move to leave out paragraph (b). This paragraph deals with cases of change of name in which exemption has been granted under the Defence of the Realm Act or the Aliens Restriction Order, and those changes are not interfered with by this Clause. I move this in order that the Home Secretary may tell us in what sort of case the changes have been effected and whether this should stand.
§ Mr. BILLINGIn view of the fact that it will be very interesting to hear what the Home Secretary has to say, I beg to second the Amendment.
§ Mr. SHORTTThe Defence of the Realm Act deals with persons who are not natural-born British subjects. Of course the Aliens Restriction Order deals simply with enemy aliens. The number of cases which have been gone into is 1243 fairly considerable, and only a moderate proportion has been allowed. Under the Defence of the Realm Act there were about 200 allowed out of 400 or 500 applications. This was done on different grounds, in different cases. Under the Aliens Restriction Order the number has been very much smaller. Each case has been gone into carefully. The same applies to-day as applied to the earlier licensees. They are the poor people who have gone through the mill and had their cases examined and we propose that they shall stand.
§ Sir J. BUTCHERI beg to withdraw the Amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKERThe Amendment which stands in the name of the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme— to add at the end of paragraph (c) the words, "or by a married man of his wife's name" raises the same point as was raised in the earlier Amendment.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODNot quite the same. The point of this Amendment is to allow an American, for instance, to take his wife's name. The previous Amendment dealt with the conditions of these men who were Germans and -wanted to change their names.
§ Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKERThe Amendment moved to the first Sub-section deals with an alien, whether German or anything else. The same point is raised here as was raised in the previous Amendment.
§ Amendment made: Leave out Subsection (5).—[Mr. Shortt.]
§ Mr. SHORTTI beg to move, in Subsection (6), to leave out the words "not less than."
The effect of leaving in these words would be that there would have to be bargaining every time that an alien put in a claim to change his name. You might get perhaps a thousand pounds from the very rich man, but I do not think it is worth leaving it in on the off-chance of doing that, and it is very much better for the purposes of administration that there should be a definite fee, and there would be power in the case of poor people to remit the fee if necessary.
§ Amendment agreed to.
1244§ Sir J. BUTCHERI beg to move, in Sub-section (8), to leave out the word "if" and to insert instead thereof the word "unless."
§ Sir H. NIELDI beg to second the Amendment.
§ Mr. SHORTTI hope the House will accept this. I think that it really makes very little difference in the meaning. The Secretary of State would have to decide the case whichever words were in.
Amendment agreed to.
§ Sir J. BUTCHERI beg to move, to leave out the words "so required" and to insert instead therof the words "shall expressly dispense with such publication."
§ Sir H. NIELDI beg to second the Amendment.
§ Amendment agreed to.