§ SIR W. EVANS GORDONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the 1409 Home Department if he will recognise the formation of voluntary committees of persons interested in the exclusion of diseased and destitute aliens from this country; and if members of these committees will be allowed to attend the meetings of the immigration boards, at which committees of those interested in the case of the alien immigrant are to have a semi-official status.
§ * MR. GLADSTONEI should welcome the co-operation of any voluntary agencies which in my judgment would be calculated to strengthen the just administration of the Act. As to admission to hoards meetings I may point out that under Rule 23 immigration boards may allow any person to be heard to whom they give special leave, and I see no reason for altering this rule.
§ SIR SAMUEL SCOTT (Marylebone, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what portions of Europe have been scheduled as being in a disturbed condition; and upon whom the responsibiltiy of determining this question will in the future rest.
§ * MR. GLADSTONENo such schedule has been made. The matter was explained by the Answers I gave yesterday.
§ SIR SAMUEL SCOTTI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reduction of staff, engaged in administering the Aliens Act, is anticipated from his decision to allow unrestricted immigration from Russia.
§ * MR. GLADSTONEI have made no such decision. If there is any change in the Home Office staff it will certainly not be a reduction.
§ LORD TURNOUR (Sussex, Horsham)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if a diseased alien from the Russian Empire will be allowed to land, on his assurance that he is a deserter from the Russian army and liable to religious persecution if repatriated.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYAt the same time may I ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether an alien immigrant who, so far as the immigration authorities can ascertain, is a 1410 pauper, a diseased person, an idiot, or a criminal, is to be admitted to this country if he or she alleges that he or she comes from a disturbed country, or a disturbed district of a foreign country.
§ * MR. GLADSTONEI am not prepared to answer hypothetical Questions with regard to the duties imposed by the Act on the immigration officers and immigration boards.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to secure accurate information as to the political condition of the districts of foreign countries from which alien immigrants allege they have fled to England in order to avoid danger of life, limb, and property.
§ * MR. GLADSTONEI answered this Question yesterday.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether in the exercise of his statutory discretion under the Aliens Act he is entitled, by regulations, to admit to this country alien idiots, alien paupers, aliens suffering from loathsome diseases, and persons likely to become a charge upon the public funds, if they allege that they are fleeing from religious or political persecution.
§ * MR. GLADSTONENo, Sir, and I have made no such regulations.