§ 35. Mr. STEWARTasked the Attorney-General whether his attention has been drawn to a recent judicial decision to the effect that goods belonging to a company registered in the United Kingdom whose shareholders were alien enemies, and whose directors were alien enemies residing in an enemy State, were not liable to capture as enemy goods; and whether the Government propose to introduce any new legislation to ensure that such a company shall not have, for the future, the status of a British company, and also to provide that the subjects of an enemy State be declared enemies wherever they may reside and their property deemed enemy property wherever it may be?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Sir E. Carson)The case to which I presume my hon. Friend refers is that of the cargo of the "Poona," in which the President of the Prize Court decided as stated. I am asking the Board of Trade to make inquiry as to whether the ship in question is rightly registered as a British ship, having regard to the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, and I shall further consider the whole matter.