§ 24. Mr. PETOasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any Public Trustee has been appointed in the Union of South Africa to take charge of funds belonging to enemy aliens; whether businesses, such as the Johannesburg branch of the Siemens-Schuckert Werke, the United Engineering Company, and Malcomess and Company, Limited, which are wholly or mainly owned by German aliens, are administered by the Public Trustee; and whether he can state what steps are taken to prevent the dividends on large blocks of shares to bearer in various South African mining companies, which are paid to the Schweizerische Bankverein or the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, at Basle, and Zurich, reaching their enemy owners?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Mr. Bonar Law)No Public Trustee has been appointed in the Union, and I am not able to say how particular firms in the Union have been dealt with, but the general policy with regard to trading with the enemy pursued by the Union Government has been that followed by His Majesty's Government. South African mining dividends payable to enemies are, I understand, paid into the Union Treasury for custody and preservation pending the conclusion of peace, and I have no doubt that the Union Government is quite alive to the danger of indiscriminate payments to banks in neutral countries.