§ 74. Sir E. CORNWALLasked the Home Secretary if he will state how many Consuls and Vice-Consuls represented Germany in this country at the start of the War; how many of them were of German birth and citizenship and how many were naturalised; how many were sent back to Germany; how many were interned; how many are now free; how long after 4th August, 1914, was it before Carl Theodore Menke, the German Vice-Consul in Birmingham, was interned; whether he is now at liberty; and, in that case, what were the reasons actuating the authorities in taking this step?
Mr. SAMUELI would refer the hon. Member to an answer given to the hon. Member for the Kirkdale Division on the 9th March last by my right hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who stated that before the War there were fifty-seven unsalaried German Consular officers in this country, of whom four were Germans and eight naturalised British subjects of enemy origin, the rest being, I understand, natural-born British subjects. I am informed that there were only two salaried German Consuls, both of whom returned to Germany at the beginning of the War. Of the four unsalaried Consuls of German nationality, three were sent back to Germany in exchange for British Consuls, and the fourth, Menke, is now in internment. Menke, who is sixty-three years old, was exempted from repatriation last summer on the recommendation of the Advisory Committee, in view of the fact that he had resided here for forty-three years, had two British-born children, and was well vouched for; but in December last it was decided to intern him and he is still interned.