§ 65. Sir RICHARD COOPERasked the Home Secretary if the policy adopted by his predecessor of imposing restrictions on enemy aliens owning garages or driving motor cars only when there is some ground for doubting their loyalty is still the settled policy pursued by him; and will he, in the interest of the public safety, prohibit enemy aliens from owning and driving cars except when they have satisfied his Department that they are trustworthy and loyal to this country?
Mr. SAMUELThe hon. Member is mistaken in attributing to my predecessor the policy which he outlines. Ever since the beginning of the War no alien enemy has been allowed to be in possession of a motor car except with the written permission of the police—a permission rarely, if ever, given.
§ 67. Sir A. MARKHAMasked the Home Secretary whether permits are granted to alien enemy travellers to enable them to carry on business in this country; if so, has such a permit been granted to Joseph Lowit, resident at 98, Cary Villas, Brondesbury, to travel last week for four days in the district of Chesterfield; and whether he is aware that this person prior to the War represented a German glass business and now states that he is representing an American glass firm?
Mr. SAMUELWhere an enemy alien has been exempted from internment or repatriation on special grounds a travelling permit is occasionally granted to him, within carefully defined limits, if it is necessary to enable him to carry on the avocation by which he gets his livelihood. Lowit is a man of sixty-nine years of age, who has been in this country for forty-five years, and has five British-born children. Although an Austrian by birth, his sympathies are with this country. He has been for the last three and a half years in the employment of an English firm established here for fifty-five years, and he was previously for seventeen years with another English firm. I am informed by the Commissioner of Police that a permit as described in the question was granted to him recently, and that all the conditions were duly observed.