§ 7. Mr. KINGasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that a number of enemy aliens who have been exempted from internment have been visited by the police and shown a document from the Home Office saying that they are eligible for military service, and ordering them to present themselves to the recruiting office within forty-eight hours, threatening them with internment in the event of their failing to report themselves; and whether, seeing that it is an offence against international law to attempt to get these men to take up arms against their own country, this method of enlistment will be immediately stopped?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir George Cave)My hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. The hon. Member has been misinformed. A certain number of enemy subjects who have been here since childhood and have been exempted from internment have had their attention drawn to the special Army Order permitting the enlistment of such persons in a works battalion, but no threat of internment was made to them. There has been no question of compelling any enemy subject to take up arms against his own country.