§ 84. Mr. KILEYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that on the 25th May the local police brought to the Whitechapel workhouse four children named Beleuimes, aged three, six, eight, and 11 years, born in Glasgow, with a request that they should be taken care of, as they were destitute on account of the arrest of the parents in Glasgow, stating that the father was in Brixton and the mother in Holloway prisons pending deportation; will he state what is the charge against the parents; and, in the event of the Poor Law authorities of Glasgow refusing to pay the cost of maintenance of these children, what action he proposes to take to relieve the ratepayers of Whitechapel from the cost of maintaining destitute children belonging to other districts?
§ Mr. SHORTTThe facts are substantially as stated in the first part of the question. The parents were convicted at Glasgow, and were recommended for expulsion. They have expressed a desire to be sent to Soviet Russia, and, pending 609 the completion of arrangements for the journey, for which an opportunity has only recently occurred, they are detained in custody, and the children are being taken care of in the manner indicated. As soon as arrangements are completed, the children will be sent away with their parents, and, in the event contemplated in the last part of the question, I shall be ready to consider what action I can properly take in the matter.
§ Mr. KILEYWill the right hon. Gentleman take some steps to prevent in future young children of three, four and five being separated from their parents, and will he also state on what ground these people are being deported?
§ Mr. SHORTTI forget at the moment what the conviction was, but there was a conviction for some offence, and a recommendation for deportation.