§ 32. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Professor Schulze-Gaevernitz, Dr. Patzauer, Herr K. Schlesinger, ex-enemy aliens, were given permission to come to England to attend the recent International Economic Conference under the chairmanship of the right hon. Lord Parmoor, and why Herr Walther Rathenau was refused permission to attend the conference?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Shortt)When it was originally arranged that former alien enemies should be admitted to this country to attend these conferences, it was stipulated that the names should be submitted beforehand and that any person to whom objection was taken might be refused admission. On this occasion the first two persons named in the question were admitted, the third did not apply to come and the fourth was refused. I do not 1547 think it desirable to discuss the reasons for admission or rejection.
§ Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHYMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman if he does not think it advisable to state in the public interest why a German like Rathenau was refused permission and why he was differentiated against, in view of his respectable political past and so on; and does he not think it desirable to explain further why a distinguished man of an ex-enemy country like this was not permitted to come when the others were?
§ Mr. SHORTTNo, Sir.