HC Deb 19 July 1922 vol 156 cc2080-1
72. Colonel WEDGWOOD

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Mrs. George Barrow Monte-fiore, who, before the War, went every year to spend the spring months with friends in Florence, is not allowed, since the War, to enter Italy?

Mr. HARMSWORTH

My hon. and gallant Friend has already been informed that this is a matter of Italian administration in which His Majesty s Government cannot intervene.

Colonel WEDGWOOD

Are we now to understand that any person of whose views the Government do not approve is not allowed to enter?

Mr. HARMSWORTH

My hon. and gallant Friend fails to observe that this lady had a passport to Italy, and it is the Italian authorities who do not seem anxious to receive her.

Colonel WEDGWOOD

Is it not a fact that the advice of the English authorities to the Italian authorities not to grant the visa was responsible for the desire to exclude her?

Mr. HARMSWORTH

I have made special inquiry into this case, with the result that I have stated.