§ 41. Mr. Radfordasked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the case of a German, Wilhelm Solf, aged 25, who was convicted on the 26th February, of photographing a crashed aeroplane near Abingdon, and who has been allowed to live at a house overlooking Abingdon Royal Air Force station, notwithstanding that he had served in a German cavalry regiment and came to England a few days before the outbreak of war; and whether he will explain why this man was not interned?
§ 42. Captain Anstruther-Grayasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that an ex-German soldier who had worked in Nazi aircraft factories was granted per mission to live in a house overlooking a Royal Air Force station; and whether he will take steps to ensure that persons with these antecedents are not granted similar facilities in future?
49. Mr. Duncanasked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the recent case in the Abingdon police court when a German was sentenced to a month's imprisonment for using a camera to photograph an aeroplane, during the trial of which it transpired that the German had served in the Nazi armed forces, had worked in a German aeroplane fac- 2243 tory, and was allowed to leave Germany to come to this country three days before the march into Poland; and whether he proposes to intern this man at the end of the sentence?
§ Sir J. AndersonI have made inquiries and am informed that this alien was vouched for by several persons of repute as a person hostile to the Nazi régime and unlikely to do anything to injure this country. The tribunal, in the light of the information at its disposal, decided to exempt him from internment but not from the special restrictions applicable to enemy aliens which, inter alia, prohibit them from being in possession of any motor car or of any camera or other photographic apparatus without the permission of the local chief constable. As I have already informed the House, I propose at an early date to appoint Regional Advisory Committees to consider the cases of all Germans and Austrians who have been placed by the tribunals in category "B," and this case would, in any event, have come up for review by the appropriate advisory committee when the new machinery begins to function. I propose, however, to deal with the present case independently and in the light of the recent incident to reconsider the position of this alien before the expiration of the sentence which he is at present serving. Owing to the expansion of the Armed Forces of the Crown and of the munitions industry, there are few towns in this country which are not in the vicinity of some important station or factory, and I do not think it would be practicable to prohibit those aliens, who after examination of their individual cases are found suitable for exemption from internment, from residing in the neighbourhood of all such places.
§ Mr. RadfordWhile thanking my right hon. Friend for his satisfactory reply, I would like to know whether he would agree that it is absolutely incredible that the Nazi authorities would allow an avowed opponent of their regime to leave the country three days before the outbreak of the war?