HC Deb 30 July 1940 vol 363 cc1125-7
1. Mr. Wedgwood

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether he will make representations to try to secure the return to this country, or the liberation in Canada, of those class C aliens who were sent to Canada by mistake?

2. Mr. Vernon Bartlett

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether the Dominion Governments now responsible for alien refugees sent from this country have been given all the information available so that they may distinguish between the few who might be enemy agents and the many who have given proof, in German concentration camps and eleswhere, of their hatred of Hitler?

3. Mr. Mander

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Dominon Affairs whether he will give an assurance that full information will be supplied to the Dominion Governments to which interned refugees are being sent, differentiating clearly between those who were interned for safety reasons and those who are considered refugees from Nazi oppression, and who are friendly and loyal to the Allied cause?

4. Mr. Sorensen

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether he has been in communication with Dominion Governments respecting the condition and treatment of internees sent from this country; whether he has obtained an assurance that internees shall not be treated overseas as hostile prisoners of war; and whether he has conveyed to those Governments the desirability of applying to internees the more improved and enlightened standards of treatment now becoming operative in this country?

The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Peake)

I have been asked to reply. There is no risk of any confusion between prisoners of war and civilian internees sent to the Dominions. As regards the latter, my right hon. Friend is fully alive to the necessity for supplying to the Government of any Dominion to which internees have been, or may be, sent as much information as possible regarding them, in order to ensure proper discrimination in their treatment. A communication on the subject has already been sent to the Government of Canada, which is the only Dominion that has yet received any internees, and one will shortly be sent to Australia, to which country internees are now on their way. It is hoped to make arrangements, in consultation with the Governments of Canada and Australia, for the return to this country of those whose release can properly be authorised.

Mr. Wedgwood

Are the Home Office alive to the fact that many of those sent out were marked "A" and have been interned, and might just as easily have been marked "C"; further, that they were interned marked "A" because of their Socialist actions, which are no longer a bar?

Mr. Peake

I am aware of the fact stated by my right hon. Friend. We have already sent to Canada information as to the distinction to be drawn between the different categories, and we are following that information up with detailed information about each individual internee.

Mr. Mander

Has any information been received from the Canadian Government as to the attitude they propose to take in regard to various categories of internees; and in any case that they will not place A, B and C men together in the same internment camp?

Mr. Peake

We have advised the Canadian Government as to the distinction to be drawn, both as regards A, B and C, and as to the privileges to be afforded to the different categories.

Mr. Sorensen

Can we have a report upon the conditions and treatment of these internees in Canada?

Mr. Peake

Certainly; I am inviting the Dominion Government to send us a communication on that matter.

Miss Rathbone

Unless the list is sent to the Dominion Governments, how can they tell which are A, B and C, etc.? It is very important that the detailed list should go very quickly, otherwise I do not see how the Dominions can distinguish between one category and another.

Mr. Peake

They can distinguish, because when we were making shipment to the Dominion we placed the different categories upon different ships.

Mr. Graham White

To whom should applications be addressed for the return of aliens wrongfully deported?

Mr. Peake

We are arranging to issue a White Paper as to the release of internees and the normal procedure to be followed, that is to say, notification to the Home Office.

Mr. Genvil Hall

Is it not a fact that many lads of 16 years of age have gone out? Could they not apply for release?