HC Deb 17 September 1940 vol 365 cc99-104
28. Mr. Silverman

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what grounds letters to and from internees are subject to censorship; and why letters to and from certain camps still take from 10 days to three weeks to reach their addresses?

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

Censorship of these letters is necessary for reasons of security, but steps have been taken recently to reduce the delay involved to the minimum, apart from special action required in certain cases.

Mr. Silverman

Can the hon. Gentleman explain what are the reasons of security which require the censorship of a letter written by a person in this country to another person in this country?

Mr. Peake

If the hon. Member had listened to the speech of the Home Secretary in the Debate before the Adjournment, he would have seen that there were security considerations involved in the internment of these aliens, and, therefore, there are also security considerations in the question of their correspondence.

Mr. Denville

Is it necessary for six days to be taken for a letter to leave Belfast and arrive in London?

Mr. Peake

That does not arise from this Question.

29. Mr. Silverman

asked the Home Secretary why newspapers and periodicals sent to internees in the Isle of Man are subject to censorship and, in certain instances, forbidden?

Mr. Peake

The regulations do not permit of newspapers and periodicals being obtained by internees otherwise than from publishers, booksellers or authorised newsagents. If the hon. Member will furnish me with any instances of newspapers or periodicals which internees have not been allowed to obtain through these channels, I will consider the matter.

Mr. Silverman

Is not the hon. Gentleman aware that in a number of instances copies of the OFFICIAL REPORT despatched by the Stationery Office direct to internees have been prevented by the censorship in the camps from reaching the interned persons? Can the hon. Gentleman give any reason why this is so?

Mr. Peake

No, Sir. That is the first I have heard of this, and I will make some inquiries into the matter.

30. Mr. Silverman

asked the Home Secretary whether he can give an assurance that the Dominion Governments concerned have been furnished with sufficient information to enable them to distinguish, among deported internees, between dangerous enemy aliens and refugees from Nazi oppression?

Mr. Peake

Yes, Sir. Information has been furnished to the Canadian and Australian Governments which enables them to make this distinction.

Mr. Silverman

Does the hon. Gentleman intend the House to understand by that reply that in every case of an internee sent to a Dominion a full file of papers relating to his case has gone with him?

Mr. Peake

The necessary information to enable the Canadian and Australian Governments to draw this distinction has been forwarded to those Governments, and considerable progress has been made in Canada with the process of segregation.

Mr. Silverman

In the absence of the file relating to the particular individual, what is the information which is furnished to the Dominion Governments to enable them to make this distinction?

Mr. Peake

In relation to large numbers of internees, individual information has been sent already. In regard to other cases of B and C category internees, it is clear on the face of it that they should be treated on a different basis.

Mr. Silverman.

Do the Dominion Governments concerned know this?

31. Mr. Rhys Davies

asked the Home Secretary whether he will indicate the steps to be taken by internees now in Canada and Australia, falling into the proper categories, to secure their release?

Mr. Peake

In general, the procedure indicated in the White Paper for applying for release applies to internees sent to Canada and Australia. Full information on the subject is being sent to these Dominions and will be available to the internees sent there.

Mr. Riley

Who is responsible for the expense of transporting the internees who desire to return?

Mr. Peake

Where release has been authorised and the alien desires to return to this country, the expenses will be borne by His Majesty's Government.

32. Mr. Vernon Bartlett

asked the Home Secretary in how many alien refugee internment camps the administration has passed from military to civilian authorities since the Home Office became responsible for the camps on 4th August; and what steps have now been taken to separate anti-Nazi from Nazi internees?

Mr. Peake

The administration of 13 internment camps for aliens was transferred from the War Office to the Home Office on 5th August. It is proposed, as soon as practicable, to collect Nazi sympathisers in one camp, but the number is not expected to be large.

Mr. Lipson

Will that apply to Nazi women sympathisers? Will they be separated?

Mr. Peake

Certain steps have been taken in the Isle of Man in the women's internment camp as far as possible to collect known Nazi sympathisers into a certain quarter of the camp.

Mr. Noel-Baker

Does the hon. Gentleman mean that this segregation has not yet been completed?

Mr. Peake

No, Sir. We have been engaged in collecting from the commandants returns of those who are known to be Nazi sympathisers. As soon as a suitable camp can be found for the number of aliens involved, they will be transferred there.

33. Mr. Edmund Harvey

asked the Home Secretary the numbers of interned aliens released from internment since the publication of the White Paper, and the numbers still interned; and what further additions to, or enlargements of, the categories approved for release have been made on the recommendations of the Advisory Committee?

Mr. Peake

The latest available statistics show that 2,516 internees who come within one or other of the categories of eligibility have been released. Approximately 17,700 are still interned. Certain further recommendations have been received from the Advisory Committee, and I hope to announce certain extensions of the categories at an early date.

Mr. Silverman

Can the Minister say how many applications for release are still outstanding?

Mr. Peake

I should like to see that Question on the Order Paper.

35. Mr. G. Strauss

asked the Home Secretary whether arrangements can be made to enable internees, sent to Canada, to correspond with their friends and relatives in this country?

Mr. Peake

My information is that the internees sent to Canada from this country are free to correspond with their friends and relatives in this country, subject to compliance with the camp regulations.

Mr. Strauss

Is the Minister aware that while that may be so theoretically, in practice it takes weeks for recipients this side to receive letters? Is he further aware that in one case it was two months before parents received any letter from a son who left the country two months ago?

Mr. Peake

The hon. Member will appreciate that a number of different classes of internees were sent to Canada, and a considerable task lay before the Dominion Government in separating them into different internment camps; but mail has been arriving from Canada during the past few weeks.

Mr. Stokes

(by Private Notice) asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that civilian political prisoners have been transferred from Brixton Prison to a military detention camp at Latchmere House, Ham Common, where they are being subjected to inquiry by the military in some cases following their appearance before the Advisory Committee and whether he has any report to make to this House on the matter?

Mr. Peake

This institution is not a military detention camp except in the sense that the commandant and guards are provided by the War Office, as they are at all other internment camps under the management of the Home Office. Latch-mere House is used for the temporary detention of internees in cases where special inquiries have to be made. Persons are not detained there for any length of time, but are brought there for a few days for the purpose of such inquiries as cannot conveniently be made in camps or prison establishments up and down the country.

Mr. Stokes

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that these people have been before the Advisory Committee; and will he explain to the House why they are now handed over to military detention and put in solitary confinement in many cases?

Mr. Peake

I must inform the hon. Member that Latchmere House is used, as I have said, for the temporary accommodation, during short periods, of interned or detained persons who claim to be or are thought to be in possession of information of interest or value to His Majesty's Government. I cannot see anything wrong, in that case in persons visiting Latchmere House even if the cases have been before the Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee after all is only an advisory committee. Its purpose is to advise my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, who takes full responsibility for this institution.