§ 42. Mr. Austinasked the Secretary of State for War what further efforts are being made by his Department to persuade members of the Polish forces to return to Poland to help in the reconstruction of their own country.
§ Mr. BellengerThe opportunity to elect repatriation remains open and every encouragement is given to officers and men to volunteer. Substantial numbers have already volunteered and many more are expected to do so.
§ Mr. AustinIs my right hon. Friend aware that Fascist propaganda is being circulated under the authority of the alleged Pretender of Poland which ends with the words "Hitler and Goering, Sieg Heil"? Will my right hon. Friend look into this matter to see whether Polish troops are being used for the dissemination of this propaganda?
§ Mr. BellengerCertainly, I should be quite willing to look into that, but I think the House should know that already 12,000 volunteers are waiting to go back, and we think that many more will presently be volunteering to go back to Poland.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydDoes not the right hon. Gentleman think that, in the light of the arrests in Warsaw this week, their return to Poland would be facilitated if Polish Ministers who sheltered in Russia during the war stopped locking up Poles who fought for Poland and have since returned home?
§ Mr. BellengerI do not think that is a matter on which I need express an opinion.
§ Major Tufton BeamishWill the right hon. Gentleman give an assurance that he will not employ LaGuardia methods of persuasion such as are now being used in U.N.R.R.A. camps in Germany?
§ Mr. BellengerCertainly we are not exercising any undue pressure on these individuals, and they are electing to go back to Poland freely.
§ Mr. StokesDoes my right hon. Friend think that the holding of really free elections representative of all parties would be the best inducement to these people to go back?
§ Mr. SpeakerThat does not arise out of the original Question.