HC Deb 20 March 1947 vol 435 cc559-61
2. Mr. John Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many refugees in Shanghai have applied to the Far-Eastern representative of the Inter - Governmental Committee on Refugees for admission to the United Kingdom to join their relatives here; and when it is anticipated that the final selection of those permitted to enter this country will be made.

Mr. Ede

The Distressed Relatives Scheme was designed to relieve distress in Europe. I could not extend it to other parts of the world; but I agreed that 50 of the refugees in Shanghai with relatives in this country might be granted visas for the United Kingdom. I understand that about 600 applied, and that the final selection has just been completed.

Mr. Lewis

Will the Home Secretary reconsider the numbers selected who might be granted permission to come to this country, due to the fact that the situation has deteriorated?

Mr. Ede

Yes, but I do want to find some other countries as well as ourselves taking their share in dealing with the problem.

Mr. Sydney Silverman

Can my right hon. Friend tell the House the principle on which he differentiates between Europe and Shanghai in applying the principle that we do admit people into this country when they are in distress, and when—and both conditions are relevant—their only relatives are here, and it is the only method of re-uniting families?

Mr. Ede

In view of the limited accommodation available in this country, I have to draw the line somewhere.

Air-Commodore Harvey

Could the right hon. Gentleman say what is the attitude of the American Government towards refugees in Shanghai?

Mr. Ede

Not without notice.

Mr. Silverman

When my right hon. Friend says he has to draw the line somewhere, is it not a fact that we are proposing to give British citizenship and residence to hundreds of thousands of German prisoners of war; and can he say, if the sole surviving relative of a child in this country is a refugee in distress in Shanghai, what principle of Government policy prevents him from applying in that case the principle he would apply if that relative was in distress in Germany?

Mr. Ede

No, Sir, I could not undertake to give an answer—

Mr. Silverman

Because there is not one.

Air-Commodore Harvey

Then why ask the question?

Mr. Ede

I could not undertake to give an answer on all those points in reply to a supplementary question. I can assure the House that, as far as my personal wishes are concerned, if I had no public interests to consider I should be only too glad to admit all these people. However, I do have to have regard to the amount of accommodation in this country, and to the part that people admitted here can play in these days in the rebuilding of the economy of the country.