GERMAN GIPSIES IN SCOTLAND. (Hansard, 30 April 1906)

LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH

My Lords, before the Motion for the adjournment of the House is put I should like to ask a Question on which I have given private notice. I cannot say that it 206 is on a subject of first-class importance, but the matter with which it deals has caused a good deal of inconvenience during the last three or four weeks in that part of Scotland which I know best. About a month ago there was a considerable incursion of German gipsies. I believe they came over to the number of eighty at one time. They marched through various counties commencing on the South bank of the Forth and reaching as far as Stirling, and when I tell your Lordships that they even encamped upon the historic plains of Bannockburn the House will understand how much feeling in the locality was stirred. I am informed that they committed various depredations. Not only did they steal from poultry yards and so on, but they even milked some of the farmer's cows before their owners got up in the morning. They also did a considerable amount of damage, and at last the services of the police had to be invoked. Whether or not it has been possible for the authorities to re-transport them to Germany I cannot say, but there have been reports—;well founded, I believe—;that larger numbers still were coming. I believe it is the fact that a small number came last year and the year before and that they found the country such a land of promise that they circulated reports of their prosperity, and others have since come. A rumour has appeared in the newspapers to the effect that this incursion is likely to continue. The German Government have been passing laws to endeavour to get this class of people to settle down and become orderly subjects, but, resenting this, they are leaving Germany. I do not know whether, under the powers of the much controverted Aliens Act or by representations to the authorities in Germany, His Majesty's Government can do anything to abate a state of things which, though it has, I admit, its humorous side, has also its serious aspect.

§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Lord TWEEDMOUTH)

My Lords, in the absence of my noble friend who represents the Scottish Office, I have been asked to reply to this Question. I think my noble friend opposite will admit that this is rather a far cry from the 207 Admiralty. Though we are very ready to protect the country against raids, I am afraid that the prevention of a raid of this sort is even beyond the power of His Majesty's ships. I believe the facts are substantially as stated by my noble friend. These are not persons who would come under the Aliens Act, because, in the first place, they arrived in different ships in numbers fewer than twenty. We have no information that such legislative measures as my noble friend suggested are being taken in Germany. What we are told is that these German gipsies belong to a tribe whose chief lives in Italy, and that they are birds of passage in Scotland on their way to Italy. They are not entirely without means of subsistence, as has been suggested. They have horses and carts of sorts—;I believe not very good ones—;and they are also adepts in certain acrobatic performances. They are wandering about Scotland getting money by horse dealing and by giving acrobatic shows, and I am told that they have been so far successful that they have from time to time made as much as from £3 to £5 a day out of their performances. From what we can gather these people are perfectly peaceable and quiet. It is true that they have, after the fashion of gipsies, been guilty of some petty larcenies, but the offences have not been of a serious character. Though they do not come within the scope of the Aliens Act so far as their entry into this country is concerned, Clause 3 of the Act does give power to deport them if they prove undesirable; but there does not at present seem to be any reason why such action should be taken against them. I think that perhaps too much attention has been paid to them by the police, and that they have been unduly hustled from county to county. I hear further, that some German residents in Glasgow are taking steps to induce them to return to their own country or to go on to their chief in Italy without delay. I do not think this is a matter on which I need detain your Lordships longer, or which is likely to cause much difficulty to His Majesty's lieges.