ALIENS RESTRICTION BILL. (Hansard, 5 August 1914)

*THE MARQUESS OF CREWE

My Lords, in moving that this Bill be now read a first time I had better spend a few moments, I think, in explaining what it does. It is an emergency Bill dealing with aliens, which was the sequel of an examination of the subject by the Committee of Imperial Defence. The object is to impose restriction on the movement of aliens, particularly the aliens of an enemy nation, at the present crisis. Effect will be given to that object by means of an Order in Council, which will be submitted to His Majesty in Council as soon as this Bill has received the Royal Assent. Aliens will only be allowed to land at approved ports, of which a list will be included in the Order. Alien enemies will not be allowed to land anywhere without permits issued by the Foreign Office. No alien will be allowed to land with firearms. Aliens will not be allowed to embark at prohibited ports, and alien enemies will not be allowed to embark without a 385 permit after a certain date to be fixed, probably a week or something of that kind. And the Secretary of State can order the deportation of any alien. In addition to that the Secretary of State may, by Order, require any alien enemy to reside in any place or district specified in the Order. Certain specified areas, such as those adjoining forts and fortresses, will be prohibited, and an alien enemy will not be allowed to reside in such districts without a permit. An alien enemy will not be allowed, without written permission from a public officer, to possess firearms or other specified articles. One of the main objects of this measure is either to remove, or to restrict the movements of, undesirable aliens, with a special view to the removal and detention of spies. There have been, as your Lordships may have noticed from the newspapers, a number of attempts at espionage during late years, and a number of spies have been caught and dealt with. Within the last 24 hours upwards of 20 spies or suspected spies have been arrested in different parts of the country, mostly at important naval or military centres. A great many of these have been long known to the military and naval authorities to be spies, and the authorities have, to the general advantage, kept them and their proceedings under close observation. The arrangements which the Order contemplates have been funned so far as possible to cause as little inconvenience as may be in all the circumstances to alien friends, while securing effective and, if necessary, severe control over alien enemies.