§ THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF YORK asked His Majesty's Government whether they are able to give any information about conditions in the Channel Islands and especially on the deportation of British subjects from there for compulsory labour on the Continent; and moved for Papers. The most reverend Prelate said: My Lords, I need detain the House only a very few minutes in asking for information about conditions in the Channel Isles. Over two years ago these most beautiful and interesting islands were occupied by the enemy, and since then the fog of war has almost entirely enveloped them. It is very difficult to obtain any information about what is actually happening now in these islands. Those who have friends there receive at long intervals very short letters which, naturally, have been very severely censored before being passed and it is not possible to ascertain from these letters the kind of conditions now present in the islands. Their many friends who evacuated to the mainland—something like 80 25,000 people, I understand—are naturally most anxious about those they have left behind. They want to know how they are living and how they are being treated. There is a number of children over here who have their parents in the islands, and there are parents over here who have their children in the islands.
§ These people are especially anxious about questions concerning food and fuel and light. The islands were not self-supporting before the war. Food had to be taken over to them from the mainland. The islands, no doubt, produce many early potatoes, tomatoes and a certain amount of fruit, but the total amount of food produced is quite insufficient for the islanders to live upon. The people of whom I have spoken are, as I have said, anxious about the fuel position. Even before the war there were times when very great care had to be taken over the use of coal. Probably all supplies of coal from overseas to the islands have now been stopped, and within the islands themselves there is very little wood. In Guernsey the amount of wood is very small. It is rather larger in Jersey but nothing like sufficient—even if the beautiful woods are cut down—to supply the islands with fuel. So far as the country districts are concerned—and those who do not know the islands personally must realize that, small as the islands are, there is a great difference between the towns and the country districts—there was before the war no electric light, and in most cases no gas. The people were dependent upon paraffin and candles. I imagine that it is now almost impossible to obtain either. This means that in the long winter nights the people are without sufficient food, without fuel and, in the country districts, probably without any light, so that they will probably have to go to bed extremely early, and spend all the hours of darkness in loneliness and depression.
§ But the anxieties which, for two years past, their friends and relations have had over these matters have lately been greatly increased. So far as we could learn, the treatment of the islanders by the Germans has not been characterized by the same brutality and cruelty which have characterized their attitude elsewhere in occupied countries. Lately, however, great anxieties have been aroused. An official statement was made a few weeks ago that a 81 number of British subjects in these islands had been deported for forced labour elsewhere. Photographs were published in many newspapers of the actual proclamation which had been printed by the Germans, ordering British subjects to report for this purpose. Since then we have heard nothing of what has happened, and I should like to ask the noble Duke who is to reply whether he can tell us whether the Germans have acted upon this proclamation, how many British subjects have been deported, to what kind of conditions they have been sent, and whether the Government have made the strongest possible protest against this action on the part of the Germans. The announcement that this has been happening has caused something like dismay among those who have friends and relations in the islands. I have had many pathetic and moving letters from people who are wondering what is happening to those whom they have left there; and it would be, I think, a very great satisfaction to them if the Government could an any rate tell us the facts.
§ The Government, of course, may not know very much themselves; they also may find great difficulty in obtaining information, or they may have some information which they cannot make public in case it would bring trouble to those from whom they have obtained it. But, if it is possible to give some information and to offer some reassurance to those who have friends in the islands, it will cause very great satisfaction. At any rate I hope that the Government will be able to tell us that if this deportation has been taking place they will make—indeed, I hope that they have made—the strongest possible protest. I hope that they will do everything in their power to safeguard the interests of these unfortunate people who have been so ruthlessly taken away from their homes. I beg to move for Papers.
§ LORD PORTSEAMy Lords, small and ineffective as my voice may be, I wish to support the most reverend Prelate in what he has asked of the Government. The solution is, of course, very difficult, and it is perhaps impossible for me even to make any suggestion; but my original suggestion was that some word of encouragement should be sent to the islanders. I do not know that the Germans have maltreated them up to the present, but they think that they have 82 been left—to use a modern expression—in the lurch. The Germans are said to have left the Italians in the lurch, and the Italians have left their dogs in the lurch; the poor beasts have either been adopted by British soldiers or have died of starvation or, what is worse, of thirst in Libya. If we could give some small word of encouragement to the people of these islands, who, when all is said and done, live in what are the oldest possessions of the Crown, and who have not merely 25,000 evacuees on this side of the Channel but at least 15,000 men fighting for His Majesty, it would at any rate be something. Imagine the feelings of those men, who are gladly offering and giving their lives, yet have seen no encouragement whatever given to their people at home!
It is suggested that any such message sent to the islands would be spectacular. Well, where is the harm in that? The giving of a George Cross to Malta was spectacular. The Maltese, of course, have had very little to do with the defence of their island. We thought that Tobruk could not he taken, and we believe that Malta cannot be taken, but it is possible. If it would be spectacular to draw attention to Malta now, it is surely less spectacular to draw attention to the islanders who have been left in the lurch. Thousands and thousands of the most loyal people in the world are there, without so much as a sound coming to them from this side. They are, as the most reverend Prelate has said, starving, and starving in every sense of the word. There seems to them to be no hope. The Germans have fortified the islands and have imported thousands of strangers—all sorts and conditions of men—to strengthen their yoke on the islands, which they look on as their front line. The time will come, we trust, when they will no longer be their front line, but some time must pass before that day comes. In addition, therefore, to What the most reverend Prelate has said, I do ask that some word of encouragement from the proper source be sent to the islanders, so that the people may rise from the deep despair in which they have now been plunged for two whole years.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA AND BURMA (THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE)My Lords, as regards general conditions in the Channel Islands, the 83 evidence available—and, as the most reverend Prelate indicated, the evidence is scanty—justifies the conclusion that, although there is a marked shortage of food in the islands by comparison with this country, and an almost total lack of certain particular products, the effect of these deficiencies has not been such as to impair the general health of the inhabitants. I understand that the Channel Islands Refugees Committee has been compiling a summary of information which has become available about conditions in the islands, and that this information will very shortly be published by the Committee; I believe, in fact, that it is actually in the press. I am sure that its publication will be very much appreciated by the very many people in this country who are deeply interested in, and concerned for, our fellow-countrymen in this very unhappy position in these islands, as indeed we all must be. The welfare of these fellow-countrymen of ours is a matter of deep and constant concern to His Majesty's Government. Your Lordships are aware of the considerations which prevent help being sent to them.
As regards deportations, a proclamation, which was reproduced in the British Press, was issued by the German authorities on September 15. It runs as follows:
By Order of the Higher Authorities the following British subjects will be evacuated and transferred to Germany:No explanation is forthcoming of this action, which is as inexplicable as it is unjustifiable. Lists have so far been received from the German Government of some 800 persons, including women and children, interned in an officers' camp in Germany. The International Red Cross Committee immediately extended the British Red Cross weekly food parcel service to these people, and the Home Office have informed the next-of-kin if in this country. It is to be assumed or hoped that the German authorities have informed any next-of-kin in the Channel Islands, 84 but the Protecting Power has been asked to verify this. It is expected that the persons interned in Germany will be allowed the privileges to which prisoners of war are entitled as regards correspondence and food parcels. Friends in this country have already received postcards from some of them. That is all the information I feel justified in giving the House. I shall be happy to impart anything more that is available to the most reverend Prelate, or I suggest that he should go and see my right honourable friend the Home Secretary, who is more directly concerned than I am. But I can well understand his deep anxiety on the subject of these people, and I can only regret that my answer has not been more adequate. But there are some facts which are known which for various reasons it is most undesirable to mention in public, and I must ask him on this account to be satisfied with this meagre reply.
- (a) Persons who have their permanent residence not on the Channel Islands, for instance, those who have been caught here by the outbreak of war.
- (b) All those men not born on the Channel Islands, and 16 to 70 years of age, who belong to the English people, together with their families."
THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF YORKMy Lords, I am very grateful for the very sympathetic reply which my noble friend has given, and I am sure that the Government will do everything in their power to safeguard the interests of these people. I beg leave to withdraw.
§ Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.