§ Captain CARR-GOMMasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware of the fact that at a recent meeting of the Rotherhithe Tribunal it was stated by an applicant who was a hairdresser that there were two Austrian hairdressers carrying on business in St. Mary's Church Street, both, he believed, unnaturalised, and that, out of fifteen hairdressers' shops from Dockhead, Bermondsey, to the Red Lion Tavern, Rotherhithe, he was the only Englishman; and whether he will have an inquiry made into the cases of these alien hairdressers?
§ Sir G. CAVEMy attention has been called to the statement referred to in the question. The hairdressing trade has long been to a great extent in the hands of aliens of various nationalities. In the case of friendly or neutral aliens I have no power to interfere; but enemy aliens engaged in hairdressing are being required to find work of national importance. I do not think that any special inquiry is necessary.