HC Deb 30 July 1918 vol 109 c258W
Colonel ASHLEY

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that two firms alone in London employ thirty-five enemy aliens released from internment by order of the Home Office, who hold notices from the Ministry of Labour, and are employed in making Army clothing; whether, though their present employment may be useful from a national point of view, he will state why these enemy alien workers are permitted to draw the ordinary full rates of pay, totalling from £3 to £8 per man per week, while our fighting Infantry soldier draws 1s. 3d. a day; and whether he will arrange that moneys earned by these men above strictly necessary amounts shall be credited to some fund raised to benefit the dependants of our sailors and soldiers?

Sir G. CAVE

My hon. and gallant Friend is misinformed, as only two men in all have been released from internment under licence for employment in making clothing in London. Possibly the question relates to Poles who were exempted as being of friendly race, but if my hon. Friend will supply me with particulars of the firms in question I will make inquiry.

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