§ Major PRESCOTTasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will state the grounds upon which Mdlle. Matheis, a Belgian citizen, has been detained at the place of internment, Aylesbury, shortly subsequent to the outbreak of war without any charge being formulated against her; whether he is aware that the continued detention of this lady is resented among the Belgian colony in England as a miscarriage of justice; and whether he will consent to the appointment of a small committee to examine the dossier of Mdlle. Matheis's case, and to report to this House whether any circumstances exist which should preclude her release and immediate repatriation to Belgium?
§ Mr. SHORTTThe internment of this woman under Defence of the Realm Regulation 14B dates from the autumn of 1916 (more than two years after the outbreak of war), when she came into the hands of the British authorities. She was furnished with a statement of the reasons for her internment, namely, that she was of hostile associations by reason of her close connection with known German agents on the Continent, and that in these circumstances she was a danger to the public safety and the defence of the realm. Her case was heard by the Committee appointed for the purposes of Regulation 14 B and presided over by Mr. Justice Sankey, and on the report of that Committee the Home Secretary decided that she must continue in internment. I have no information that her internment is resented as suggested in the second part of the question. I am unable to agree to the suggestion in the last part of the question; but I may say that in this case, as in others under Regulation 14 B, I am anxious to bring the internment to an end as soon as I consider it safe in the national interests to do so. This case has recently been under consideration, but I regret that I am not prepared to release the woman at present.