§ Lord Apsleyasked the Home Secretary (1) whether he is aware that the Oaksey Park estate, near Kemble in Wiltshire, is being sold to the Bruderhof movement, who intend to settle 300 German families thereon; that the present tenant-farmers 3107W and all their farm hands will be given immediate notice to quit; that this estate is in a rich fanning district, where the standard of living is high and fixed rates of pay and hours are kept, whereas the settlers of the Bruderhof movement, men and women, work for no wages, keep no fixed hours, and live under primitive conditions which will enable them to undercut their neighbours in all markets and so recoup the Bruderhof movement; and whether he will make it a condition of permitting these families to enter this country that the Bruderhof movement should concentrate their activities in pioneer work in less well-developed areas in this country;
(2) whether he is aware that Oaksey Park estate, which the Bruderhof movement are purchasing, is surrounded by five aerodromes, some of them of considerable strategic importance, and as it is not advisable to settle 300 German families in their immediate neighbourhood in view of the danger of spies being distributed among them, and the suspicion likely to be roused amongst the local inhabitants, he will prohibit the entry of these German families into this country?
§ Sir S. HoareThe Bruderhof were allowed to establish themselves in this country on condition that they did not seek or enter employment outside the community. They are a community of agriculturists and craftsmen who are self-supporting. The community now comprises 139 adults and 94 children, of whom 68 adults and 46 children are German and 37 adults and 29 children are British subjects; the remainder are of various foreign nationalities.
I am informed that the community is purchasing additional land mainly in order to accommodate a number of British subjects who have joined since its arrival in this country. From inquiries I have made I can find no ground for the suggestion that the Bruderhof undercut prices; and as regards the displacement of agricultural workers, I am informed that there is a shortage of agricultural labour in the neighbourhood, that none of the workers now employed on the estate will have to leave before March, 1939, and that if by this time there are any who have not found other work, the Bruderhof will be prepared to keep them on temporarily until they can secure work.
3108WI know of no grounds on which I should be justified in hindering a transaction between those who wish to sell and those who wish to buy the estate in question.