§ Sir G. Foxasked the Home Secretary whether the large number of German 489W subjects in this country are permitted to send information to their friends in Germany via agents in Holland and other countries bordering on Germany; whether they are permitted to send small sums of money to those neighbouring neutral States to enable persons therein to forward food and other goods to persons in Germany; what staff is employed controlling such correspondence; and what is its approximate annual cost?
§ Sir J. ReithI have been asked to reply. Enemy subjects at large are permitted to correspond with persons in enemy or enemy-occupied territory only through the intermediaries officially appointed, and subject to strict control. A careful watch is kept to ensure that any small remittances sent out of the country are not intended for enemy benefit, and where there is reason to suspect that this is the case, such remittances are stopped. Letters from interned enemy subjects to persons in enemy or enemy-occupied territory are permitted under adequate safeguards. Disclosure of the number of staff engaged in this work or of the cost is not in the national interest.