§ Mr. James Hallasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that, despite assurances that refugee husbands of the C category will not be deported without their wives, notice has been served upon Mr. Jakob Felsenstein (No. 75948), detained at Huyton Camp, that he would be deported, and that a letter sent by him, on the 10th July, addressed to his wife at 49, Sigdon Road, E.8, reached her on the 23rd July and told her of his imminent deportation; whether Mr. Felsenstein has, in fact, been deported, and to what destination; and will he out-line the reasons for this, in spite of the assurances given?
§ Mr. PeakeI am making some further inquiries in this case and will communicate with the hon. Member.
Mr. Creech Jonesasked the Home Secretary whether letters from internees confined to enemy alien camps can be speeded up in their delivery; whether he is aware of delays of important business letters of two, three and four weeks; and if he will avoid imposing anxiety and hardship on loyal people by these methods?
§ Mr. PeakeI regret that, owing to various difficulties, including those of censorship, there has, in many cases, been much delay in the delivery of letters written to or by internees. Steps are being taken to surmount the difficulties as quickly as possible.
§ Mr. Prittasked the Home Secretary how many members of the Czechoslovak Parliament are at present in this country; how many of them are interned or otherwise in custody; and whether he will release them in order to enable them to attend a meeting of the Czechoslovak Parliament to be held in this country?
§ Sir J. AndersonThe records of my Department are not kept in such a way as to show how many of the Czech nationals now in this country were members of the Parliament of Czechoslovakia, but if my hon. Friend will send me particulars of the cases which he has in mind I shall be glad to look into them.
§ Sir R. Aclandasked the Secretary of State for War whether Guido Goldschmied, who was sent to Canada 1178W on 3rd July, was sent with or against his own consent; and why the requests of his friends for information as to his whereabouts made to the camp commandant at Bury, on 6th July, and to the War Office, on i5th and 17th July, were left unanswered?
§ Mr. EdenThis internee was sent to Canada without reference to his own wishes. I have ascertained that the commandant at Bury informed all inquirers that the internees had left for an unknown destination, and he was clearly not in a position, on 6th July, to make any further disclosure. No written inquiry can be traced at the War Office. There were so many telephone inquiries that it was impossible to deal with requests for information by this method.
§ Mr. G. Straussasked the Home Secretary whether he can now make a statement regarding the categories of aliens on the "Arandora Star"; and whether they were all Nazi sympathisers?
§ Mr. EdenThe selection of internees to be transferred to Canada in the "Arandora Star" was ordered by my Department from Germans and Austrians who were in category A, and from Italians who were members of the Fascist party. There were on board 473 Germans and Austrians, and it has been verified that all of these had been individually ordered to be interned on grounds of national security, and accordingly came within category A. Fifty-three of these persons were or claimed to be refugees, but had nevertheless been placed in category A. There were also on board 717 Italians, and it has been verified that all but 26, regarding whom inquiries are still proceeding, were listed as members of the Fascist party.