§ Mr. Dribergasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will renew his representations to the Argentine Government on behalf of a number of disabled Polish soldiers, domiciled in the Argentine for many years before their voluntary enlistment in the Allied Forces in 1943, and still held at the Polish Military Convalescent Depot, Hermitage, near Newbury; and if he will point out to the Argentine Government that these men have been separated from their families in the Argentine for 4½ years, that it is now 15 months since they were first demobilised, sent by ship to the Argentine, and returned to Newbury on permission to land there being refused on the ground of their war disability, and that the Minister of Pensions has given an assurance that their disability pensions will be payable in the Argentine.
§ Mr. MayhewHis Majesty's Embassy at Buenos Aires are at present negotiating with the Argentine authorities to secure permission for these men to enter the Argentine and they will not fail to draw the attention of the Argentine authorities to all the facts.
435W
§ Mr. Dribergasked the Minister of Pensions, (1) if he is aware that a number of disabled Polish soldiers, formerly domiciled in the Argentine, have been waiting since the end of the war in the Polish Convalescent Depot at Hermitage, near Newbury, to rejoin their families in the Argentine, but that the Argentine Government refuses to readmit them in their disabled condition on the ground that they may become a charge on the State; that these men appeared before a medical board at Reading five months ago but have not yet been notified of the degrees of disability at which they have been assessed; if he will state the cause of this delay; and if he will at once notify these men how much pension they may expect to draw, so that they may if necessary endeavour to make private arrangements to supplement it and so secure permission from the Argentine Government to go home.
(2) If he is aware that on 12th October his department notified a number of disabled Polish soldiers, awaiting repatriation to the Argentine at Hermitage, near Newbury, that nothing further could be done in their case until their discharge from the Forces had been determined and that this was a matter for the War Office; and what steps he has taken to confer with the other departments concerned to bring about a speedier solution of this problem and so to enable these ex-Servicemen to rejoin the families from whom they have been separated for four-and-a-half years.
§ Mr. BuchananI am aware of certain difficulties surrounding the repatriation of a number of disabled Polish soldiers to the Argentine. My officials have taken special action in consultation with the Foreign Office and the War Office to help towards the solution of these difficulties. If they are re-admitted to the Argentine these men will continue to receive service pay for a period and my Department is in a position to indicate the amount of pension they will receive thereafter. I have, however, no reason to believe that any lack of information as to the precise pension they will receive on discharge from the Forces has contributed to the difficulties with which they are faced in resuming residence in that country, but if it is necessary that they should be furnished with this information I should be willing to do so.
436W
§ Mr. Dribergasked the Secretary of State for War if he will give an assurance that the release of the disabled Polish soldiers now awaiting repatriation to the Argentine at Hermitage, near Newbury, will be expedited as soon as the Argentine Government has expressed its willingness to permit their re-entry to the Argentine.
§ Mr. ShinwellYes. How quickly they could be repatriated would, of course, depend largely on the availability of shipping.