§ 79. Mr. J. Fosterasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why the Property Control Branch at Minden gave a ruling on 4th May, 1948, under reference FIN/20 648 (PC), that former Jewish property which had been aryanised did not have to be declared under General Order No. 10 as Jewish property which had been the subject of compulsory measures.
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Mr. McNeilThe ruling in question related not to property which had been confiscated or forcibly removed from the original owners but to property which the present owner acquired in the ordinary course of business in which there was no element of coercion. It was given in order to avoid the unnecessary dislocation which would have resulted from the taking into control by Military Government of a large amount of property for the return of which no claim would lie. The ruling in no way prejudices the position of persons who make claims for the recovery of their property.