ALIENS
SIR,—The scarcity of statisticians in Britain recently led me to look abroad in order to fill a temporary vacancy on my staff. I selected a man from East Germany, known to me personally, of established reputation and admirably suited for our work. To my pleasure and surprise, he informed me that not only was he willing to come but also his govern- ment was prepared to permit him to spend nine or ten months here. I appreciated the risk that
this permission might later be withdrawn, but ac- cepted it as part of a small individual contribution to better understanding between East and West.
Two months after this man was offered and had accepted the appointment, and two months before he was due to arrive, the Ministry of Labour has stated its inability to issue a permit for his tem- porary employment here because, after a stay in Britain, a resident in East Germany is not certain to be 'able to return there or to proceed elsewhere. In our present need of mathematicians and statis- ticians, such a prospect might perhaps be welcomed rather than feared! Further inquiries have elicited that this is not merely unimaginative application of a regulation appropriate to other classes of labour, but that a special instruction has recently affected the issue of permits to East Germans. The indications are that this is a retaliatory measure for the events of last August, perhaps adopted under NATO pressure.
How the aims of Western policy on Berlin are to be furthered by restricting the few opportunities that exist for East Germans to visit the West is not easily seen. Do those responsible ever consider whether that policy might not be better served by encouragement of visits in both direc- tions, or is policy to be dominated by a petty spite that must favour a blurring of distinctions between the operations of democracy and of totalitarianism? Should we not expect our Government to examine further the consequences of its actions, to act as though we believe in freedom and not n---ely talk about it, and to realise that an effective foreign policy demands something more than merely re- flecting the attitudes and acts of opponents?
Perhaps, sir, 1 draw too grave a moral from this small incident. What in fact has happened? My department is a little less effective as a teaching and research unit for the next year' than it would other- wise have been. Irritation and possibly ill will have been, generated in East Germany, at a point where previously good will existed. There may be other similar cases. Has any gain been achieved commen- surate with even these small losses? If men cannot cross frontiers in peace, bombs will cross; I am ashamed to find my own Government joining those that prevent the peaceful crossings.
D. J. FINNEY University of Aberdeen, Department of Statistics, Mesta', Walk, Old Aberdeen.
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