THE ALIENS. PROBLEM
Sns,—I am concerned With the lack of knowledge displayed by many of the critics of aliens who are resident in this country. There would appear to be no distinction made between the people who are refugees from Nazi oppression and those who entered this country prior to the war for business or other reasons This country granted an asylum to large numbers of Catholic and Jewish refugees who have suffered not only loss of property,- but frequently physical violence. Many of these people, who formerly occupied good positions, have suffered terribly from unemployment, being interned without proper inquiry, and merely on suspicion because they had the misfortune to be born in Germany, Austria or Czecho-Slovakia. It is worthy of note that in no single case nave refugees belonging to these categories been con- nected with Fifth-Column activities, whether in Poland, Norway, Holland, Belgium or France. The people who are secretly supporting Hitler here are misguided or renegade natives of this country plus Germans who did -lot come here as refugees. I would suggest that before hasty decisions are taken to intern these people inquiries should be made from the bodies responsible for the refugees who are in possession of detailed information regarding such people, and in a position to produce evidence of their reliability; the police are in possession of much information of similar character.
I am writing this letter because there are many able men and women among the refugees who are anxious to use their skill on behalf of this country, with the added incentive that they have ex- perienced themselves what the tyranny of Nazism means. When the country is crying out for skilled labour in certain trades, it is a tragedy that competent people should be interned at a heavy cost to the country when they could be usefully employed. I am neither a Catholic nor a Jew, but am simply writing this letter as an ordinary Englishman who deplores the waste of man-power at a moment like this. I may add that I have had many years' exnerience in the public service, dealing with industrial problems, and can speak with know-
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