If the several authorities which at present deal with aliens
can be compactly replaced by a central authority, so much to the good ; and if those aliens who ought not to be at large can be quickly interned or repatriated, and those businesses and banks which ought not to be continued as a means of a future pacific penetration by Germany can be promptly wound up, the nation will be de- lighted. What will not be tolerable will be a. system of denuncia- tion and delation by vindictive or- foolish busybodies. There ought to be judgment by a properly constituted-Court in the case of every suspected alien. Otherwise there is sure-to be cruelty and injustice. The number of male enemy aliens who are unintemed is not large. There are, as the Westminster Gazette says, approxi- mately 6,000 Germans, 5,500 Austrians, and 1,100 Turks and Bulgarians—a little over 12,600 in ell. Of these over-4;000 are only technically of enemy nationality. Of the remaining, say, 8,500, over 3,000 are old men or invalids. Of the-13;000 Germans, 3,520 have married British wives, more than 4,000 have British- born children, and 2;400 have sons serving in the British -Army. The Advisory Committee has. already deemed it reasonable to leave these at liberty under police supervision.
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