The Motion for the second reading of the Aliens Bill
came on in the House on Monday. With the aim of the measure most people will agree, but it is a matter in which the Government must move very carefully, lest anything should be done to impair the privilege of sanctuary which this country has always afforded to the oppressed in foreign lands. To give the Home Secretary power by his fiat to expel an alien seems to us contrary to the spirit of the Constitution, such powers being properly left to the Courts of Law. The ablest criticism of the Bill was made by Mr. Asquith, who, speaking in support of Sir Charles Dilke's amendment affirming the principle of asylum, pointed out that the bad effects of alien immigration had been greatly exaggerated, and that in London only 2 per cent. of such inhabitants were in receipt of Poor Law relief, while the percentage for the whole popula- tion was 8. For overcrowding and such evils the real remedy was to be found in a more vigorous enforcement of the existing law, and by legislation to prevent sweating, rather than by a measure of exclusion. Mr. Long and Mr. Akers. Douglasspoke in defence of the measure, and on a division the amendment was rejected by 241 votes against 117.
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