CO537-3704 — Page 31

C

SECRET.

Telephone Nos.

REGENT 6050.

RECEIVED

16 APR 1948

WHITEHALL 6789.

C.O. REGY.

S.F. 94/4/70/B.3.b.

Dear

Si. Mars

Кал

(13)

54145/13

BOX No. 500,

PARLIAMENT STREET B.O.,

LONDON, S.W.1.

14th April, 1948.

15

Please refer to correspondence ending with our S.F.94/4/70/B.3.b.

of the 24th February, 1948, regarding the present position of the control of civilian traffic from India to Malaya and Hong Kong.

The present position, as we understand it from H/S. I. F. E., is as follows:

1.

Malayan Union Ports (except Penang):

Control of traffic from India is exercised through the legal requirement that an Indian must be in possession either of a passport or certificate of identity before being allowed to land. In the case of passport holders, there is, of course, no prior intimation of arrival; but to obtain a certi- ficate of identity it is normal for the employer or guarantor of the intendant immigrant to apply at Immigration H.Q., here, armed with photographs. The certificate is issued, or rejected, after screening by the Malayan Security Service.

2.

Penang:

The Singapore Passport Regulations for 1947 are now applicable to Penang, but to nowhere else in the Federation.

3.

Singapore:

The Passport Regulations for 1947 apply. A memorandum from the Immigration Office Singapore on this subject reads:

(a) British subjects entering the Colony are not now placed in special

categories and this Government no longer exercises priority control over shipping.

(b) On the 10th October, 1947, new Passport Regulations were introduced.

(c) Under these regulations an Indian British subject is treated in

the same manner as a British subject from the U. K. or other British Dominions.

(a) Such persons are required to be in possession of valid passports

(there are exceptions to this regulation made chiefly for the benefit and convenience of British Indians see (e) (i) and (ii) below). A passport valid for the Colony should bear an endorse- ment either for "British Empire" or Colony of Singapore". Previous reference to this Government is not required prior to the issue of a passport so endorsed. The authority issuing the passport may do so at his discretion in cases he considers proper. However, the fact that a person holds a valid passport does not unconditionally guarantee entry or exempt the holder from complying with the immigration laws of the Colony. In so far as British subjects are concerned provision is made under the Passengers Restriction Ordinance (Cap. 93) Section 9 whereby certain classes of persons may be refused permission to land. The classes of persons who may be refused permission to land under this Section are any person who:

(i) is diseased, maimed, blind, idiot, lunatic or decrepit not having

the means of subsistence and may be hindered by his diseased, blind or disabled state from earning a livelihood; or

Sir Marston Logan, K. B.E., C.M.G.,.

Colonial Office.

(ii) cannot show that....