Jumbles' Rumble

Britain tends to take a lofty view of the U.S.'s color problem, does not like to admit that it has one of its own. Since the end of World War II, however, thousands of poor, unskilled West Indian Negroes, fleeing unemployment in their islands, have poured into Britain, causing racial tension to flare. Happy-go-luckily calling themselves "Spades," the Negroes contemptuously refer to the English as "Jumbles" (a corruption of John Bull), take on menial jobs, are eligible for government unemployment benefits and free medical care. In the first nine months of this year, some 90,000 new Commonwealth arrivals have landed in Britain (in all of 1959 there were only 21,000), including batches of stowaways. Fearful of potential large-scale unemployment, the Conservative government last week took the first step in closing Britain's door in the face of these Commonwealth immigrants.

Traditionally, Commonwealth citizens have enjoyed the same privileges as the jumbles, could not be denied entry into the British Isles--and, once in, could not be deported. But in a bill introduced in the House of Commons, the Tories sought to restrict the free flow of migrants to Britain from the Commonwealth. The government proposed that new arrivals be able to prove that they can support themselves before being allowed to settle in Britain. The bill also had provisions for deporting convicted criminals. Theoretically, the controls would apply equally to all the Commonwealth nations. But in effect, the bill would raise a color bar against colored migrants from the underdeveloped Commonwealth nations.

Leading off what promised to be a sharp debate in Commons, Labor Boss Hugh Gaitskell declared that it seemed "extremely odd, to say the least, that at a moment when the government is negotiating to enter the Common Market--as a result of which, if their negotiations are successful, there will eventually be completely free entry to nationals of countries within the Common Market--they should be closing the doors to Commonwealth immigration."

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