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[Letterhead in blue ink reads 'PRIME MINISTER']

J.349/1/6 [handwritten in top right corner.]

25th August, 1937.

Dear Mr. Gray:

With reference to the letters addressed to you by Mr. Mahomet Allum, 181 Sturt Street, Adelaide, which you recently passed on to me, I have taken up with the Department of the Interior the question of the grant of permission for the entry to Australia of Miss Ekbal Begam, of Bombay, India, and now append hereto a report on the case which has been furnished by that Department:

"Mahomet Allum wrote from Bombay on 3rd June 1937, to the Parliamentary Librarian, asking that permission be obtained for him to bring to Australia his wife whom he said he had married there and whom he desired to cook his meals for him.

Allum first came to Australia in 1898 and, according to an application made be him in 1929, when he stated he was 59 years of age, he would now be about 67; but it has also been stated that he is 75 years or older.

The request was refused as the records showed that this man was previously married in Australia, his wife's maiden name being Annie Baker. Her whereabouts could not b [be] traced although she was said to be in Sydney four years ago.

Allum states that she deserted him about 14 years ago. In 1933 he produced a Deed of Separation dated at Broken Hill the 5th June, 1925. He also mentioned at that time that he had instructed his solicitor to endeavour to ascertain his wife's whereabouts in order to petition for a divorce.

On 28th July, 1937, Messrs. Baker, McEwin, Ligertwood and Millhouse, Solicitors of Adelaide, applied again on Mahomet Allum's behalf for permission for him to introduce his "wife", Ekbal Begam, to Australia.

[Addressed to:] Hon. E. Dwyer Gray, M.H.A.,

Parliament House,

HOBART.

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[Letterhead in blue ink reads ‘PRIME MINISTER’]

They were informed that the official records showed that their client had a wife in Australia, and if he could produce evidence that his previous marriage had been dissolved or that his wife had died, the question of allowing the Indian woman, Ekbal Begam, to enter Australia would receive further careful consideration."

You will appreciate that the circumstances as set out in this report preclude my taking any further action at the present time.

I return herewith the letters and enclosures which were addressed to you.

Yours sincerely,

[No signature.]