§ MR. SETON-KARR (St. Helen's)asked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether, considering the present condition of trade and agriculture in this Country, the rapidly increasing population, and the large numbers of our unemployed, the Board of Trade or Her Majesty's Government can take into their consideration the formation in the State of a permanent Emigration 735 Department, under the management of a responsible Minister, in order to promote, aid, and direct the voluntary emigration of suitable classes of persons to our Colonies; whether he can state or obtain the views and wishes of our various Colonial Governments on this subject; and, generally, whether Her Majesty's Government are prepared in any way to entertain and develop any scheme of State-aided or State-directed emigration?
§ MR. BAUMANN (Camberwell, Peckham)drew attention to the fact that emigration agents in this country refused to give assisted passages to families any member of which had received parochial relief in any form in the course of the year; and asked, Whether Her Majesty's Government would endeavour to get this harsh and impolitic practice altered?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. OSBORNE MORGAN) (Denbighshire, E.)I must ask for Notice of the last Question. In reply to the hon. Member whose Question is on the Paper, I have to say that various schemes have been submitted to the Colonial Office since the commencement of last year in relation to State-aided or State-directed emigration, notably that of the National Association for the Promotion of State-directed Emigration, which, on the 2nd of March, was communicated by Earl Granville to the Treasury and to the Local Government Board, as the Department best qualified to deal with any scheme of State-directed emigration for the alleviation of distress among the working classes. With the concurrence of that Board Earl Granville, on the 20th of March, addressed a Circular Letter to the High Commissioner for Canada and the Agents General of the Australasian Colonies, inquiring how far their respective Governments might be prepared to receive suitable immigrants early in the current year if satisfactory financial arrangements, with a view thereto, were made by Her Majesty's Government? Replies have been received from most of these gentlemen, which are now under consideration, and, with the other Papers, will be presented to Parliament at an early date. Meanwhile, Her Majesty's Government are making arrangements for the establishment of an "Emigrants' Information Bureau" in connection with 736 the Colonial Office where intending emigrants may obtain full and trustworthy information as to the state of the labour market in the various Colonies, and other particulars which it is desirable, and, indeed, indispensable, that emigrants should possess before finally making up their minds as to their choice of a Colony. The Correspondence to which I have referred is in type, and will very shortly be laid before both Houses of Parliament.