§ MR. LOWLES (Shoreditch, Haggerston)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury if his attention has been called to the large increase in the numbers of alien immigrants arriving and settling in this country; and whether, in view of the grave evils arising therefrom, Her Majesty's Government will introduce a Measure to check such immigration in the interests of our own struggling industrial population who are prejudicially affected thereby?
§ MR. JOHNSTONMay I ask the right honourable Gentleman if he has considered the inexpediency of preventing England from being, as she has always 1290 been, a refuge for the persecuted people of all the world?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYWe think there ought to be increased powers to deal with the immigration of aliens who are likely to be a charge on the rates, or who are really destitute, but I cannot at the present moment make any statement with regard to legislation.