§ SIR W. EVANS GORDON (Tower Hamlets, Stepney)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of aliens excluded from this country since the recent Act came into force were Russian subjects.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) Up to the end of February 139 alien immigrants did not receive leave to land; and, of these, it appears that eighty-eight were of Russian nationality, a percentage of 63.3.
§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can give the House the names and callings of all persons permitted to attend the meetings of the Immigration Board on behalf of aliens seeking admission; if representatives of British subjects, likely to be injured by such admission, will be authorised, as also of representatives of officers of public health; and if strict rules will be framed to secure the free judicial exercise of their powers by the Immigration Boards.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) I can best answer the hon. Member's Question by quoting No. 23 of the rules under the Aliens Act, which runs as follows:—The immigrant (and the master owner, or agent of the ship, if an appellant), the immigration officer, and the medical inspector, if present, shall be entitled to be heard, and the Board may put such questions to the alien or other appellant, and make such inquiries, if any, as they think fit. No other person shall be entitled to be heard without special leave from the Board. Subject as aforesaid, the procedure of the Board shall be such as the Board may determine. A further rule is in draft providing for reasonable facilities to be given to the Press, as I explained to the House on Monday.†
† See (4) Debates, cliii., 916.
§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department at what ports Immigration Boards have been established; and if he will take care that no new rule, or any alteration of any rule framed upon the report of an expert committee after full inquiry, is transmitted for the guidance of Immigration Boards, without giving both Houses of Parliament full opportunity of becoming acquainted therewith.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The ports are Cardiff, Dover, Folkestone, Grangemouth, Grimsby, Harwich, Hull, Leith, Liverpool, London (which includes Queenborough), Newhaven, Southampton, and the Tyne ports (comprising Newcastle, North Shields, and South Shields, which are in effect treated as one port). No rules or orders made under the Act are required thereby to be laid before Parliament, and, in the circumstances, I am not prepared to accede to the hon. Member's proposal.
§ MR. COATES (Lewisham)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury if he will defer the operation of the new regulations under The Aliens Act, 1905, until Parliament has had an opportunity of discussing the subject.
(Answered by Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman.) I understand from my right hon. friend the Home Secretary that the letter of advice to Immigration Boards and the instructions to immigration officers have already been sent out; that the Order restoring the number twenty for the purpose of defining an immigrant ship has been made and will be gazetted to-day; and that, though the rule as to the admission of the Press to board meetings is still in draft, the intention of it has already been conveyed in the letter to the Boards. In these circumstances I am not prepared to assent to the hon. Member's suggestion.