§ SIR W. EVANS GORDONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why the monthly Returns of immigrants have not been published; and whether he will furnish a Return showing the number of immigrants arriving in the port of London during 863 January and February, 1905, and January and February, 1906.
§ * MR. GLADSTONEAs I have already stated, the monthly Returns of alien immigration from the Continent have been discontinued because the Act under which the information was collected has been repealed. I have under consideration the best method of publishing the information collected under the Act of last session. In answer to the last paragraph I can give the following figures:— The Returns for January and February, 1905, show 4,075 and 3,323 alien passengers as having arrived in London from the Continent in those months respectively, or a total of 7,398, including a certain number of persons en route for other countries, and of seamen. In the present year the figures collected under the new and more complete system show totals for January and February of 4,208 and 3,626, or, together, 7,834. Of these, 850 are known to have gone out of the country, 246 are shown in the Returns as proceeding out of the country, and fifty-five had return tickets to a foreign country; while 109 were seamen and eighty-six were refused leave to land. If these figures are deducted, a total of 6,488 for the two months is left. Of this total, I ought to mention, more than half consists of first and second class passengers. Such passengers were not included in the Returns of previous years, and no information as to them is now available.