§ SIR W. EVANS GORDON (Tower Hamlets, Stepney)I beg to ask the 1146 Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can give the number of aliens who have arrived in this country in batches of nineteen or less, and have thus escaped examination, during the last six months; how many vessels have been concerned in bringing these people; and what is their classification according to nationality.
§ *MR. GLADSTONEI am unable to give the information asked as regards the present year, as the statistics for the last three months are not yet fully tabulated. I have, however, extracted from the complete figures for 1906, which are being prepared for publication, those relating to the last six months of that year. They are as follows:—Between 1st July and 31st December, 1906, 4,894 non-immigrant ships—i.e., ships bringing not more than twenty alien steerage passengers — brought a total of 66,636 alien passengers. After deducting cabin and exempted second-class passengers and transmigrants, there remain 11,502 alien passengers brought on non-immigrant ships. Deducting further (1) those who stated they were proceeding to a destination outside the United Kingdom, (2) those who held return tickets to the Continent, and (3) seamen, there is a total of 6,567 alien passengers on non-immigrant ships who may be said to have escaped examination by arriving on such ships. The nationalities of the 6,567 aliens were as follows:—Russians and Poles, 2,266; French, 1,691; Germans, 773; Dutch, 336; Scandinavians, 299; Italians, 267; Austrians, 240; Spaniards, 206; Swiss, 140; Belgians, 133; United States, 64; others, 152.
§ SIR W. EVANS GORDONTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any information that persons who have been rejected under the Aliens Act are brought into this country in small batches of nineteen or less; if not, whether he will cause inquiry to be made upon this subject; and whether any steps are taken to ascertain if persons rejected on account of contagious disease attempt to enter the country after rejection.
§ *MR. GLADSTONEI have no information to the effect suggested in the first part of the Question: and as to the 1147 last two sentences I do not see what steps I can take in the direction indicated, as there is no power to inspect alien steerage passengers on non-immigrant ships.
§ CAPTAIN CRAIG (Down, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state the number of aliens landed in Great Britain during the past twelve months, and the number of skilled artisans who have emigrated from Great Britain to foreign countries during the same period.
§ *MR. GLADSTONEThe total number of aliens who landed in the United Kingdom during the twelve months ended 31st December, 1906, was 560,368. This total includes aliens of every description, irrespective of the purposes for which they may have come to this country. The total number of skilled workmen recorded as leaving the United Kingdom during 1906 for non-European foreign countries was 38,600, of whom 23,245 were of British nationality. The number leaving for European countries cannot be stated.
§ CAPTAIN CRAIGWill the Government take steps to prevent the landing of these aliens to this enormous extent, and thus enable the British workman to find employment in his own country?
§ *MR. GLADSTONEreferred the hon. Member to his previous Answer as throwing light on the figures last given.
§ *MAJOR SEELYasked if the right hon. Gentleman, in view of the extraordinarily small number of aliens permanently remaining in this country, the great cost of administering the Act, and the hardships imposed by it on refugees, would not consider the desirability of repealing the Act altogether?
§ [No Answer was returned.]