§ 52. Colonel YATEasked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Canadian Government has decided to establish a woman's branch in Great Britain in connection with its immigration work, with 813 the object of encouraging women coming to Canada, and also that the question of female emigration from England has been discussed at the sittings of the Dominions Royal Commission; and whether, considering that the number of adult males on 1st January, 1911, in the British Isles was 12,023,000, and the number of females 13,384,000, or an excess of 1,361,000 adult women over men, and that during the year 1910–11, out of 123,013 emigrants, including children, to Canada, only 35,255 were female adults to 65,478 male, which shows that the emigration of men is, roughly, double that of women, he will now consider the question of forming an Imperial Board of Emigration, comprised of representatives of Great Britain and all the Dominions to go thoroughly into the question of female emigration, with a view to secure the greater equalisation of the sexes throughout the Empire?
§ The SECRETARY Of STATE for the COLONIES (Mr. Harcourt)I have observed the facts to which the hon. Member calls attention, but I am not prepared, in present circumstances, to consider the question of forming such a Board as is proposed. The subject is under consideration by the Dominions Royal Commission, and so far, as was pointed out in reply to a similar question by the hon. Member on 12th July last year by the President of the Local Government Board, it has not been considered necessary for the British Government to offer any special encouragement to female emigration.
§ Colonel YATEWill the Government take no steps, considering all the circumstances of the case?
§ Mr. HARCOURTI do not think we can take any steps. Female emigration to Canada and other parts of the Dominions of the Crown has been greater in the last twelve months than in any previous year.
§ Colonel YATEBut has it been sufficient to counterbalance the preponderance of women left in this country?
§ Mr. HARCOURTIt is counter-balanced.