HC Deb 25 June 1924 vol 175 cc405-6
3. Captain BRASS

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what effect the new United States immigration law, which comes into force on 1st July next, will have on the number of persons allowed to enter America from this country; and, in view of the fact that Ireland is now a Dominion, in what proportion the new quota allocated to Great Britain and Ireland will be sub-divided?

The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Ponsonby)

Separate quotas are allocated under the new Act to Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State respectively. No exact figures are as yet available, but it is estimated in the Report of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalisation of the House of Representatives on the Johnson Bill that the total number of immigrants to be admitted will be

Great Britain and Northern Ireland 41,772
Irish Free State 20,886
giving a total of 62,658, as against a total of 77,342 for the previous year, when separate quotas were not allocated. A reduction in the neighbourhood of 15,000 is therefore to be expected.

Captain BRASS

Can the hon. Gentleman tell us how the proportions have been allocated?

Mr. PONSONBY

No; I should require notice of that question.

Sir WILLIAM DAVISON

Will the hon. Gentleman go into the matter, seeing that, according to his statement, Ireland, with a population of 4,000,000, is to have half of what Great Britain and Northern Ireland are to have?

Forward to