HC Deb 21 February 1933 vol 274 cc1570-1
10. Mr. McKEAG

asked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs the number of emigrants from this country to the Dominions during the year 1913, the average number for the 10 years 1920–30, and during the year 1932?

The SECRETARY of STATE for DOMINION AFFAIRS (Mr. J. H. Thomas)

The following are the figures for Canada and Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand and British South Africa for the periods in question: 1913, 272,804: average for the 10 years 1921 to 1930, 105,029: the first nine months of 1932, 8,726. The figures for the whole of 1932 are not yet available.

Mr. HERBERT WILLIAMS

Do I understand that those figures represent the excess of emigration over immigration, or are they merely the gross figures?

Mr. THOMAS

These figures are the gross figures, and they clearly demonstrate what a tremendous influence on our own unemployment figures the prosperity of the Dominions may have.