21. Mr. ROSTRON DUCKWORTHasked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether, in view of the continued excess of British home-comers as compared with British emigrants in 1935, he can state the reasons for this return of emigrants; and whether the majority of these home-comers have been unsuccessful in business or agriculture, or what other reasons exist?
Mr. M. MacDONALDThe reasons for the migration movement into the United Kingdom are various, and I am afraid that it is not possible within the limits of an answer to a question to describe them in detail. They vary from people returning to this country to retire after a successful life overseas to people returning owing to a failure to settle overseas during the economic depression. I should point out that the annual inward movement on the whole has not varied a great deal in volume since 1921, but that in the last few years it has shown a slight but progressive decrease. The excess to which my hon. Friend refers is explained by the fall in the figures of outward migration roughly from 107,000 in 1929 to 24,000 in 1935, due mainly to the unfavourable economic conditions which have prevailed overseas in recent years.