§ 2.39 p.m.
§ LORD BARNBYMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government if in view of the reported improvement in the Canadian dollar-sterling balance of payments they are yet able to announce further relaxation in the restrictions on transfer of capital by intending migrants from United Kingdom to the Dominion of Canada.]
THE MINISTER OF CIVIL AVIATION (LORD PAKENHAM)My Lords, this question is kept constantly under review, as I stated in June in reply to the noble Lord's previous question on the same subject: but, as my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has very recently indicated in another place, I regret that it is still not possible to raise the currency allowance for emigrants to Canada.
§ LORD BARNBYMy Lords, since the noble Lord says the subject is constantly under review, may I ask whether he will bring to the notice of his right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer the fact that these restrictions are a grave handicap upon British interests who are trying to develop commercial connections in Canada which contribute towards our invisible balances, as the restrictions discourage craftsmen who might be useful and who might otherwise be intending migrants to Canada? Again, will he approach the Chancellor more particularly because of the current dissatisfaction in Canada in regard to the treatment which they have received in the matter of purchases from other sources than Canada? Lastly, will he do so because of the fact that one of his colleagues— the Home Secretary, I think it was— recently said, I believe, that our dollar troubles were at an end?
LORD PAKENHAMTaking the last point first, I am not aware that any member of the Government has said that our dollar troubles, or indeed any of our other troubles, are completely at an end. Going back to the noble Lord's preceding point, I cannot accept the implication in the 248 noble Lord's commentary that there is widespread dissatisfaction in Canada on the kind of point he mentioned. Going back to the still earlier suggestion of the noble Lord—the one most closely connected with his original question—I shall, of course, be happy to refer to my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer anything which comes from the noble Lord. If the noble Lord has any evidence about difficulties arising in the way he mentioned which prevent the movement of skilled craftsmen to Canada, I will gladly place that evidence before the Chancellor of the Exchequer. But I am bound to say, and I am glad to say, that up to the present time there has not been any evidence of that kind.
§ LORD BARNBYMay I point out to His Majesty's Government that an example of that sort of thing would not be likely to arise, because any intending migrant, knowing of the restrictions, would be deterred by the very fact that such regulations exist and that they would prevent him from taking his funds with him to Canada?