§ Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been directed to the fact that, in the Returns prepared by the Board of Trade and presented to Parliament, the number of emigrants from Ireland for the year ended 31st December, 1914, is stated to be 30,912, whereas in the Returns presented by the Registrar-General for Ireland and presented to Parliament for the year ended 31st December, 1914, the number is stated to be 20,314; whether, having regard to this startling discrepancy, he will state the methods of investigation by which the Board of Trade has come to that conclusion with respect to the number of emigrants from Ireland; and whether, having regard to the fact that the figures of the Registrar-General have been collected at Irish ports, the Board of Trade is in a position to give any explanation of the difference in its conclusion from that of the Registrar-General as to the number of emigrants from Ireland in 1914, and the difference in the conclusion of the Board of Trade that the number of emigrants from Ireland in 1913 was 44,396 from the conclusion of the Registrar-General for Ireland that the number of emigrants from Ireland in that year was 30,967?
Mr. RUNCIMANThe figures to which my hon. Friend refers have not escaped attention. I would point out that the basis of the two sets of figures is not identical, since the Returns of the Registrar-General for Ireland relate to natives of Ireland only, while the Returns published by the Board of Trade relate to all emigrants of British nationality to countries out of Europe whose last permanent residence was in Ireland.