Mr. CLOUGHasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can supply any statistics showing the amount of British emigration since the Armistice to the various parts of the British Empire; and whether the Ministry-is sympathetically guiding this exodus from the country?
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYI would invite the attention of the hon. Member to the figures contained in the Board of Trade Journal of the 15th of April and 30th of September. He will see that the movement of British subjects from the United Kingdom with a view to permanent residence in other parts of the Empire, which has increased largely since the beginning of 1919, amounted during the year 1919 to 115,369 and during the first two quarters of 1920 to 97,916. With regard to the second part of the question220W I would refer my hon. Friend to the Report of the Oversea Settlement Committee for the year 1919 (Cmd. 573), which sets out the lines on which information, sympathetic guidance and assistance are given to ex-service men and others who are desirous of settling in other parts of the British Empire. I might add that I shall be glad if the word "emigration," with its implied suggestion of expatriation on the part of the individual and of loss on the part of the community which he leaves, could be habitually confined to migration to foreign countries. Change of residence to another part of the Empire is, I suggest, more appropriately described by some such term as "overseas settlement."