§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the President of the Board of Trade what are the approximate figures showing the number of persons of foreign nationality at present employed in British merchant ships?
§ Mr. W. R. SMITHThe number of foreign seamen employed in British ships is only ascertained at a date when a census of seamen is taken, and the latest information available relates to 31st March, 1929. The number of foreign seamen (other than lascars) employed on that date in sea-trading vessels registered at ports in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands was 16,383, out of a total of 203,560, which included 53,571 lascars (British subjects and foreigners). It may be of interest to my hon. and gallant Friend to know that the total number of seamen engaged at 'mercantile marine offices in Great Britain and Northern Ireland during the quarter ended 30th September, 1930, was 155,522, a total approximately the same as that recorded for the second quarter of 1929 and 29,506 more than that recorded for the first quarter of 1929. These figures relate to engagements and not to individual seamen. The total for the latest quarter is made up as follows:—British, other than Asiatics and Africans, 149,187; foreigners, other than Asiatics and Africans, 3,313; Asiatics and Africans, 3,022. In this quarter the proportion of British other than Asiatics and Africans was rather greater than in either of the first two quarters of 1929.