§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Labour how many craftsmen or other workers have been sent, since July, 1945, 50W to Australia at the taxpayers' expense; and, in view of the shortage of manpower, is it proposed to send any more.
§ Mr. IsaacsSo far 192 ex-Servicemen have gone to Australia under arrangements for assisted migration agreed with the Australian Government, and it is anticipated that about 400 more will sail during the next two or three months. Generally in regard to the last part of the Question I would remind the hon. Member that, as stated in the White Paper "Migration within the British Commonwealth" (Cmd. 6658), it has been decided that, for reasons of broad policy, overseas settlement within the Commonwealth should be encouraged. It is the view of His Majesty's Government that the advantages of migration within the British Commonwealth considerably outweigh the relatively small loss of manpower to this country.