§ Sir R. Glynasked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations what number of persons have made application to 114W settle in the Dominions; what is the number who have already been settled during the last two years in each of the Dominions; and what steps are being taken to provide sufficient shipping to accommodate all those who have made application but who have been unable so far to obtain passages.
§ Mr. Gordon-WalkerThere are no full official statistics on the number of prospective migrants to Commonwealth countries. The majority of inquiries about passages are made direct to the various shipping companies and agencies and do not disclose the purpose for which passages are required.
The following are the numbers of British emigrants by sea from the United Kingdom during the period 1st January, 1948, to 31st December, 1949, for settlement in the four Commonwealth countries named (residence for a year or more is regarded as permanent residence for this classification):
Canada … 55,095 Australia … 87,504 New Zealand … 16,188 South Africa … 39,093 Special shipping arrangements have been made for people accepted under schemes of Government Assisted Migration to Australia and New Zealand and at the present time there is no appreciable delay in securing passages for those who are eligible to participate in these schemes. The same applies to other passengers at present wishing to proceed to Canada, Australia and South Africa. but there is some delay in the case of New Zealand.