Emigration of Men of Military Age.
EMIGRATION OF MEN OF MILITARY AGE. 73. Mr. BIGLAND asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will say whether out of 500 third-class passengers on the Cunard liner "Saxonia", which sailed from Liverpool on 6th November, nearly the whole of this number are men of military age; will he inform the House the respective numbers of English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh on board this vessel of military age; will he state whether the instructions to the agents of the American liners "St. Paul" and "New York", appointed to sail from Liverpool 13th and 20th November, respectively, are that they can take no further third-class passengers, as the ships are full; and whether, in view of these facts, his Department will stop all men of military age from leaving this country for the next two months? Sir J. SIMON: As the hon. Gentleman will have seen from this morning's newspapers, certain action has already been provisionally taken to deal with the matter to which he refers. I have been in active consulation with the other Departments concerned, and if the hon. Member puts down a question in the course of a day or two, I hope to be able to make a more complete statement of what is being done. In the meantime, let me say that the figures for emigration from Ireland are much below average; that so far as there is any unusual movement during the last week or two, it is not confirmed to any one quarter of the Kingdom, and is, as I happen to know, condemned by leaders of public opinion in Ireland no less than by leaders of public opinion in Great Britain. Mr. JOHN REDMOND: On the question of the nationality of these would-be emigrants, might I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the following statement which appears in a number of the London papers is correct:- "The passports department of the Foreign Office is daily crowded and all sorts of excuses are being offered by young English slackers to go abroad. The average number of passports issued before the War was 30 a day. The applications now are nearer 500?" Sir J. SIMON: I am not able to confirm those figures. I have had no opportunity of investigating them, but my information certainly is that the criticism is one which arises not in reference to one portion of the United Kingdom alone, and the remedies that have already been decided on and will be proposed will apply to the whole United Kingdom. Sir C. KINLOUCH-COOKE: Did not the right hon. Gentleman inform the House a week ago that there was no occasion whatever to take any action? Sir J. SIMON: No, I did not. What I said was that the returns which were available showed, as they did show, that emigration on the whole is not so great at the present time as in previous years. Mr. JOHN O'CONNOR: Can the right hon. Gentleman state whether representations have been made to him by bankers, magistrates and others as to the abnormal numbers of Englishmen of military age applying for certificates of identification for the purpose of applying for passports to neutral countries for real or assumed business reasons, and have any steps been taken to investigate the bona fides of such applications? Sir J. SIMON: I cannot answer my hon. Friend about that without notice. I shall be very glad to look into the matter now that he has raised it. Mr. PENNEFATHER: Can the right hon. Gentleman see his way to acknowledge the patriotic action of the seamen and firemen of the port of Liverpool - (HON. MEMBERS: "Order, order!") Mr. O'MALLEY: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that for many years in the West of Ireland where the land is very poor and the Land Acts have not been applied, a considerable number of young men go to America, and that that is the explanation of the presence of those emigrants in Liverpool? Sir J. SIMON: No doubt what the hon. Gentleman says is quite true, but the material question is whether this is an unusual movement, and what, if anything, should be done to check it.Close