REPORT
on the
EMIGRANTS' INFORMATION OFFICE,
For the Year ended 31st December 1891.
(in continuation of [C.6277] February 1891.)
Presented to both Houses of Parliament
by Command of Her Majesty.
February 1892.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE,
by Eyre and Spottiswoode,
Printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty.
1892.
[C.-6573.] Price 1d.
REPORT ON THE EMIGRANTS' INFORMATION OFFICE FOR
THE YEAR ENDED THE 31ST OF DECEMBER 1891.
... At the end of the year an addition was made to
the publications of the office in the form of a
summary of the various reports from Her Majesty's
consular representatives in the United States and
in Central and South America, which were published
by the Foreign Office during 1891, prominence being
given to such passages as bear on labour questions
and on the prospects of British emigrants. Some
summary of the kind had been asked for in Parliament;
and, in preparing it, the Committee have acted in
compliance with the instructions of the Secretary
of State to the effect that they should deal to
some extent with foreign fields of emigration as
well as with the British Colonies....
...The number of personal inquiries in 1891 was
4,561 against 5,065 in 1890, showing a decrease
of 504. These figures indicate that during the
year under review, as during the two previous years,
there was no strong wave of emigration; and, though
the returns published by the Board of Trade show
that the number of emigrants from British ports
was larger in 1891 than in 1890, they also show
that the increase was entirely in the foreign
element, the number of British emigrants being
almost exactly the same in the one year as in the
other.
Of the personal inquiries during the year nearly
26 per cent. were made by mechanics, 21 per cent.
by general labourers, over 13 per cent. by clerks
and shopmen, and 9 per cent. were classed as
miscellaneous; the percentage of inquiries by
female domestic servants was rather smaller than
in 1890. Of the callers who came under the
heading of mechanics, carpenters and joiners,
engineers, and painters were the most numerous.
It may be noted that in 1891, as in 1890, the
number of callers in the last quarter of the year
was much smaller than in either of the three
preceding quarters. About two-thirds of the
applicants by letter write from London, the Home,
Midland, or Northern counties, whereas residents
in the agricultural districts of the East or West
of England trouble the office very little with
inquiries, and the same may be said of Scotland,
Wales, and Ireland. Not many of the writers state
their trade or profession; among those who do,
mechanics are the most numerous.
From the point of view of intending emigrants the
year 1891 was not an eventful one in the British
Colonies. Emigration was not encouraged by any
lowering of rates of passage, which are on the
average at the present time as high as they were
a year ago.
The total number of emigrants to Canada from
British ports was slightly larger in 1891 than in
1890, but the increase was entirely composed of
foreigners, the number of British emigrants being
below that of the former year; the bonuses,
however, which have been during 1891, and still
are, being offered by the Dominion Government
should lead to increased emigration. Settlers
who take up land in Manitoba, the North-West
Territories, and British Columbia within 18
months of their arrival in the country may now
obtain bonuses at the following rates:- $10 for
the head of the family, $5 for the wife and
each adult member of the family over 12 years
of age, and a further sum of $5 for any adult
member of the family over 18 years of age
taking ip land within the specified period....
...The Report of the Colonisation Committee
recommended that the funds of the office
should be increased "so as to enable branch
offices to be opened in Ireland, in Scotland,
and in some of the large provincial towns."
Accordingly, on receipt of the additional
grant, the Committee took steps in the
direction of establishing local branches.
They were advised that such branches are on the
whole less needed at the present time in Ireland
than in England, ....
... The work of spreading in the great centres
of population a knowledge of the British Colonies
and of foreign fields of emigration needs no
apology or recommendation, but it seemed to the
Committee to be still more important to give
every facility for information in country districts,
in order that agriculturists and farm labourers -
the classes most wanted in the Colonies - might,
if they wished to move, be encouraged to go to
North America, Australia, or South Africa, instead
of merely drifting into the nearest large town.
In most cases the depots have been established in
connexion with Public Libraries, and the
Librarians and Managing Committees of the Libraries
have shown the most ready courtesy in the matter.
The following depots have been opened since the 1st
of October last:- Liverpool (at the Board of Trade
Emigration Office), Glasgow (at the Mitchell
Library), .... At all these centres arrangements
have been made for answering personal inquiries,
in addition to the distribution of circulars and
handbooks; ....
As none of the branches had been in existence for
more than three months before the year closed, it
is too soon to judge how far they have been or
are likely to be of real use to the public, and
the experiment is one which will no doubt require
many changes and modifications from time to time.
So far, no great results have been achieved, and
this is likely to be the case as long as trade is
fairly prosperous in this country; but the important
point is to develop and organise some system of
information which will be well known and fully
trusted when times of distress increase the number
of those seeking to better their fortunes abroad.
Perhaps the most hopeful centres so far have been
Bradford, Liverpool, and Cardiff; and the small
experience hitherto gained seems to point to the
fact that there is as much to be done at present
in preventing dwellers in the large towns from
going out to countries which are unsuited to them
or for which they are themselves unsuited, as in
directing emigrants of the Agricultural classes
to one or other of the British Colonies.
C. P, LUCAS
28th January 1892.
