After the Immigration Committee had used their Report in 1889, in which they recommended that measures should be taken to secure with more frequency and greater accuracy an estimate of the amount of alien immigration into the United Kingdom, tardy steps were taken to obtain certain statistics; but it was not till May 1890, and after questions had been frequently asked in either House of Parliament, that alien lists were taken at ports other than London and Hull. Even now, though an attempt has been made to procure lists of aliens from a considerable number of ports, yet on the face of the monthly returns the lists are, admittedly, very imperfect. The lists received from Dover, Folkestone, and Harwich are only partial; while other ports of considerable importance, such as Lynn, Newhaven, Southampton, and many of the western ports, are omitted altogether. In all cases the masters of the vessels are perfectly able to shirk their duties if so inclined; so that not only are the returns very incomplete, but even the statistics given are very untrustworthy.
I have the best authority for making this charge as to the untrustworthy nature of the statistics given, which is so strenuously denied by those who put their faith in the official returns. My authority is a letter written to me on the 23rd April, 1891, by the Secretary of the Customs, in which he says:—"I am directed to acquaint you that the Department does not undertake in any way to check the returns of aliens made by the captains of the vessels, under the requirements of the Act of William IV.; and that the Customs Boarding Staff, as at present arranged, could not undertake such a duty without additional expense to the public, even if directions to that effect should be received from the Government."
This is perfectly natural and reasonable as coming from the Customs. The letter is merely quoted here to show that it is impossible to place faith in the present returns. It practically admits the whole contention: the alien lists are unchecked, and therefore unsatisfactory. A glance at the way in which they are prepared will show how unsatisfactory they are.
As we have already seen, the provisions of the Alien Act of William IV. have been allowed to fall into disuse, and the penalties for neglect of carrying them out are never enforced. Hitherto even such returns as have been sent in, have been loosely and carelessly prepared. In some cases masters of ships have neglected to render any returns of the aliens on board their vessels; in others, the duty, instead of being performed by the captain or master of the vessel, as the Act requires, has been delegated to some inferior officer, with the result that the work has been performed in a hasty and perfunctory manner. But, however carelessly these lists are prepared, the Custom House authorities accept them just as they are, and no provision has been made for checking them. It is obvious that statistics prepared in such a manner are of no great value. Yet it is upon the authority of such returns as these that we are asked to disbelieve the evidence of our own eyes, and to admit that the matter is not of sufficient urgency to claim the attention of the Government.
With regard to the steps which the Board of Trade are said to be taking to ensure more accurate statistics, it was stated by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach last session that in future the number of aliens on board the incoming vessels would be every now and then counted, and comparisons made with the master's returns. "Every now and then" is very vague; and until a check is systematically and regularly imposed upon the number of alien passengers on every ship arriving at all the ports, we cannot be sure of obtaining accurate returns. This vague promise on the part of the President of the Board of Trade was made—it should be noted—after a prolonged correspondence had taken place between that Department and the Association for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens. The Association, on the strength of the letter from the Secretary of the Customs, already quoted, had asked the permission of the Board of Trade—as the returns were admittedly unchecked—for its agent to be allowed, at the Association's expense, to go on board the incoming vessels for the purpose of checking the returns rendered by the masters. This request was met by non possumus[9]; and the Board of Trade wrote to say that though they had "no reason to believe that the returns hitherto received have been in fact inaccurate, arrangements have been made for a further check to be applied to the returns in future by the officers of the Customs when on board the ships." How far these vague promises given on the part of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach in the House of Commons, and by the Department in the letter quoted, have been redeemed, it is impossible to say. The promise of a "further check" is not more reassuring, than Sir Michael Hicks-Beach's "every now and then," especially when we bear in mind that it had been admitted that hitherto there had been absolutely no check at all. All that one knows for certain is that up to the present no action has been taken against the masters or owners of any ships, if the lists have been found to be incorrect.
Such then is a sketch of the way in which the Government figures are obtained, and of the efforts which have been made to secure their greater accuracy.
In compiling the alien lists in the future, some more definite information should also be forthcoming as to the means, nationality, and destination of the immigrants. The distinction "en route to America" is altogether inadequate for practical purposes. As matters stand, it is the only clue afforded us for judging which of the immigrants are merely birds of passage, or which come to settle here. Of course some of those who are "not stated to be en route to America" return again to the Continent; but against that unknown and altogether hypothetical number, may fairly be set the incomplete nature of the returns, and the practice so generally followed in preparing the alien lists of counting two children as one adult. As most of the immigrants against whom complaint is chiefly made do not come here alone, but with their families—and often large families—this is a point to be noted in considering the actual numerical value of the Board of Trade returns. Therefore, in making a rough estimate, I do not think I shall be far wrong if I consider the number of aliens classed in the Board of Trade returns as "not being en route to America," as practically representing about the number of those who remain here.
As matters stand, it is of course at present impossible to give the exact number; but such an estimate would be approximately correct. Nevertheless, in a letter to the Times in the month of August last, an official of the Board of Trade, writing under the nom de guerre of "Facts," did not hesitate to charge me with "attempted misrepresentation," and "an intention to create prejudice," because I estimated that the number of aliens quoted in the official returns as "not being en route to America," would probably represent about the number of those who come here to settle. The animus displayed in this letter was doubtless engendered by the remembrance of a previous epistolary duel. Opinions may differ as to the importance to be attached to this question of alien immigration; they may differ also as to the value of the Board of Trade returns; but however this may be, to write letters under a feigned name to the papers, deliberately accusing one's opponent of bad faith, is a method of conducting or prolonging a controversy happily rare. Though you may disagree with another man's views, you have no right to accuse him of dishonesty because he happens to differ from you.
After the correspondence in the Times took place, a note was appended to the monthly returns issued by the Board of Trade, to the effect that it was not implied "that the aliens not stated to be en route to America, come to this country for settlement; there being in fact a large emigration of foreigners from this country, while many of the aliens arriving from continental ports return again to the Continent." This clears the ground a little, and so far the correspondence cannot be said to have been altogether barren of results. The announcement that there is a large emigration of foreigners from this country is quite gratuitous, however, since we know that the number of aliens who came here en route to America, in the ten months ending 31st October, 1891, amounted to no less than 88,617. That does not affect the matter under consideration in the slightest. But the statement that "many of the aliens arriving from continental ports return again to the Continent" cannot be allowed to pass so easily. How is this conclusion arrived at? No account of foreigners leaving this country for European ports is taken. Of course many return, but who are they? Principally tourists, business men, and the better class of foreigners, against whom no complaint is made. But the great bulk of these are not included in the official returns at all, for the alien lists received from Dover, Folkestone,