72 Emigration and its Causes 



When the Great War broke out in 1914 aliens 

 of military age belonging to enemy countries were 

 interned, and rigid supervision was exercised over 

 those who were allowed to retain their liberty in the 

 British Isles. 



The policy of all civilised countries is to encourage 

 immigrants of the right sort, and to discourage the 

 undesirable, such as paupers, feeble-minded, diseased, 

 drunken, and illiterate. In some of our Dominions the 

 laws relating to alien immigration are much stronger 

 than our own, and Australia puts a poll tax of 100 

 on Chinese and coloured people. One of our recent 

 Acts forbids immigrants to land from ships except at 

 ports, where immigration officers are stationed, whose 

 leave must first be obtained. The total number of 

 aliens in the British Isles is about 300,000, and of this 

 number London claims nearly one-half. In 1913 1822 

 aliens were refused, admission to our shores owing to 

 want of means, ill-health, or some other cause ; in the 

 same year 1971 aliens were in our prisons, and 311 

 aliens were expelled from our country. 



There is no doubt that in past centuries our country 

 has gained materially from the influx of aliens, and it 

 is worthy of note that in most cases these immigrants 

 have reached our shores to escape punishment, or per- 

 secution on religious or political grounds. The Jews 

 at all times have sought an asylum in our country, and 

 in the Plantagenet times they came as money lenders 

 from Lombardy and elsewhere, and settled in London 

 at Lombard Street, which is still the centre of the 

 banking community. In the later years of the nine- 

 teenth century and the beginning of the twentieth 

 there was a great inrush of Jews from Poland, Russia, 



