Hence, it may be fairly said that this "immigrant emigration," upon which the Board of Trade appears to lay so much stress, is inconsiderable, and at any rate does not touch the class against which complaint is chiefly made. Against it, is to be set the incomplete nature of the lists actually rendered; the fact that the returns are not received from _all_ the ports of the United Kingdom; the untrustworthiness of such as are received; and the practice in preparing them of counting two children to one adult. If all these considerations be balanced against the unknown number of aliens "who return again to the Continent" or move on elsewhere, it certainly cannot be said, that, in estimating the number of those who are stated to be "not _en route_ to America," as the approximate number of those who remain here, one is guilty of exaggeration. If anything, one under-estimates rather than overstates the case. The fact of the matter is, that all attempts to bolster up the official returns, so long as they are compiled in the present manner, is foredoomed to failure. They are about as unsatisfactory and as inadequate as they can well be, and the distrust with which they are viewed is widespread. The importance of trustworthy official statistics upon this matter can hardly be overrated. So long as they are wanting, there will always be a tendency to exaggerate the evil on the one hand, and to minimize it on the other. Things are bad enough as they are, and there is nothing to be gained by exaggeration. It is greatly to be hoped that the present Government, which has done much in the way of good and useful reform, will take steps to wipe away this reproach--for it is nothing less than a reproach--that, while we have such admirable statistics as to the imports of merchandise, the returns as to the importation of human beings should remain in their present imperfect state. CHAPTER III. JEWISH IMMIGRATION.