Memories of 1956

Considering some of the comments made recently about immigrants and assylum seekers this letter in todays Scotsman may be of some interest.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/letters.cfm?id=20372007

 

The numbers of these immigrants seem slightly lower than in current times!
It is always possible to help a small number, but impossible to cope with large numbers arriving on our shores now.

 

At the time there were quite large numbers, certainly around where I lived and unlike the Poles and Italians there were no apparent traditional ties for then to the area. Of course over the years they sort of dissapeared as they either moved on or merged into the general population, easier if your skin is not coloured.

 

These numbers described as large, could you perhaps give figures? How do these figures equate to the numbers wishing to come here today?
I don't think skin colour is really a problem. In the mid sixties an Indian gentleman came to the Lossiemouth area, he started making a living selling items from a suitcase. A few years later he opened a small shop in Lossiemouth. This he expanded and turned into a larger shop. By 1970 he was settled and a pillar of the community and representing his ward on the local council.
He was however one of a few immigrants. Would the story have been the same if many had made the area home? I think the problems lie with numbers not skin colour.

 

Figures available for Hungarian Immigration 1957/58 show that 21000 immigrants arrived, 6000 later went to Canada and 1800 chose ti return to Hungary. To My reckoning that comes to less than 13000 total. Total immigration in 1957 for all countries was 42400
Source (http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr169/briefing.htm)

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/guide/migrantancestors/hungarian.htm

Now look at the immigration figures for 2005. An estimated 400,000. This is almost 10 times that for 1957.
We are a small country and cannot afford to allow immigration to continue on this scale

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2530795,00.html