§ MR. LIONEL COHEN (Paddington, N.)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether there is any special reason why Foreign Office passports are not issued at Liverpool; and, if not, whether the Government will consider the propriety of appointing an agency at Liverpool for the issue of Foreign Office passports, in the same way as has been for some time done at Bath, Dover, Yarmouth, Hull, Newcastle, Ramsgate, and other outposts?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)The Passport Agencies at the Outports were instituted at a time when a passport was indispensable to travel on the Continent. Circumstances have now altered, and experience has shown that it is desirable that the issue of passports should be concentrated at the Foreign Office, from which they are easily obtainable by post. There being, therefore, no need for the Agencies, it has been decided to abolish them gradually by not filling the vacancies as they occur. This is the reason why there is no Foreign Office Passport Agency at Liverpool, while there still exist some in the less important towns of Bath, Yarmouth, &c.