§ SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)To ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether a Committee is sitting at the Foreign Office to inquire into the distribution of the consular service with a view to the placing 453 of paid Consuls of British nationality in important commercial centres which have arisen since the last re-distribution, and the removal of paid posts from places which have fallen in commercial importance.
(Answered by Lord Cranborne.) Constant attention is paid to the distribution of the consular service, and the two principles indicated by my hon. and gallant friend are invariably borne in mind, but this is not one of the questions which has been referred to by the Committee mentioned by the hon. Member.