§ SIR CHARLES DILKETo ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the announcement by the French Under-Secretary of State for Posts, that an agreement has been concluded directly between His Majesty's Government and France for the laying of a cable between Mauritius and Réunion to connect with the Réunion-Madagascar cable for which funds were voted in France more than a year ago; whether any information can be given as to the nature and details of the agreement; whether the Cables Committee recommended by Lord Balfour of Burleigh's Committee has been organised; and, if so, whether the present international agreement is a first result of the work of any such Committee.
(Answered by Earl Percy.) Negotiations have been in progress between the British and French Post Offices with regard to the laying of a cable between Mauritius and Réunion, but no definite agreement has been arrived at. The Cables Committee recommended by Lord Balfour of Burleigh's Committee was to bean extension of the Inter-Departmental Committee known as the Cables (Landing Rights) Committee, which has been established for some years. The question of the proposed Mauritius-Réunion cable has been under the consideration of the latter Committee.