§ MR. SAMUEL ROBERTS (Sheffield, Ecclesall)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why £700 is still provided for a commercial agent in 850 the United States seeing that by the new arrangement an allowance of £100 at Washington is granted for a secretary in the diplomatic service for doing the work of the commercial attaché.
§ MR. RUNCIMANThe appointment of the commercial agent in the United States does not expire until 31st March, 1908, and his services will therefore be retained until that date. Meanwhile, it does not appear that His Majesty's Embassy at Washington should be excluded from the operation of the new scheme as to commercial attachés.
§ CAPTAIN CRAIG (Down, E.)Seeing that the salary of the British Ambassador to the United States has been raised from £3,000 to £10,000, could he not pay for a commercial agent?
§ [No Answer was returned.]