§ MR. JESSE COLLINGS (Birmingham, Bordesley)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will state the amount of the yearly grant to the Emigrants' Information Office; whether, in addition to such grant, free postage and free printing are given; and what is the estimated money value of such addition.
§ COLONEL SEELYThe grant is £1,700 per annum, to which figure it was raised from £1,500 per annum on 1st April last. The office enjoys free postage and free printing. The money value of these privileges cannot be ascertained exactly without further inquiry, which will be made if the right hon. Gentleman desires it; but, on the basis of the present volume of work, it 1400 is estimated, roughly, that the value of the free postage is about £200 per annum, and the net value (that is, deducting the returns from the sale of handbooks) of the free printing and the free supply of stationery is about £1,550 per annum.