§ 2.45 p.m.
§ LORD MANCROFTMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made towards securing a reduction in postage rates for newspapers transmitted by air mail within the British Commonwealth.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR COLONIAL AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF LISTOWEL)My Lords, the difficulty in allocating the necessary additional aircraft capacity to enable air mail facilities for second class mail to be provided at reduced postage rates is being resolved. The Postmaster-General hopes very shortly to provide such facilities to Canada in addition to those already available to the British West Indies, thanks to the co-operation and agreement of the Minister of Civil Aviation and British Overseas Airways Corporation. The provision of an air mail service for second class mail to Commonwealth destinations on the "Empire" routes to South Africa, India and Australia is under active and urgent consideration. It is hoped, in the absence of any unforeseen difficulties, to extend the service as and when this becomes possible and to cover all the areas concerned by about the end of the year.
§ LORD MANCROFTArising out of that reply, for which I am very grateful to the noble Earl, may I ask him the following supplementary question: Do not His Majesty's Government agree that the speedy dissemination of British news and views, which is very important today, is being seriously handicapped by the fact that it costs nearly ten times as much as it did before the war to send even the thin paper edition of The Times or Daily Telegraph to, say, Australia? Will His Majesty's Government do all they can to widen and accelerate the admirable proposals to which we have just listened?
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELI entirely agree with what the noble Lord says, and it is for that reason we are proposing to reduce the postage rate for printed matter, as I have already shown in the reply I have given.
LORD HAWKEArising out of the noble Earl's reply, may I ask this question? In view of the fact that the British South American Airways have managed to reduce their charges for carrying newspapers for the Post Office while the 423 B.O.A.C. have not done so, will the proposed amalgamation of these two Corporations result in the raising of air mail rates for newspapers to the West Indies and South America?
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELThat is another question, and I should wish to have notice of it before I could give a reply to this House.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMay I ask the noble Earl whether His Majesty's Government have under consideration the reduction of rates to Malaya, where the rates are extremely high?
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELThat, again, is another question which I cannot answer now, but I will refer it to my right honourable friend the Postmaster-General.