BRITISH CONSULATE-GENERAL AT NICE (Hansard, 13 December 1956)

VISCOUNT ELIBANK
My Lords, I beg to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)
My Lords, the answer to the first part of the noble Viscount's question is, "Yes". It is proposed to close Her Majesty's Consulate-General at Nice on January 31 next. Her Majesty's Consul-General at Marseilles will thereafter be responsible for affording consular services to British subjects on the French Riviera. It is recognised that inconvenience must inevitably be caused to the local British community and visitors by the closure; but this inconvenience will be palliated, so far as possible, by visits of a consular officer from Marseilles to the Riviera from time to time.
The cost of maintaining Her Majesty's Consulate-General at Nice for the financial year 1955–56 was £17,650. This figure excludes, on the one hand, receipts of consular fees (£1,823) and, on the other, recoverable expenditure on relief and repatriation of distressed British subjects (£2,756). The amount of the net grant- 1120 in-aid to the British Council for the financial year 1956–57 on the Foreign Office Vote as shown in Estimates is £2,202,650.

VISCOUNT ELIBANK
My Lords, I beg to thank the noble Marquess for his reply. As one who has known the French Reviera for many years, may I ask him whether he will not give serious reconsideration to the matter of the closing of this Consulate-General? Is the noble Marquess aware that the only facilities available to the French Riviera will, as he said, be at Marseilles, which is five hours' journey from Nice; that the cost of the return fare, second-class, is 3,000 francs; that Nice is the fifth city in France; and that Her Majesty's ships are often at ports on the Riviera? Would it not be more prudent, from the point of view of the national economy, in view of all these inconveniences, to effect an economy in the amount of the Treasury grant to the British Council which is staging such functions as Shakespearean plays in Paris and other cities throughout Europe?

THE MARQUESS OF READING
My Lords, the Consulate-General at Marseilles will not be the only facilities, as I made clear, because a consular officer will pay periodic visits. The noble Viscount asked me to have this matter reconsidered. I am afraid that I have always found that admirable arguments can be produced in favour of Government economy in general and against Government economy in particular. This matter has been decided only after careful consideration. I am afraid that I should only be raising quite false hopes in the noble Viscount if I suggested that reconsideration would lead to a change in the decision.

§ LORD DERWENT
My Lords, in view of the fact that there are 5,000 British residents in the area of which Nice is the centre, and some 30,000 to 50,000 visitors annually from Britain in that area, may I ask whether Her Majesty's Government consider that these British subjects will be adequately looked after by a Consulate-General 200 miles away, since some of the people in that area cannot afford to go to Marseilles and there are to be only intermittent visits by the Consul-General from Marseilles?

THE MARQUESS OF READING
I know that there are a large number of British 1121 residents and visitors in that area. but I do not know, and I am not at all sure that anybody else does, the number of those visitors who in the course of the year have cause to call upon the British Consulate-General. As I say, this matter has been carefully considered. There are many cities in the world in which no doubt, if there were unlimited funds, it would be desirable to have a British Consul or a British Consulate-General; but there must be some limit, and that limit has been reached as regards expenditure. I am afraid that Nice is one of the victims.

VISCOUNT ELIBANK
May I ask the noble Marquess this further question? Have any economies been effected in the grants to the British Council?

THE MARQUESS OF READING
That scorns to me something in the nature of a non sequitur. At the same time, I think the noble Viscount can be assured that more economies than many of us would like have had to be effected in the expenditure of the British Council.