§ Lieut.-Commander Fletcherasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will now state the total amount of the payments made by His Majesty's Gov- 783W ernment to Reuters News Agency during the international crisis last September?
§ Mr. ButlerI have been asked to reply. No payment has as yet been actually made. A Supplementary Estimate shortly to be presented to the House of Commons will include a sum of £6,000 as provision for the payment to Reuters News Agency of expenses incurred in increasing their daily output of news to foreign countries since September, 1938, at the request of His Majestys' Government. The expenses consist mainly of the cost of transmission of additional words by Post Office wireless telegraph stations.