§ Mr. WILMOTasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the change in circumstances and policy as evidenced by the wide extension of no passport facilities for Continental visits, he will also reduce the fee for the issue of passports and renewals to the level prior to the alteration in 1931?
§ Sir J. SIMONThe extension of facilities for travel without passports does not seem to provide any reason for the alteration of fees charged when passports are required. The passport fees were doubled in 1931 in order to ensure that, despite the anticipated diminution in the demand for passports, the expenses of the Passport Office should be fully covered. This object would not be secured if the fees were now reduced to their former level.