I do not think, so far as this service is concerned, that it is given any preference or precede[...]ce over the ordinary Press service sent out. While we did consider it a matter of real Imperial importance that the doings of this House and of Parliaments in other parts of the Empire should be fully known in every part of the Empire, at the same time we felt that this was not a matter which, in time of peace, ought to be paid entirely by the Exchequer of this country, and negotiations have been set on foot with the various Governments in the Empire, as a result of which the service which is now run is one to which substantial contributions, amounting to considerably more than half the service, are paid by the Governments of the Dominions of New Zealand and South Africa, and by the various British Colonies in East and West Africa, in the Mediterranean and the East. The total expenditure now being incurred, and which has been incurred since the beginning of the year by the Imperial Government, amounts to £900 in respect of the Mediterranean and the Eastern service, £775 in respect of South, East and West Africa, and £1,500 in respect of New Zealand. The total annual expenditure, therefore, is just over £3,000, and of this present estimate of £13,000, something like £1,500 will be repaid in respect of the last three months by the Dominion Governments concerned, and the future expenditure under present arrangement will not be at the rate of £13,000 a year, but at the rate of something like £3,000 a year.

The Australian Government has not so far contributed to this scheme, but negotiations are in progress, and, if it does contribute, then, though there will be no addition to the expenditure on the part of this House, that contribution will make it possible to add very considerably to the number of words sent to every part of the Empire. As regards Canada, negotiations have also gone on for some time, although the actual service to Canada ceased in October last. The Canadian Government have been discussing the matter with the Canadian Press, Ltd., which is their newspaper association, and I believe that, as a result of meetings of that Association in November last, they have put forward a definite proposal to the Canadian Government, and we are awaiting something about that proposal from the Canadian Government. I hope I have made clear that, as regards the greater part of this £13,000, it represents the winding-up since the War, and that the very small amount for which the Exchequer will be asked on behalf of this Government will be substantially contributed to by the Governments of every Dominion to which this service goes; that this service is not in any sense in the nature of a propagandist Government service, but is simply directed to enabling that sort of news which is of real political value to be sent to every portion of the Empire, and is purely information sent in a fuller form than the ordinary commercial Press agency would send it in if left entirely to its own devices, and if it did not receive some assistance from the various governments in order to give greater amplitude in this respect.