asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he can give the names of the steamship companies receiving subsidies from the Imperial Government and the amount of each subsidy, and the reason for its payment?

Apart from payments by the Post Office, I am only aware of two steamship companies which receive subsidies from Imperial funds, namely, the Cunard Company, £150,000 per annum (under the agreement of 1903), for rights to the hire or preemption of the "Lusitania" and "Mauretania" as armed cruisers; the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, £12,500 per annum, for improved Intercolonial service in the West Indies. Details of the payments made by the Post Office under mail contracts are given in Appendices C and D to the Report of the Postmaster-General for 1911–12, Cd. 6495.