REUTERS, the principal British and International News Agency, founded over eighty years ago by Baron Julius de Reuter, who established a system of offices and correspondents through out the world. He concentrated in London the news from these correspondents and then redistributed it. In 1865 de Reuter transferred his business to a joint stock company, of which he became the governing director; he was succeeded in 1879 by his elder son, Baron Herbert de Reuter (d. 1915). The Hon.
Mark F. Napier was chairman of the company from 1910 to 1919, and in conjunction with him, Sir Roderick Jones, the present chairman and managing director, for national reasons arising out of the World War, converted the agency from a public company into a private trusteeship. This involved buying out the then exist ing shareholders for a sum of considerably over half a million sterling. Ten years later Sir Roderick reorganized the trusteeship in conjunction with the Press Association to ensure the passage ultimately of the complete ownership of Reuters to the news papers of the United Kingdom. The principal news agency in
every country in the world is affiliated with Reuters. Reuters' cor respondents resident in the respective countries enjoy the ex clusive call for Reuters' purposes upon the news of these agencies.
Where Reuters do not supply their telegrams direct to the news papers, they deliver their service to these agencies to be disposed of by them in their territories. In addition to their services of imperial and foreign political news Reuters have greatly extended, especially to the Continent and to the East and the Far East, their services of commercial and financial prices and intelligence; and at the present time (1929) they conduct from the Rugby and Northolt Stations the largest wireless telegraph service of its kind in the world, consisting every twenty-four hours of over oo emissions which are received simultaneously, and for all prac tical purposes instantaneously, in each of the great world business centres. (W. L. Mu.)