MR. GIBSON BOWLESI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer can he state the total amount, on the 31st December last, of those particular liabilities of the State which in the accounts are termed other capital liabilities, and which amounted, on 31st December last, to £31,868,323; and, seeing that in the accounts there is given a list of estimated assets set against these liabilities, which list includes the advance of £3,000,000, since repaid, to the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, can he explain why there is not also included in the list the war contribution of £30,000,000 due from those colonies.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINIt is the practice to publish full particulars of the capital liabilities to which the hon. Member refers in Returns made up to the close of each financial year. To publish corresponding particulars for arbitrary dates in the course of the year would involve special calculations. The accounts up to 31st March next will be 316 published as soon as possible after that date. The temporary advance of £3,000,000 to the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony was shown in the accounts on the 31st March, 1903, as an unrepaid advance. The war contribution of £30,000,000 does not come within that description.
§ MR. McCRAE (Edinburgh, E.)asked whether it was not the case that the £3,000,000 repaid by the Transvaal was employed to meet the deficit of last year, and therefore could not be regarded as an asset.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINreplied that there were two sums of £3,000,000. One sum was advances from balances which was repaid into balances; the other sum was, in accordance with the note appended to the Estimates, devoted on repayment to reduction of debt.
§ MR. McCRAEBut the first sum cannot be regarded as an asset.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINOf course not.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESWhy is there not included the war contribution of £30,000,000 from the colony? Is that not regarded as an asset?
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe £3,000,000 was included because the sum was an unpaid balance; the £30,000,000 was not included because it did not come within that category. I may here anticipate an Answer which I had to give on behalf of the Prime Minister to a Question of the hon. Member for Lynn Regis appearing later on the Paper. I am not in a position to make any further statement on the subject of the war loans and balances.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESAm I right in concluding that the Government have ceased to regard that sum as an asset?
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe hon. Member is obviously not entitled to draw such an inference from my words. I must ask the House to rest content 317 with my statement that I am not in a position at present to give any further information.
§ MR. McCRAEWill the right hon. Gentleman say whether those who were prepared to guarantee the instalment of £10,000,000 are still prepared to fulfil their obligations?
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINI have not the slightest reason to suppose that they are not; indeed, I am sure that they are.
§ MR. WHITLEY (Halifax)Is there any provision made in the Estimates of the colony with a view to paying any part of this sum?
§ MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! That hardly arises out of the right hon. Gentleman's Answer.
§ The following is the text of the Question referred to—
MR. GIBSON BOWLESI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether any, and if so what, steps have been taken by His Majesty"s Government to procure the payment by the Transvaal and Orange River Colony of the war contribution of£30,000,000, to be raised by a loan at 4 per cent., whereof certain Transvaal mining firms undertook to underwrite£10,000,000, the payment of which contribution was the condition expressly attached by His Majesty"s Government to the guarantee by the United Kingdom of the Transvaal loan of£35,000,000; and whether, seeing that when this House was asked to agree to the guarantee in question on condition of the contribution of £30,000,000, His Majesty"s Government stated that the first instalment of that contribution would be received probably at the commencement of 1904, he can now give a definite assurance that either the whole contribution or the first instalment thereof will be received by any, and, if so, what date.