§ MR. WEDGWOODI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will urge the Colonial Office to make inquiry into the present taxation of those Colonies which receive grants-in-aid, with a view to seeing whether the system of taxation in use in solvent Colonies could be so adapted to those insolvent Colonies that grants in-aid might no longer be needed.
§ MR. J. A. PEASE (for Mr. CHURCHILL)There is really very little difference in the system of taxation in Colonies whose conditions are generally similar such as the West Indian Islands, 412 the fact that one Colony is solvent and another is at present in receipt of a grant-in-aid is not due to the system of taxation, but to other causes. The Estimates of the Colonies in receipt of grants-in-aid are most carefully reviewed every year by the Secretary of State in consultation with the Treasury, and every reasonable opportunity is taken of increasing the local revenue in order to make both ends meet. In spite of active development work considerable reductions have this year been effected upon the Colonial Office Estimates.