§ 22. Mr. Sorensenasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can now give particulars respecting the apportionment of the estimated grant as between the West Indies, West African and other Colonial areas; and whether the balance of the £5,500,000 annual grant not sanctioned this year can be added to the full annual grant allocated next year?
§ Mr. Harold MacmillanThere is no intention of allocating the amount available for grant under the Colonial Development and Welfare Act, 1940, in advance. It is important that the arrangements should be elastic so as to enable account to be taken of changing circumstances. Amounts payable in any financial year are limited by status to £5,500,000; there is no provision for carry-over.
§ Mr. SorensenWhat happens to the balance, and is there not work that could be undertaken in war-time?
§ Mr. MacmillanWhat happens to the expended balance is what always happens to unexpended money that is not expended in a particular year.
Mr. Creech JonesDo I take it that the policy of the Government is no longer that made in the recommendation of the West Indian Royal Commission, accepted by the Government, that at least £1,000,000 should be available for social and economic development in the West Indies?
§ Mr. MacmillanThat would be a very false deduction. The Government are anxious to press forward with schemes with every possible speed, having regard to the claims of material and the immense difficulty of carrying out work on full peace-time ideas under the pressure of war.