HC Deb 20 July 1965 vol 716 cc1329-30
26. Mr. Fisher

asked the Minister of Overseas Development whether she will make a statement about economic aid for the Federation of South Arabia.

Mrs. Castle

The allocations made to the Federation under the 1963 Colonial Development and Welfare Act have been £4.1 million; in addition Aden State has received an allocation of £1 million and has been offered an Exchequer loan of up to a further £1 million. Since 1st April, 1963, C.D. & W. schemes in the Federation totalling rather over £3 million have actually been approved. When the Overseas Development and Service Bill becomes law we shall be making a further C.D. & W. allocation to the Federation and I am considering its amount urgently in the light of the other calls on our aid and my recent discussions with the Federal Ministers of External Affairs and Finance.

Budgetary aid, for which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies is responsible, amounted to £3.26 million in 1963–64, £4.49 million in 1964–65 and for the current financial year Her Majesty's Government have agreed to provide a total of £5.65 million including grants to member States; all these figures exclude military aid.

Mr. Fisher

That was a very full answer indeed. When the right hon. Lady comes to consider future aid for South Arabia, will she bear in mind that if there is to be a workable, unitary State, which I know the Colonial Secretary is very anxious to create there, there must be a far greater agricultural, social and educational developments in the Protectorate States to bring them into line with Aden, and there must also be more roads to link the States together?

Mrs. Castle

I certainly agree with the hon. Gentleman about the priority of agriculture and of the other services which he mentioned. Road building can be a rather costly form of investment for any developing country, and I think that we should put agriculture first.

Mr. Jackson

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that one of our problems today is to face the neglect of the territories, particularly the Protectorate territories, in the 10 years before our Government came to power?

Mrs. Castle

That is so. That is why we have made the provision that we have under the Overseas Service and Development Act.

Mr. Fisher

With respect, I cannot let that pass. Last year, when my Government were still in office—and I know because I did it myself—we made very generous aid available—the right hon. Lady has given the figures—to the Federation and to Aden State, and the Ministers concerned in the Federation and in Aden expressed their great satisfaction to me personally for what we had given them.

Mrs. Castle

I think that the hon. Member will find that we have made more generous provision.