§ Sir R. Glynasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to what extent, when authorising block capital expenditure by the Colonial Development Corporation in any particular Colony, as required by statute, it is customary to ascertain whether the project can, in fact, be carried out by private enterprise, thus 87W freeing Colonial Development Corporation funds for other development schemes required by the Governor-Legislative Council of the Colony for which money from private sources is not readily available.
§ Mr. LytteltonFor the reason which my hon. Friend gives I consider that, as a general rule, it is preferable that the Colonial Development Corporation should keep its capital for projects which could not, or otherwise would not, be undertaken by private enterprise. It is impossible to lay down a hard and fast rule, however, because, if the Corporation is to fulfil its statutory obligation to break even, it must be permitted to engage in some schemes which might be sufficiently remunerative to attract private investors also; this is bound to apply where the Corporation, as it prefers, is associated with an existing commercial firm. It is, however, usually impossible to be sure whether or not private enterprise would undertake any given project if the Corporation did not.