HC Deb 10 November 1949 vol 469 cc156-7W
Sir R. Glyn

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement as to the present position in British Somaliland and to what extent projects that equally concern French Somaliland are carried out as joint undertakings; what has been the total of British expenditure in the whole of Somaliland since 1939 to the present time; and how far any portion of this is repayable by the French authorities.

Mr. Creech Jones

Civil administration was resumed in the Somaliland Protectorate on 15th November, 1948. It is His Majesty's Government's policy to collaborate with the French Government on matters of common interest to their respective colonial territories in Africa, but no specific joint projects have been carried out affecting the Somaliland Protectorate. There is therefore no question of any portion of British expenditure in Somaliland Protectorate being repayable by the French authorities. So far as can be ascertained the total expenditure by His Majesty's Government on civil administration in the Somaliland Protectorate from 1939 to the present date has been £1,378,374. Of this amount £230,156 has been issued under the Colonial Development Act, 1929, and the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts, 1940 and 1945; £596,533 has been issued from the Colonial and Middle Eastern Services Vote as grants-in-aid of expenses of administration; and the net cost to His Majesty's Government of the government under British Military Administration from 1941 to 1948 was £551,685. The last figure includes the recorded value of stores and services, etc., provided by the Army after 30th June, 1943; it is regretted that there are no records of the cost of such provision before that date.