§ 68. Mr. Awberyasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies by what criteria he judged the claims put to him by the Prime Minister of Malta when he came to this country to seek assistance for the island of Malta; and if he will now, in the light of the developing situation there, consider increasing the amount of £100,000 which he offered.
§ Mr. SandysAs regards recurrent expenditure there seemed no financial reason why the Malta Government should not be able to balance the budget for 1962–63 without assistance from Britain; a balanced budget has in fact since been presented. As regards the capital budget some £12½ million grants and loans remain available from Her Majesty's Government for spending in this financial year and next, and to spend this money in the period would involve a much higher rate of expenditure than has been achieved in recent years.
In these circumstances budgetary assistance did not appear to be justified, but I offered to help in certain other ways.