FUND FOR COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19690, 6 August 1929, Page 9

FUND FOR COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT.

COMMITTEE APPOINTED.

(BRITISH OIOTCIAI* WIRELESS.)

RUGBY, August 4.

The Colonial Secretary has appointed a committee, of which Sir Basil Blackett, the well-known financial expert, is chairman, to examine applications for assistance from the Colonial Development Fund, in furtherance of schemes likely to assist agriculture and industry in the Colonies, Protectorates, and Mandated Territories, and thereby promote commerce with, or industry in, the United Kingdom. The committee, of which the other members are Sir John Eaglesome, Sir Felix Pole, Messrs Ernest Bavin, H. Jackson, and Alan Smith, has already had a preliminary meeting, at which Mr J. H. Thomas. Minister responsible for employment, and Lord Passfield, Colonial Secretary, explained the objects for which the committee was appointed.

[The Colonial Development Bill, which was introduced by Mr Thomas in connexion with schemes for increasing employment, was received with general approval by the speakers o£ all parties and passed rapidly through both Houses. It provides for a fund of £1,000,000 annually for the development of agriculture in the colonies and protected territories. Schemes which will benefit include drainage in Sierra Leone, copper development in Northern Rhodesia, and the Zambesi bridge.]