HELP FROM BRITISH TREASURY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIV, Issue 281, 7 November 1924, Page 4

HELP FROM BRITISH TREASURY.

We cannot help thinking that our own Government is not altogether alive to the benefits which it is possible to secure for colonial undertakings in tlje way of financial assistance from the Imperial Treasury. In any event, we hear very little, or., nothing at ‘all. publicly mentioned. For instance, the Trades Facilities Act of 1924 (Imperial' in its second section, one of the practical results of last year’s Imperial Conference. authorises the British Treasury to make a. contribution of an amount not exceeding three-quarters of the interest payable in the first five years of the currency of a loan raised in the United Kingdom by or on behalf of anv public utility undertaking in any pnrt of His Majesty’s dominions. The Treasury ha s set up a committee, including representatives of the Treasury the Board of Trade, the Colonial Office, and th© India Office, to advise it of the cases yin which it can properly make contributions. In Australia His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner has forwarded to the pres<? a memorandum issued by this committee for the guidance of applicants for grants. All pnv_ ments it is stated, will be made to the Government of that nart of the British dominions in which the work is carried out. In no case will the Treasury contribution be paid direct to any company or municipality. The capital sum on which the contribution is to be based will be limited to the cost of materials to bo manufactured in the United Kingdom. Information required by the commitfee at the outset, broadly, will include details of the total cost of the scheme, with information as to the total cost in respect of which assistance is required, and as to the economic desirability of the project, evidence to show that the whole scheme can be financed, particulars of the orders to b© placed in the United Kingdom, piroof that the prices to be paid for th© same are fair and desirable, and evidence that the scheme is approved by the Government concerned and that the expenditure involved in the scheme is in anticipation of expenditure which would normally be incurred at a later date.. In the event of the committee requiring legal or technical advice in respect of any application, the cost will have to be met by the applicant. The Act places all applications subject to the following conditions:—The total sum payable by the Treasury must not exceed £1,000,000 in any one year, the total sum payable by the Treasury must not exceed £5,000,000 in all, and no assistance can be given after three years from the passing of the Trades Facilities Act, 1924. or in respect of any loan to be raised after that date. Applicants are further advised that a duplicate copy of the application should be sent to the Government concerned, to prevent any delay in the obtaining o.f its approval, that, in the terms of the Act. the scheme is available only in respect of public utility undertakings, defined as providing or improving communications, drainage, or irrigation, or providing power, lighting, or water, that the Act also, provides that the Treasury contribution be confined to loans raised in the United Kingdom, and that particulars of the full amount and term s of the proposed loan, showing how such is to be obtained, wUT be required by the committee.