ENTIAL
policy should be directed towards achieving economic
independence at tolerable standards of living which
a territory can sustain.
There may however be territories
in which we felt it would be justifiable to raise stan-
dards higher than they can sustain unaided; this would
usually mean prolonging their dependence on development
aid and perhaps eyen budgetary aid. The country
of individual territorier
studies, which the Report recommends, would identify
these cases. The Treasury, we know, have doubts about
the desirability of a substantial increase in aid to the
dependencies, given the other pressures on the aid
programme. We recognize this competition for resources,
but the aid programme is growing, and it would take
time before new aid policies for particular territories
were translated into additional disbursements.
We do
not think it would be impossible on present plans to
ind the money to finance such cases where they are
hown on balance to be desirable.
CONCLUSION
HMG's policy towards the few and small remaining
dependencies should be determined by political rather
than financial considerations. We invite our
colleagues to agree with the political conclusions set
out in paragraph 2 above, and to endorse the
recommendations in paragraph 10.10 of the Review for
further studies of individual territories, as a basis
for eventual policy decision both on the future of each
political development and on the economic aid policy
appropriate to each.
CONFIDENTIAL
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