1926 ((8) in 16503/26). The Governor had
previously borrowed money to make advances to
merchants and others in the Colony during a
period of financial stringency, and the Ordinance
was passed to charge the principal and interest
of these borrowings and such other similar
borrowings as might be made up to a limit of
£3,000,000 to Colonial revenue. The accounts of
4
the Trade Loan have been kept distinct from the
other accounts of the Colony (see enclosures to
(16) and (18) in 30028). According to the table
on page 116 of the 1935 Estimates, the total
issues to merchants, etc., in fact only amounted
to $15,633,582 of which $14,922,819 has been
to Jurance There Bend repaid, whilst borrowings by the Government, totalling
entį
£1,800,000 have been repaid in entirety. Provided,
therefore, that the Loan Reserve contains suffici ent
funds to cover the whole of the outstanding
advances to merchants, etc., which have not been
written off and which therefore figure# as
assets in the Colonial Balance Sheet, there seems
no objection to transferring the balance in the
Reserve to revenue. It is true, of course, that
the figure of loans outstanding may grow if arrears
of interest accumulate, but, as working accounts in
the past seem to have shown a substantial credit
balance on every year, I don't think this is
sufficiently likely to make the 0.A.G.'s proposal
unsound. The statement of assets and liabilities
for the 31st December, 1933 (page 115 of the 1935
Estimates) gives the Trade Loan Reserve as
$1,070,609 and the loans outstanding as $574,500
which