12
44
electricity and urban water
water supplies schemes, from which Colonial Governments or local authorities may expect in due course to derive some revenue. In such cases the appropriate form of assistance would be a grant of the whole or part of the interest payable during the initial years on loan monies or in some cases a free grant of a portion of the cost.
End
It is also usually an equitable arrangement from the point of view of the general community that those persons who obtain direct benefit fro schemes should be made to pay at least part of the cost by such means as, e.g., payment of a rate rather than that the whole cost of the work should fall either on the general body of taxpayers in the Colony or on the Colonial Development and Welfare Vote as the case may be.
(3) Maintenance of works and residual expenditure. Many schemes, whether of a capital or recurrent nature, involve continuing expenditure after the period covered by the scheme itself comes to an end. The extent of the residual charges should be estimated carefully in order that the Colony's budget will not be excessively overloaded with recurrent charges on works or services which are not revenue earning.
Needless to say, the maintenance of works which have been constructed with Colonial Development and Welfare assistance is a matter for which adequate provision should be made. Colonial Governments will readily appreciate the moral obligations of communities who receive such financial assistance and will doubtless take steps to see that the works which are undertaken with such assistance are kept in a good state of repair.
(4) Division of cost of schemes. The procedure contemplated in this memorandum and accompanying despatch is that Colonies should draw up programmes of development and welfare to be financed partly by means of the allocation of Colonial Development and Welfare assistance which is now being communicated to them and partly from the other sources specified in Section II (2) of this memorandum. This procedure will not exclude arrangements whereby certain schemes are financed wholly from the Colonial Development and Welfare Vote and others from local sources. Nevertheless there is a certain advantage in arranging that, particularly where recurrent expenditure is involved, a contribution towards the cost of the schemes should wherever possible be made from sources other than the Colonial Development and Welfare Vote. The fact that a contribution is being made towards recurrent expenditure on a scheme from the beginning reduces the burden of adjustment when Colonial Development and Welfare assistance towards the particular scheme in question has come to an end, while the payment of a contribution towards any scheme from local sources removes any danger that the scheme may be regarded solely as a creation of the Imperial Government, in the efficient execution of which the local community have no interest.
(12/45) (50787) Wt. 1256- 6/46 DL. G. 373