TNAG-0714-FCO40-910-Future-of-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 122

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I shall not detail what I would have written in a White Paper

on Britain's remaining dependent territories. However, I

would like to touch upon a few points by way of illustration:

Some facts about our involvement are in

themselves interesting.

Did you know that

in the Turks and Caicos [where is it some

may shout?] we spend in aid £1 million pa

on budgetary aid and £1 million on capital

and technical aid for 6,000 people. It

comes out (assuming a family of 2 parents and

2 children) at over £1,200 pa per family.

Or that we have more than 1,000 troops, 6

Harriers deployed from NATO at an annual

cost of £7 million pa in the justifiable

defence of Belize.

The point of these two sets of completely different figures is

not that one should draw the conclusion that we should not spend

money, or fulfil our commitments - on the contrary. But in

K

both cases one should ask the question is this sufficient?

£2 million devoted to the Turks and Caicos has not created

prosperity, real comfort: it is alleviation not a solution.

It is 1978: We have the full panoply of a Governor with

reserved powers which we have exercised recently to veto actions

of the locally elected ministers etc. Do we envisage this state

of things to be perpetual? If not what should happen? What are

the solutions? Surely at least one is entitled to put this

challenge to the British public, to the Turks and Caicos

/without