Editing Development aid (section)

===Britain's development funding for its colonies===
The concept of development aid goes back to the [[British Empire|colonial era]] at the turn of the twentieth century, in particular to the British policy of colonial development that emerged during that period. The traditional government policy had tended to favor [[laissez-faire]] style economics, with the free market for capital and goods dictating the economic role that colonies played in the [[British Empire]].

[[Image:British Political Personalities 1936-1945 CH4432.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne|Lord Moyne]], as [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] presided over a Development Committee for the colonies. He is pictured entertaining [[Jamaica]]n recruits for the [[RAF]].]]
Changes in attitudes towards the moral purpose of the Empire, and the role that government could play in the promotion of welfare slowly led to a more proactive policy of economic and developmental assistance towards poor colonies. The first challenge to Britain was the [[economic crisis]] that occurred after [[World War I]]. Prior to the passage of the 1929 Colonial Development Act, the doctrine that governed Britain (and other European colonizers) with their territories was that of financial self-sufficiency. What this simply meant was that the colonies were responsible for themselves.<ref>Joseph Hodge, Gerald Hodl, & Martin Kopf (edi) Developing Africa: Concepts and Practices in Twentieth-Century Colonialism, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2014, p.12.</ref>

Britain was not going to use the money that belongs to the [[metropole]] to pay for things in the colonies. The colonies did not only have to pay for infrastructural development but they also were responsible for the salaries of British officials that worked in the colonies. The colonies generated the revenues to pay for these through different forms of taxations. The standard taxation was the import and export taxes. Goods going out of the colonies were taxed and those coming in were also taxed. These generated significant revenues. Apart from these taxes, the colonizers introduced two other forms of taxes: hut tax and labor tax. The hut tax is akin to a property tax today. Every grown up adult male had their own hut. Each of these had to pay a tax. Labor tax was the work that the people had to do without any remunerations or with meager stipends.<ref>Bekeh Utietiang, Planning Development: International Experts, Agricultural Policy, and the Modernization of Nigeria, 1945-1967 (Ph.D Thesis), West Virginia University, Morgantown, 2014, p. 38.</ref> As the [[Financial crisis|economic crisis]] widened and had significant impact on the colonies, revenues generated from taxes continued to decline, having a significant impact on the colonies. While this was going on, Britain experienced major unemployment rates. The parliament began to discuss ways in which they could deal with Britain's unemployment rates and at the same time respond to some of the urgent needs of the colonies.<ref>[[Stephen Constantine (historian)|Stephen Constantine]], ''The Making of British Colonial Development Policy, 1914-1940'', London: Frank Cass, 1984, p.183.</ref> This process culminated in the passage of the Colonial Development Act in 1929, which established a Colonial Development Advisory Committee under the authority of the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]], then [[Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield|Lord Passfield]]. Its initial annual budget of £1 million was spent on schemes designed to develop the [[infrastructure]] of [[transport]], [[electrical power]] and [[water supply]] in colonies and [[dominion]]s abroad for the furtherance of imperial trade.<ref name="Kanbur">{{Citation |last1=Kanbur |first1=Ravi |title=Handbook of the economics of giving, altruism and reciprocity: foundations, volume 1 |year=2006 |postscript=. |editor-last1=Kolm |editor-first1=Serge-Christophe |editor-last2=Ythier |editor-first2=Jean Mercier |contribution=The economics of international aid |location=Amsterdam London |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=9780444506979 |author-link1=Ravi Kanbur |editor-link1=Serge-Christophe Kolm}}</ref> The 1929 Act, though meager in the resources it made available for development, was a significant Act because it opened the door for Britain to make future investments in the colonies. It was a major shift in colonial development. The doctrine of financial self-sufficiency was abandoned and Britain could now use metropolitan funds to develop the colonies.

By the late 1930s, especially after the [[British West Indian labour unrest of 1934–1939]], it was clear that this initial scheme was far too limited in scope. A [[Royal Commission]] under [[Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne|Lord Moyne]] was sent to investigate the living conditions in the [[British West Indies]] and it published its [[Report of West India Royal Commission (Moyne Report)|Report]] in 1940 which exposed the horrendous living conditions there.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fraser |first=Cary |year=1996 |title=The Twilight of Colonial Rule in the British West Indies: Nationalist Assertion vs. Imperial Hubris in the 1930s |url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/45526514 |journal=Journal of Caribbean History |volume=30 |issue=1/2 |page=2}}{{Dead link|date=November 2019|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Basdeo |first=Sahadeo |year=1983 |title=Walter Citrine and the British Caribbean Worker's Movement during the Commission Hearing |url=http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/results?sid=2784e56a-6ebf-4f20-9439-1158ddf4d76c%40sessionmgr4&vid=11&hid=28&bquery=(AU+(basdeo))+AND+(citrine)&bdata=JmRiPWFobCZkYj1oaWEmdHlwZT0xJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d |journal=Journal of Caribbean History |volume=18 |issue=2 |page=46}}{{Dead link|date=January 2020|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

Amidst increasing criticism of Britain's colonial policies from abroad and at home,<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |title=The Trinidad Labour Riots of 1937 |page=229}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Kelvin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWAYAAAAYAAJ |title=Race and Class Struggles in a Colonial State |publisher=University of Calgary Press |year=1994 |isbn=9781895176438 |location=Calgary |page=186}}</ref> the commission was a performance to showcase Britain's "benevolent" attitude towards its colonial subjects.<ref name="Thomas267">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re3TAAAAMAAJ |title=The Trinidad Labour Riots of 1937 |publisher=University of West Indies Press |year=1987 |isbn=9789766200022 |editor-last=Thomas |editor-first=Roy Darrow |location=St. Augustine |page=267}}</ref> The commission's recommendations urged health and education initiatives along with increased sugar subsidies to stave off a complete and total economic meltdown.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parker |page=23}}</ref> The [[Colonial Office]], eager to prevent instability while the country was at [[World War II|war]], began funneling large sums of cash into the region.<ref name="Thomas283">{{cite book |last=Thomas |title=The Trinidad Labour Riots of 1937 |pages=283}}</ref>

The Colonial Development and Welfare Act was passed in 1940 to organize and allocate a sum of £5 million per year to the [[British West Indies]] for the purpose of long-term development. Some £10 million in loans was cancelled in the same Act.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolland |title=The Politics of Labour in the British Caribbean |page=383}}</ref> The Colonial Development and Welfare Act of 1945 increased the level of aid to £120m over a twenty-year period. Further Acts followed in 1948, 1959 and 1963, dramatically increasing the scope of monetary assistance, favourable [[interest rate|interest-free]] [[loan]]s and development assistance programs.