TRADE FACILITIES. In Great Britain the trade facilities scheme formed part of the remedial measures laid before the House of Commons by the Coalition Government of the United Kingdom in the autumn of 1921. Prices were then at their lowest; trade was acutely depressed; and unemployment had reached an alarming figure. One of the factors retarding the recovery was the difficulty experienced in raising capital, and it was proposed to use the credit of the Government to overcome the obstacle. The Trade Facilities Act of 1921 empowered the Treasury to guarantee the principal and interest, or either the principal or interest, of loans for capital purposes. No loans could be made by the Treasury, but with the aid of the Government's credit the applicant would of course be able to borrow his re quirements on exceptionally favourable terms. Under the original Act the aggregate amount to be guaranteed was fixed at .125,000, 000, but by subsequent legislation the amount was added to from time to time. The Act of 1926 raised the total to £75,000,000 and extended the period of operation to March 31, 1927.
Results of the Scheme.—The extent to which advantage was taken of the scheme affords some indication of the stimulus which it gave to industry and to employment. The quarterly return issued for the period ending March 31, 1927, gave the total figure of guarantees approved by the Treasury, after deduction made on account of applications sanctioned but subsequently cancelled by the applicants, at £74,255,780. The greater part, in fact about two-thirds of the whole, was given for enterprises in Great Britain. A remarkable proportion went to the shipping industry, mainly for new shipbuilding. A considerable percentage was also allocated
for railway development, the London underground group alone having obtained some £12,500,000 for improvements and exten sions. Another prominent categOry was electrical propositions both at home and overseas. Unquestionably, therefore, the under taking of many projects of diverse kinds was expedited.
A cognate scheme relating especially to imperial development and arising out of the discussions at the Imperial Economic Con ference of 1953, was also embodied in the Trade Facilities Acts (Act of 1924). The Treasury was empowered, subject to certain terms and conditions, to make a contribution of an amount not exceeding three-quarters of the interest payable in the first five years of the currency of a loan raised in the United Kingdom by or on behalf of any public utility undertaking in any part of the Empire overseas. An important condition required that the expenditure should be in anticipation of expenditure which would normally have been incurred at a later date. The scheme had currency for three years from its commencement—i.e., to May 14, 1927, and the maximum amount payable by the Treasury was not to exceed L5,000,000. Contributions sanctioned under this scheme, spread over periods of three to five years, were in round figures £148,000 to the Sudan Government in respect of two schemes for the purchase of railway materials; £29,000 to the government of Newfoundland for the same purpose; and £37,000 to Western Australia for the purchase of a new ship.