asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what steps are being taken to develop the rice industry of British Guiana.

Work has continued on plans referred to in the reply to my hon. Friend on 14th November last, and I hope to be able to report progress soon.

Is it true to say that the original plan as sponsored by the Government of British Guiana was turned down by the Colonial Development Corporation because they felt it earned an inadequate rate of interest?

I cannot say for what reasons the Colonial Development Corporation—

Private enterprise.

That is rather a flight of imagination in the case of the Colonial Development Corporation.