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British Economic News and Developments
Topic Started: Jan 5 2010, 02:29 AM (500 Views)
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A number of strategies, including the previously adopted sinking fund, are being considered for the reduction of the national debt. Currently standing at £788,398,570 and requiring an annual interest payment of £29,225,287, there is a growing need to defray this extremity of expenditure.
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There have been a number of proposals for the provision of government grants for economic, technical and scientific undertakings that benefit the welfare, prosperity or security of the United Kingdom. Such measures would be taken in conjunction with the issuing of contracts for infrastructure development to support the projected new Royal Naval Dockyards.
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A private study on the efficacy and economic advantages of postal reform has urged parliamentary action on the issue.

Requests for initial proposals for the construction of a number of railroads and public works in Ireland have been issued by Her Majesty's Government.
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Investments from HM Government Infrastructure fund will commence in early 1841, with current submissions being examined.

Tentative approval, pending parliamentary confirmation, has been given for the provision of grants to aid the development and construction of steam machinery that advances the interests of the Crown.
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A Commission of Inquiry into the Economic Development of Ireland has been established, to examine a number of questions regarding public works, infrastructure and the merits agricultural diversification into the cultivation of additional root vegetable crops, such as turnips, swedes, parsnips, beetroot and sugar beet.

There has been growing encouragement for a proposed initiative to make it simpler for inventors to register patents for their discoveries in Britain, and abroad.

The improvement of the road system of the United Kingdom has been proposed as an initial area of infrastructure investment, using the Macadam process and experimenting with asphalt on a limited basis.
Edited by Great Britain, Mar 27 2010, 12:41 PM.
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The preliminary report on the development of Ireland has recommended a programme of public road and railroad works, as well as the creation of new harbours. The diversification of crop sources has been similarly endorsed.

Expansion of telegraph lines across Britain, both government and privately operated, is to be the subject of new funding, with 500,000 pounds a year to be invested over the next 5 years.

A study has been initiated for the use of steam machinery to assist in potential dredging at Liverpool, Southampton and London.
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In the strategic interests of the national defence of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty's Government is to encourage the expansion of small arms, cannon and ammunition construction capacity by British industry through small subsidies, some investment capital for industrial plant and guaranteed production contracts for the Armed Forces.
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To encourage economic development of the colonies, tariff rates for the import of material from Canada, the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and a number of other locations are to be slashed to below the levels used for other states.

A Development Commission will examine the means and processes of trade from the colonies in a mutually advantageous manner that preserves the committment of Her Majesty's Government to free international trade and intercourse.
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New suggestions are emerging regarding the reform of the patent process; specifically, costs would be cut for British subjects registering patents in Britain, and certain funds would be available as loans for the expedited registration of foreign patents in cases where the proposed technology was of direct utility to the national interest.

There have been proposals for construction of a direct express railway line from London to Edinburgh, with a dual role for civil and military use.
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The encouragement of the construction of railways is to be extended from 1843, with appropriate adjustment of the conditions for the establishment of joint stock companies and railway funding. Particular priority is to be placed on the construction of railways in Scotland and the Midlands.

Development of Irish railroads is to be similarly encouraged, in conjunction with government infrastructure spending on public works (roads, ports and canals).

A number of proposals from manufacturing concerns are being examined by Her Majesty's Government regarding joint funding of certain establishments with direct utility for the national interest.
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The consideration of numerous proposals from manufacturing concerns has been completed, with the Government to announce its selections in due course.

Funding of the Colonial Economic Development Commission has been extended, with the recent inclusion of India into its area of consideration.
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The following corporations and industrial concerns have been announced as the subjects of strategic Government funding (to the value of £250,000 each in 1844 from Special Funds and relevant spending) to expand production for the purposes of the national interest and the defence of the realm:

WG Armstrongs
Naylor Vickers and Company
Birkinhead Ironworks
Dowlais Ironworks
John Brown & Company
Ditchburn and Mare Shipbuilding Company
Robert Stephenson and Company
Lord Ward
R and W Hawthorn Ltd
Derwent Iron Company

The direct London to Edinburgh express line is to begin construction in 1844/45.
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Spending on infrastructure projects in Ireland will increase in 1845, to provide for the optimum transportation network for the uses of defence and commerce.

A study will be made of dock capacity in Southern England.
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There has been increasing pressure to consider a number of possible solutions to forthcoming issues of considerable imbalance in government spending, with revenues to be reduced with the conclusion of Chinese reparations payments. One suggestion has been to reduce the schedule of military development and to make further use of current naval commissioning systems, but this has to be balanced against the requirements of the forces and the international situation.
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Her Majesty's Government has issued out a request for a second round of expressions of interest from industrial concerns in applying for development grants for the expansion of factories and facilities of direct use for the national interest.
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The rapid increase in railway construction has enabled a greater degree of mobility of labour and goods throughout Britain, increasing the viability of certain industries and the general efficiency and productivity of others. It is becoming apparent that the broad gauge standard adds some degree of expense, but allows a large capacity for carriage of goods and passengers. It is further apparent that optimal development of the rail network requires supporting investment in ports and telegraphy.
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The broader economic consequences of the failure of the potato crop in Ireland and the Highlands are beginning to make themselves felt in terms of increased public expenditure and a predicted shortfall in agricultural export commodities from these regions of the United Kingdom for at least the next year. Counterbalanced against this is the advantages of preventing the worst ravages of famine, disorder and deprivation that are being seen across Europe.
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The expansion of the railway network in Britain has seen the length of railways across the nation boom to over 5000 miles in length.

The London to Edinburgh express line will be completed in the latter half of 1847.

Patent assistance loans will be available from 1848.

A number of previously prioritized industrial concerns have been issued with specific contracts for the development of a variety of items that advance the national interest.
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A further 250,000 pounds each in specific grants have been advanced towards WG Armstrongs and Naylor Vickers and Company for the expansion of factories to facilitate the official contracted production of cannon and shot, in addition to the construction of private railways for transport within facilities, foundries, ironworks, steam machine shops and blast furnaces.
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Expanded railway construction has lead to a requirement for more efficient rail cars and locomotives. There have been some suggestions from a number of industrial concerns that the use of steel as a construction material for certain aspects of the aforementioned vehicles would provide potentially greater durability.

The extensive Railway Mania that has gripped Britain over the last three years continues in some strength, with a total of over 6000 miles of track authorized since 1844; much remains yet to be constructed. One notable feature that some ascribe to the choice of a broad gauge standard is the lack of curves in the selection of optimal routes. What result this may have is at this time quite unclear.
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A new series of infrastructure projects have been proposed, with the extension of rail networks in the Midlands and Ireland, widening of certain sectors of the canal network and modernization of port facilities at Bristol and Liverpool outlined as potential projects.

This has lead to a requirement for heavy digging machinery, powerful steam engines to operate said machinery and an expanded requirement for steel for use in railways, and thus heavy casting equipment from various ironworks has been ordered by a number of competing concerns.
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As work begins on the new infrastructure projects, a number of grants have been extended for the expansion of heavy facilities and industrial research capacity to several large heavy engineering corporations.
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A mission of British surveyors and engineers are to travel to Egypt to inspect and survey areas around Suez for a potential future canal, in conjunction with Egyptian officials and engineers under training. Survey work will also be carried out for a railroad between Alexandria and Cairo.
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A number of new shipping companies have been established over the course of the previous two years
to cater to the general increased volume of trade and migration between Britain and Canada, Australia and South Africa, in addition to trade with China and India:
Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company
Ocean Steamship Company
Inman Line
East India Company Shipping Lines
West Indies Shipping Lines
Union Steamship Company
African Steamship Company
Trans-Atlantic Mercantile Shipping Line (established with a 50,000 pound grant to service increased trooping needs and migration to Canada and the West Indies)

Construction work on the expansion of facilities in Bristol and Liverpool has commenced.

£500,000 has been extended to various textile companies for expansion of facilities, to aid in the production of cloth for uniforms and commercial purposes.

Industrial capital grants for the production of military and railway equipment of £375,000 have been extended to Armstrongs, Vickers, John Brown and Ditchburn and Mare. This capital will be invested into heavy plant expansion, construction of large machinery, foundries and presses, acquisition of ironworks and for investment in the development of large scale iron and steel production and heavy casting.

£500,000 has been granted for capital expansion of the British telegraph industry and network, along with official orders for the construction of lines between major cities and military bases.
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The question of debt management has again been raised in the City of London, with a general consensus that four steps could potentially be taken: firstly, deficits should be avoided; secondly, extraneous expenditure should be channeled into a sinking fund; thirdly, the sources of revenue should be maximised and preserved; and fourthly, that any one off sources of revenue be collected into an investment fund for stable loans that would accrue interest income whilst protecting the value of the principle.

General growth of the economy will ensure that the debt will be serviced and that the credit of the British government will remain strong; however all expenditure spent on interest is essentially wasted money that could be otherwise be applied to useful purposes within Britain and the Empire.
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The economic downturn, bought on by strife in Europe and crop failures, is beginning to bite at some sectors of the British economy which have their markets mainly on the Continent. Trade with the United States, the colonies and the rest of the world is making up some part of the shortfall, but reduced demand has lead to movement to London and other cities in search of labouring work, increased migration and a drop in trade.

The reaction of the Government has been to take no action, but allow for events to correct themselves. Should the drop in exports and growth continue into 1849, this course of action may well change, but there is little that can be done by this government or any government to alter the economic condition of the wider world, save to encourage expanded trade with non affected areas.
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