§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Secretary of State for the Colonies is aware that the poll tax of 20s. per head after twelve months' residence in Rhodesia imposed on natives has interfered with the supply of native labour from Blantyre and the Portuguese territory, to the especial detriment of the farming interests in Rhodesia; and whether, having regard to the fact that under the provisions of the Glen Grey Act passed by the Legislature of Cape Colony during the administration of Mr. Rhodes, natives with certificates for six or nine months work are exempt from the poll tax, while in Rhodesia natives with records of years of unbroken service are subject to the poll tax, steps will be taken with a view to the abolition or reduction of this impost in the interests of the country and in aid of the development of its resources.
§ COLONEL SEELYThe tax of 20s. a head, was imposed by an Ordinance of 1904. I am not aware that it has operated in the manner suggested, but I may point out that an arrangement was made recently for getting a party of labourers from Central Angoniland for work on Mashonaland farms. The provisions of the Glen Grey Act to which my hon. friend's Question refers were not found to work satisfactorily and were repealed by an Act of 1905.