§ MR. WEDGWOODI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will issue to Members the instructions sent to the Governor of the East African Protectorate relative to the leasing of land to white settlers and the prohibition of freehold grants.
§ COLONEL SEELYMy hon. friend will find the instructions to which he refers in Lord Elgin's despatch of 19th March, presented to Parliament with other Papers as Cd. 4117 in June last. Paragraph 12 of that despatch limits grants of freehold to 320 acres.
§ MR. WEDGWOODI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies how many acres of land in East Africa were granted in freehold during the last year for which figures are available, and how many on ninty-nine years without revision of rent; and is it still possible to get freehold land in East Africa in spite of the instruction for guidance recently sent out by the Colonial Office.
§ COLONEL SEELYThe latest available figures in regard to grants of land in the East Africa Protectorate are those for the year ending 31st December, 1907, which my hon. friend will find in the Annual Report on the Protectorate for 1906–7, presented to Parliament as Cd. 3729. Instructions were given by Lord Elgin in March last that freehold grants should be limited to homesteads of 320 acres each, and I have no reason to think that these instructions are not being carried out. There may, however, be cases in which grants of larger areas are still being made on the ground that they had been promised before the receipt of these instructions.
§ MR. WEDGWOODasked if the Land Board had any voice in the grants of 320 acres or was that a matter purely within the cognisance of the Colonial Office.
§ COLONEL SEELYThe decision of the Secretary of State in these cases is final, but the Land Board advises on other matters.