§ *MR. REESI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the natives of the adjacent lowlands of British East Africa ever affected a permanent occupation of the uplands of that Protectorate; and, if not, whether the Government proposes to give European settlers in this region such preferential rights as are usually conceded 742 to pioneers and settlers in previously undeveloped territories.
§ COLONEL SEELYI am not quite clear as to the nature or extent of the preferential rights to which my hon. friend refers. It is true that there is much land in the uplands which has not been in permanent occupation by natives, but His Majesty's Government cannot admit that the rights of the natives are confined to land which they have occupied permanently. It is the policy of His Majesty's Government to secure to the native tribes of the East Africa Protectorate such a proportion of the land which they have occupied, whether temporary or permanently, in the past, as will not only be adequate to their present requirements but will allow a reasonable margin for a future increase in their numbers; and it is only the land remaining after these conditions have been fulfilled that can be regarded as available for European settlement.
§ COLONEL SEELYI cannot say without notice.