§ Mr. RAMSAY MACDONALDasked the Under-Secretary for the Colonies whether he had any information that the Equatorial Rubber and Mahogany Concessions, Limited, claimed to have acquired a concession of over fifty square miles in the Axim district of the Gold Coast for a total annual rental of £52; that the Panni Lands and Rubber Estates, Limited, claimed to have acquired from the chiefs of Axim a lease of 64,000 acres for ninety-nine years at an annual rental of £21; that the Boinsu Rubber Company, Limited, claimed to have acquired from the Chief of Boinsu a lease of twenty square miles for ninety-nine years at an annual rental of £5; and that the Aywara Rubber and Cotton Estates claimed to have acquired four leases aggregating thirty square miles in the Axim district for an annual rental of £102; whether he could state if certificates of validity under the Concessions Ordinance had been granted to all or any of these claimants; whether he was satisfied that the legislation provided under the Customs Ordinance was sufficient to protect the aboriginal inhabitants of the Gold Coast from the consequences of agreements concluded by the chiefs with third parties; and whether he had considered if the public interest of the Colony was sufficiently safeguarded against arrangements of this character, which tended to place the economic development of the native races in the hands of European financial corporations?
§ Colonel SEELYThe Secretary of State has no official information respecting the concessions to which my hon. Friend refers and is not aware whether they have been validated by the Supreme Court of the Colony on which the duty of protecting the interests of the natives, in respect of such concessions, is imposed by the law of the Colony. The Secretary of State will not fail to watch carefully the working of this law with a view to the introduction of further safeguards for native rights should such appear to be needed.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODMay I ask whether the Colonial Office contemplate taking any steps to put the land system of the Gold Coast under which the native chiefs can alienate the land of their followers on the same footing as in other British Colonies on that coast?
§ Colonel SEELYI am not prepared to make a statement now, but I shall be very glad to consider the matter if a statement of the particulars is placed before me.