§ Mr. WEDGWOODasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether land is still being alienated in fee simple, or on long leases at fee farm rents, in British East Africa or Uganda; and, if not, what is the longest lease granted without any possibility of revision of rent?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Mr. Harcourt)With regard to the alienation of Crown land in the East Africa Protectorate, the policy which the Governor has been instructed 1516 to follow will be found on pp. 29 sqq of Command Paper 4117. That policy contemplates the grant of freehold only on homestead farms up to 320 acres, all other grants being made on leasehold tenancies of ninety-nine years with a revision of rent at the end of the thirty-third and sixty-sixth years. It is difficult to summarise satisfactorily within the limits of a reply to a question the system hitherto followed in Uganda; but, roughly, the system has been one of leasehold tenancies for different periods up to a maximum of ninety-nine years, the rent increasing with the period of the lease, coupled with the right of acquiring the freehold of the whole, or a part, of the land leased on certain conditions of development. The question of revising this system is under my consideration, and in the meantime the Governor has been instructed not to grant any lease with the prospect of acquiring the freehold of more than 1,000 acres.