§ 69. Mr. LINFIELDasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, seeing that the natives of Tanganyika territory are encouraged to grow coffee, and that the natives of Kenya Colony are denied opportunities for growing this commercial product, he will now state what are the technical reasons for precluding the natives from growing an economical crop like coffee which do not apply to the natives of Tanganyika territory; and whether he proposes to include this subject in the terms of reference of the East African Committee of Inquiry?
Mr. THOMASThe technical reasons for discouraging native coffee growing in Kenya were given in the reply to my hon. Friend's question of the 3rd June. It is open to the responsible authorities in different dependencies to take different views of the subject, particularly in regard to the relative advantage to the grower of coffee and other crops, and to the capacity and agricultural knowledge of the natives, which are by no means uniform. The subject will be within the scope of the Committee.