§ 10. Colonel WEDGWOODasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what area of land has been alienated on lease, or purchased or exchanged, in the Colony of Kenya since the present Government took office and what further area of alienation is now under consideration?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Mr. Ormsby-Gore)As the answer is a long one, involving a number of details and figures, I am circulating it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ The following alienations have been approved since 7th November. The titles, which are apparently all leasehold, have riot yet been completed.
§ The exchange of land with Lord Delamere, already referred to in the House, 63,095 acres.
§ A farm leased to a medical practitioner under the special arrangements for such leases which formed part of the soldier settlement scheme, 548 acres.
§ A factory plot at Thika, 22 acres, and a mission grant in the Embu district, 10 acres. Total, 63,675 acres.
§ Leases in prospect are as follows:
§ Leases to be sold by auction in March, 50,000 acres. It is evident that some of the plots referred to in the question of the hon. and learned Member for Orkney on the 12th March have been withdrawn.
§ Two outstanding cases of grants to syndicates of ex-soldier settlers under the 1919 scheme. The ease of which I have knowledge may involve 5,000 or 7,000 acres.
§ Various proposals for exchanges involve 1,600 acres; four proposed grants of land adjoining fully developed estates amount together to 1,506 acres, and a few factory plots in Nairobi will be auctioned.
§ In addition, negotiations have proceeded for some time for the grant of a leasehold area of 60,000 acres in the lowlands near Vol in exchange for rights over land, originally 100,000 acres, near the coast, which were allowed in 1906 but not yet granted owing to the uncertainty of native rights.
§ Finally, I have received proposals for leasing some land in North Kenya which has already been surveyed into farms in enlarged lots for grazing purposes.