§ 19. Mr. JAMES HUDSONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has received the official plans of the Kenya Government for laying out the £100,000 allocated in the Kenya budget towards road making in the colony; how much of this money is to be spent; and how many miles of the roads under consideration are to be found in roads on land alienated to non-natives, roads connecting Government stations in native 8 reserves, and roads in native reserves other than those in the second category respectively?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREParticulars showing the proposed distribution of the sum referred to, which represents the anticipated expenditure from general revenue on roads and bridges during the year 1928, will be found in Appendix H (page 118) of the draft Estimates for 1928, a copy of which is being placed in the Library of the House. I am not in a position to furnish the details referred to in the last part of the question, but the Governor will be asked whether they can be supplied.
§ Mr. HUDSONIf the right hon. Gentleman obtains the information from the Governor of Kenya, will he let me have it?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GORECertainly.
Captain CROOKSHANKAre these roads going to be of a kind suitable for bicycles, which are being so largely imported into that country?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREYes; as a matter of fact, the scheduled roads which receive a grant-in-aid from the Central Fund, apart from the locally provided roads, are most of them roads designed for motor traffic, and they are both in the settled areas and in the native reserves. There is a long schedule of about 50 odd separate items of expenditure, and I will place a copy of it in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. CAMPBELLWill the right hon. Gentleman circulate this news to all hon. Members and not only to the hon. Member asking the question?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GORECertainly. I gather the hon. Member wants particularly details regarding some of the roads in the native reserves, which are financed by the native council, and are really, if I may use a colloquialism, glorified native tracks.
§ Lieut.-Colonel HENEAGECan the right hon. Gentleman say how the taxes are provided? Are they taxes on vehicles or per head of the population?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREThere is a poll tax on Europeans and other non-natives and on natives, and there are vehicle taxes, and various general methods of taxation.
§ Lieut.-Colonel HENEAGEIs there any chance of a raid on the Road Fund?