HC Deb 06 November 1929 vol 231 cc1032-3
35. Brigadier-General BROWN

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the reasons for the recent rising in Kenya have been investigated, and to what does he attribute it; and whether in view of the danger to the lives of our settlers and of more troops being necessary for their protection, he will review the native policy pursued for some years past and take steps to muzzle incitements to disorder in the vernacular native newspapers?

Mr. LUNN

There has been no native rising in Kenya, but only a collision between sections of two native tribes whose grazing grounds are contiguous. My Noble Friend, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, has received an assurance from the Governor of Kenya that the Colonial Government are satisfied that the measures taken by the Government have removed any risk to residents in the neighbourhood to which they might otherwise have been exposed, and the Governor has reported that the situation is now satisfactory. In the circumstances, my Noble Friend does not propose to review native policy in Kenya in the direction suggested in the last part of the hon. and gallant Member's question.

Brigadier-General BROWN

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that, though the Governor may be satisfied, a lot of our colonists and their wives who live in some of the wild places are still very anxious and nervous that these risings will affect them, and will he look into the question?

Mr. LUNN

I think the Government, upon a matter of this sort, would have to be advised by the Governor.

Mr. CHARLES BUXTON

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that native unrest, if any, is amply accounted for by fears of the deprivation of their land and other injustices, without reference to incitements to disorder?