§ 26. Mr. CHARLES BUXTONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Kenya Native Tribunals Bill, now Ordinance No. 39 of 1930, was referred to the native councils, or to any of the native councils, for their consideration before being passed, as laid down on page 7 of the Memorandum on Native Policy in East Africa [Cmd. 3573]?
§ Dr. SHIELSThe Native Tribunals Ordinance was drafted early this year and had been agreed to by my Noble Friend before the issue of the Native Policy Memorandum. There is no information in his possession to show that the Bill was referred to any native council after the issue of the memorandum. But it was largely to meet representations which had been made by the natives themselves through the native authorities that this legislation was introduced. Native opinion was thus already known, and there was not therefore, the same necessity to make specific reference to native councils before the Bill was actually passed.