§ 41. Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the contemplated partitioning of the lands of Abeokuta into individual ownership is in the interest of and has been considered by the native population; whether such partitioning is to be applied to Nigeria in general; whether an officer is being secured from India to explain the scheme; and whether he is aware of the hardship that this partitioning will impose on the natives, particularly in the matter of migratory farming?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreThe desirability of devising a system of land registration for the Yoruba provinces in Southern Nigeria where education and the development of permanent crops have made great advances in recent years to enable the inhabitants to acquire greater security, to deal more freely in land, and to acquire some more definite form of title, has been under consideration for some time. In 1934 certain principles were discussed by the then Governor with the Alake of Abeokuta and were accepted by the Alake and his Council. No definite scheme has yet been formulated, and I have asked the Secretary of State for India to ascertain whether the services of an officer from India could be made available to examine the existing systems of land tenure in South Western Nigeria and to advise whether some system of registration such 2196 as obtains in India could be adapted to suit local requirements. The application of such a system to Northern Nigeria is not at present contemplated. As regards the hon. Member's concluding inquiry, I can assure him that it is in the interests of the African population that this matter has been taken up.
§ Mr. SorensenHave the natives been consulted respecting the possible partition, and does the reply mean that the system of private ownership is likely to supplant the present system of communal ownership?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreNo question of partition arises here. Where there is a development of the cocoa crop, there is a demand by native cultivators for a more permanent form of tenure as a result of their efforts and improvements, and it is to meet that demand that the inquiry is taking place.
§ Mr. LunnIs the policy to substitute individual ownership of land in Nigeria for the public ownership which is the universal rule?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreNo, it is not the universal rule. There is an immense variety of tenures in West Africa. Our experience is that where annual crops are grown, the purely tribal control of occupancy rights obtain, but where you get permanent crops, the development of education, and people demanding to be able to mortgage their incomes and to raise capital for the improvement of their land, some more advanced form of tenure is demanded.
§ Mr. SorensenDoes this apply to white labour?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreNo, Sir.