HC Deb 10 December 1952 vol 509 cc442-4
17. Mr. Peter Freeman

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the minimum wage payable to agricultural workers in Kenya; and what is the average wage.

Mr. Lyttelton

There is no statutory minimum wage for agricultural workers. The average wage is 25s. per month plus rations valued at 20s. per month, housing and free medical attention. In many cases the worker is also allowed to cultivate a plot on his employer's farm on his own account.

Mr. Freeman

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in some cases farm workers are being still paid a wage of 6d. a day for a 60 or 65 hour week, and does he not consider that such conditions are instrumental in bringing about the present situation in Kenya more than anything else? Can he say what steps he is taking to improve that situation?

Mr. Lyttelton

I have no information to support the figures which the hon. Member has put forward. I have given the average wage. This is a matter of extreme difficulty, and one of the matters to be discussed with Sir Evelyn Baring.

Mr. Wigg

Does the right hon. Gentleman still hold the view that the state of affairs in Kenya has nothing to do with economic circumstances, in view of his statement that the average wage is 25s. a month?

Mr. Lyttelton

The hon. Gentleman has put words in my mouth which I never used. I have said that the Mau Mau secret society was not the direct result of economic pressure.

Mr. Shinwell

Can not the right hon. Gentleman, in the interests and good name of this country, condemn this disgraceful rate of wages prevalent there?

Mr. Lyttelton

I am not going to answer a question couched in these general terms. Obviously this is a matter which has to be investigated very carefully.

Sir R. Acland

Has the right hon. Gentleman seen the statement circulated by such an authority as the Church Missionary Society, which very definitely says that the economic and social conditions are a major cause in bringing this thing to an endemic stage?

Mr. Lyttelton

I can only say that the opinion that I have expressed, and which I continue to express, is not only held by me but by everyone in Government service in Kenya, including the district officers.