HC Deb 24 February 1954 vol 524 cc385-6
47. Mr. Hobson

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will place a copy of the Mau-Mau oaths in the Library.

Mr. Lyttelton

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend on 10th February to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for New Forest (Colonel Crosthwaite-Eyre).

Mr. Hobson

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that a copy of the oaths has been placed in the Library since this Question was put on the Order Paper? Will he see that copies are sent to the Editor of the "Church Times"?

Mr. Lyttelton

On this general matter I feel that, without the expression of a further Parliamentary opinion, we have gone as far as we properly can.

Mr. F. Harris

Would my right hon. Friend give more publicity to the details of those oaths so that the people of this country can understand what the law-abiding people of all races in Kenya are up against?

Mr. Lyttelton

My hon. Friend's question accords with my view that the nature of these oaths should be widely known, but I want as far as possible to secure that they are not on sale at one shilling on the bookstalls where people can get them merely from prurient curiosity.