§ 20. Mr. K. Robinsonasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when the Report on agricultural wages in Kenya will be published.
§ Mr. ProfumoI would refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Rugby (Mr. J. Johnson) on 9th July, 1957. The Governor of Kenya announced in his speech to the Legislative Council on 4th November that the Kenya Government intend to set up suitable machinery whereby minimum wages in agriculture can be fixed after consultation with employers and employees.
§ Mr. RobinsonWith respect to the hon. Gentleman, may I say that that does not answer my Question? Did not he say to the hon. Member for Rugby (Mr. J. Johnson), and to other hon. Members, six months ago, that the publication of this Report was imminent? Are we now to assume that it is being suppressed by the Kenya Government, after all?
§ Mr. ProfumoI am sorry if I misunderstood the hon. Gentleman, because I did not mean to do so. What I said to the hon. Member for Rugby was that this was, of course, conditional on the eventual publication of the Report. I explained in a letter to him afterwards that that was what I had in mind. The Report has not been published but nothing has been suppressed. I regard it as in the interests neither of employers nor of employees that the Report should be published.