§ 3.6 p.m.
§ LORD HASTINGSMy Lords, I beg leave Ito ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government why only 180,000 acres out of 900,000 acres offered in connection with the Land Resettlement Scheme in the Highlands of Kenya Colony have been accepted by the Kenya Government, and what price per acre is to be paid for this land; also to ask whether and when any international finance is likely to be available for this scheme.]
§ The MINISTER OF STATE FOR COLONIAL AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF PERTH)My Lords, 180,000 acres are considered by the Kenya Government to be the largest acreage of suitable land that can be efficiently handled with the staff and money available in the two and a half years to which the scheme at present relates. To attempt settlement of a larger acreage during this period would almost certainly entail a fall in the standard of husbandry and a loss of productivity. The purchase of the land will be on a "willing buyer, willing seller" basis, and no fixed price per acre has therefore been determined. The assistance of the International Bank has been sought in financing the scheme, and I hope it will not be too long before the Bank are able to give a decision. A West German Government mission has also recently visited Kenya.
§ LORD HASTINGSMy Lords, while thanking the noble Earl for his full and, in some respects, hopeful reply, may I ask him whether it is not the fact that this acreage is considerably less, spread over the three years, than was originally planned? May I ask him whether that is 496 in fact due to the shortage of funds at present available?
§ THE EARL OF PERTHMy Lords, I am afraid I do not know whether it is less than was originally planned. I do not know what was the original plan. But what I do know is that it is the acreage which the authorities, on going into the question with great care, have decided could be handled on a proper basis—that is to say, so that it produces the right results, taking into account that one has to train all the Africans who go on the farms; that the people who do that training have to be specially skilled, and that, if we try to do more than this, then other areas, where such things as the Swynnerton Plan is already operating, would suffer.