§ 3.6 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT CALDECOTEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made in dealing with the many cases of hardship caused to European settlers in Kenya by the granting of independence, and what further action is contemplated to ensure that these people are fairly treated.]
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS AND FOR THE COLONIES (THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE)My Lords, when announcing on June 3 our financial assistance to Kenya, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State said that we were considering proposals put to us by the Kenya Government for financial assistance in dealing with the problem of the European mixed farming areas. These raise large and difficult issues which require careful study. These proposals are, of course, separate from the existing land settlement schemes to which we are making a most substantial contribution. I should also draw attention to the provision made last year to buy the properties of all those who were then regarded as being exposed to special risks on grounds of age, infirmity or remoteness of their properties. New cases have since been brought to our attention and are being examined. I might add that we have very much in mind the difficulties of those of our people who wish to leave Kenya on compassionate grounds.
§ VISCOUNT CALDECOTEMy Lords, may I thank the noble Duke for his sympathetic reply on this difficult problem and ask him two supplementary questions? First of all, as regards compassionate grounds to which he referred, can he give the House an assurance that compassionate cases will be treated with generosity and not with a too rigid legal outlook? Secondly, can he tell us whether the Government have considered using the available money to compensate those who can continue to farm, in a way which might encourage them to remain in Kenya and add to the stability of the country.
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREMy Lords, if I may answer the second supplementary first, I take the point of my noble friend and I should like to give it due consideration. I appreciate what is behind it; I have great sympathy with that point of view and I shall draw the attention of my right honourable friend to this. As regards the first supplementary, I think I can go no further than I did in the first reply and say that we are conscious of the problems faced here and, bearing in mind the amount of money involved, we shall give the matter as sympathetic consideration as we possibly can.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, may I ask the noble Duke whether, in considering these compassionate cases, he will have regard to those who, owing to some arrangement of tribal lands in particular areas, are allocated to, say, the Masai but mainly surrounded by Kikuyu, so that it will be possible to bring compassionate cases out even if it is not possible immediately to resettle somebody on their land?
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREMy Lords, as the noble Lord will appreciate, it is extremely difficult to decide who is and who is not a compassionate case, and many different factors have to be brought to bear, but I shall take due note of what the noble Lord says.
§ LORD WALSTONMy Lords, with regard to non-compassionate cases, the European farmers whose land is sooner or later probably to be taken from them, will the noble Duke bear in mind not only the complexity of the case, of which he has reminded us, but also the 979 very great urgency of the case, not only from the point of view of the Kenya Government, which has very many landless people who are a grave source of potential disturbance in the country, but also from the point of view of the European farmers themselves? Because, so long as they are kept in uncertainty as to what is going to happen to their land, they cannot be expected to farm the land to its maximum potential or even to maintain the capital value of their land. So I hope that the noble Duke will be able to give us an assurance that this matter is being considered as one of the greatest urgency, for the sake of everybody in the new country of Kenya.
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREMy Lords, I can give the noble Lord the assurance that my Office is acutely conscious of the urgency of the problem and it is being treated as one of top priority.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, I should like to ask the noble Duke whether it is not a fact that the British Government in their recent announcement have treated Kenya with great generosity, and is there not a danger that other territories, which arc also deserving, may be affected by the lack of funds available if too much is spent on Kenya?
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREMy Lords, I understand the noble Lord's anxieties, and I hope I shall not offend the House by saying that this is opening a question rather different from the one on the Paper.
§ LORD BARNBYMy Lords, in the noble Duke's original reply he appeared to indicate that two classes of assistance were to be offered to Kenya. In view of the massive size of the sums which the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies in another place suggested will be made available, can the noble Duke give an assurance, in regard to the sums which the noble Duke's reply indicated will be allocated direct to the settlers, that such sums will be so earmarked that they cannot be tangled up by the recipient Government with supplementary sums received for other purposes?
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREMy Lords, I am not absolutely clear as to the point my noble friend is making, 980 but if it is that there might be some doubt that the money provided by Her Majesty's Government will be directed to the purpose for which it is designed, I can give him a categoric undertaking that we shall make quite sure that the money will be spent on the purpose on which it is supposed to be spent.
§ LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYEMy Lords, in having regard to the compassionate cases, will the Government remember in particular those ex-Servicemen who went to settle in Kenya after the war, and for whom one of the conditions of their settlement was that they got rid of all their property and assets in this country? I would suggest they are due for special consideration.
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREMy Lords, at the risk of giving a rather unsympathetic reply to my noble friend, I think I should say, as I have said before in this House, that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State, after much careful thought, has decided that the ex-Servicemen's settlement should not be considered differently from that of the ordinary European settler.
§ LORD BARNBYMy Lords, reverting to the noble Duke's reply to my question, for which I am grateful, am I right in understanding that it can be assumed that of these massive sums—and, as foreshadowed, they do seem massive—specific amounts will be set aside in the original loan arrangements to be devoted to compensation for the white settlers?