HC Deb 25 November 1920 vol 135 cc680-1W
Major GLYN

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies what steps have been taken by the Colonial Office to provide transport facilities, rail or otherwise, to the areas now occupied by soldier settlers in Kenya Colony, British East Africa?

Lieut.-Colonel AMERY

A detailed survey for the proposed railway to and across the Uasin Gishu Plateau, which will serve the Trans-Nzoia area of ex-service settlement, is in progress, but work has been delayed through the necessity for investigating a suggestion for a shorter route which, if it can be adopted, should mean not only lower cost, but also earlier construction. With regard to the other main area of ex-service settlement, the extension of the Thika railway to the neighbourhood of Fort Hall has been decided in principle, and a further extension to Nyeri will be adopted if possible. The survey of this route will follow immediately on that of the Plateau railway. The forthcoming Kenya Loan will cover provision for these railways as well as for the improvement of the main line and also for the system of roads necessary to feed them.