§ 1. Mr. Parkerasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how much British, French and native-owned land in the New Hebrides is at present undeveloped; and what steps are being taken to make this land available to native communities suffering from shortage of land.
Mr. Creech JonesI regret that it is impossible to provide an answer to the first part of the Question as settled titles exist only in the Southern Islands and as there are no figures for developed and undeveloped areas. Native communities have been adequately provided for by the allocation to them under the Protocol of inalienable native reserves and by the placing in trust of a large extent of land by the missions; and there is no evidence that they are suffering from a shortage of land.