HC Deb 08 February 1956 vol 548 cc182-3W
Mr. Benn

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to halt, or at least stop the European Agricultural Settlement Board from encouraging, the settlement of Europeans in the White Highlands in Kenya until after Her Majesty's Government have considered their attitude to the recommendations made by the East African Royal Commission on the question of land tenure.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

No. The operations of the Board are designed to encourage more intensive and productive use of land in the White Highlands and the importation of capital for this purpose. These operations do not involve the extension of areas designated for European occupation in Kenya, nor do they prejudice the acceptance of the Royal Commission's recommendations on land tenure.

Mr. Benn

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that the agricultural census taken in Kenya in 1954 revealed that 59 per cent. of the European farmers with smallholdings in the White Highlands did not depend on their farms as their main source of income; and whether he is satisfied that the present alienation ordinances operate to the benefit of the people of Kenya as a whole, and to the Africans in particular.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I am aware that 59 per cent. of those Europeans whose land holdings in the settled areas are of less than 200 acres do not depend on these holdings as their main source of income. Many of the holdings are of a few acres only and are farmed to supplement pensions or small private incomes. I shall consider the point raised in the second part of the question when I have received the comments of the Government of Kenya on the recommendations of the Royal Commission.