HC Deb 18 January 1972 vol 829 c149W
Mr. Clinton Davis

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people have been moved from land near Umtali in order to make way for a wattle plantation.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

I understand that a total of 831 families have been, or are to be, moved from a forest area at Stapleford (which I presume is the area the hon. Member has in mind), in order to permit an extension of pine, eucalyptus and poplar plantations. I have no precise information about the number of families stated to have already been resettled on suitable land outside the forest area, but it appears to be somewhere between a quarter and a half of the total. The numbers involved are thus rather higher than the figure mentioned in the debate on 1st December by my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General, who spoke on the basis of earlier information which has now been corrected.—[Vol. 827, c. 600.]