§ Mr. FINNEYasked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to a communication from the Burslem Free Church Council drawing attention to certain allegations that the Native communities of Southern Rhodesia have lost their ownership rights in land: that this dispossession was pursued primarily on the basis of a concession now authoritatively adjudged by the Judicial Committee to have been a worthless document; that even those Natives living on the reserves have recently been subjected to a reduction of areas upon the recommendation of a commission of three, all of whose members were either present or past officials of the company, whilst the chairman had been entitled to substantial benefits of land, etc., under a secret agreement made by the late Sir Starr Jameson, and on which no missionary or Native force official was allowed to serve; whether he is aware that the attention of the Colonial Office has been requested to these matters but without avail; and whether he will cause full inquiry into these allegations and secure that full redress shall be made to the parties concerned.
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYThe facts of the matter are fully set out in the recent Parliamentary Paper [Cmd. 547], and I see no case for further enquiry.