§ Mr. BLACKasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether there is any compulsion upon the natives in Kenya Colony to render service for wages if and when it is found that voluntary labour has not been forthcoming from them for a period?
Mr. THOMASThere is no compulsion or pressure on natives of Kenya to work for private employers. The conditions under which they may be called upon for work for certain specified Government purposes are laid down in the Command Paper 1509 of 1921.
§ Mr. BLACKasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that the coffee planters and maize growers of Kenya Colony have great difficulty in securing sufficient native labour; and whether it is proposed to recruit the necessary labour to work a large scheme of cotton growing in the Colony?
Mr. THOMASI have no information as to any recent scarcity of native labour for coffee planters and maize growers in Kenya. No scheme for cotton growing on white settlers' farms is in contemplation, and there is no question of recruiting labour for cotton cultivation, which is carried on by natives on their own account within their reserve.
§ Dr. CHAPPLEasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Kenya Government has received a request from the joint missionary conference of that colony to place under the control of the missionary societies the education of all juveniles in the colony, and that an adequate Government grant should be made by the Government for this purpose; and what action, if any, it is proposed to take in the matter?
Mr. THOMASThe request of the missionary societies to which the hon. Member refers has recently been forwarded to me by the Government of Kenya. The whole question of education in the colony is engaging very careful consideration, but I am not at present able to make any statement.