§ Mr. HALL-CAINEasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can make any statement as to the unrest which exists among the Samburu in East Kenya, especially in view of the two recent murders of Europeans?
Mr. M. MacDONALDInquiry has been made of the Government of Kenya, and a reply has been received to the effect that there is no foundation for the suggestion that general unrest prevails among the Samburu, and the reference to two recent murders of Europeans is not understood. Two murders did take place in the last half of 1933, but they were in the neighbourhood of Nairobi and neither had any connection with the Samburu. During the last eight months there have been six cases of assault resulting in murder committed on Kikuyu natives employed on farms abutting on the Samburu country, but until recently evidence as to the murders could not be procured. In the opinion of the Administration, these murders were probably due to the Samburu custom of "blooding spears." Full inquiries are being carried out; the Laibon considered responsible for the suppression of evidence has already been deported, and evidence has been procured justifying prosecutions in four out of the six cases referred to.