§ Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that Africans serving on the Sierra Leone advisory committees, in accordance with the provision of the Rural Areas Ordinance, are resigning their appointments; whether he can state the reason for this; and why the District Commissioner of the headquarters district is permitted to reside some 22 miles away from his headquarters?
Mr. M. MacDonaldFour advisory committees have been appointed under the Rural Areas Ordinance, each consisting of a rural commissioner and five African 443W elected members. I am informed that one member of the committee for Waterloo has resigned his appointment and has given as his reason his opinion that the Ordinance is unworkable and affects his village adversely.
As regards the last part of the question, the District Commissioner now has two headquarters. He is responsible under the Ordinance for the Headquarters Judicial District, the headquarters of which are at Waterloo, and he is also responsible for the Freetown Police District, with headquarters at Freetown. He must therefore do duty both at Waterloo and at Freetown, but resides at Freetown.