HC Deb 17 May 1939 vol 347 cc1437-8W
Mr. Creech Jones

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can make any statement on the development of native individual land holdings in the reserves in Kenya Colony for the cultivation of economic crops?

Mr. M. MacDonald

Among several of the tribes in Kenya there has for many years been a marked tendency towards the system of the private tenure of land. In some areas, notably amongst the Kikuyu, this system is already well established. In their report of 1933, the Kenya Land Commission recommended that the tenure in each Native Reserve should be built on the basis of the native customs obtaining therein, but that it should be progressively guided in the direction of private tenure, proceeding towards the individual holding through the group and the family holding. This recommendation forms the basis of the policy of the Government of Kenya in this matter.