§ Mr. Harveyasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the hardships borne by migrant labourers entering Uganda from Belgian mandated territory; whether the recommendation of the Uganda Labour Committee of 1937 for the provision of rest camps for these labourers has been carried out; and whether he will consider the extension of the Uganda railway to the neighbourhood of the Ruanda frontier on the conclusion of hostilities?
§ Colonel StanleyThis question is among the major problems facing the Labour Advisory Committee and the Labour Commissioner whose appointment I referred to in my answer of 20th January. A comprehensive investigation is being carried out into the conditions under which these migrants travel, and two senior officers have recently visited Ruanda-Urundi to investigate the economic and other causes of migration across the Uganda border. No camps have yet been established on the south-western labour route, but the Governor is taking a strong personal interest in the matter and will forward recommendations when the investigations are complete. The problem is one of some difficulty as these primitive people tend to avoid the regular routes and are unwilling to make use of even such facilities as have already been provided. Any extension of the railway will have to be considered as part of the general problem of African communications, in which the annual migration of labour over this route will be amongst the factors to be taken into account.