§ Mr. Grimondasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) if he will give a list of the goods of which the importation into Kenya is prohibited;
(2) what officials have the right to refuse or cancel licences of goods into Kenya without reason.
§ 1952 Mr. Lyttelton,pursuant to his replies [OFFICIAL REPORT, 9th July, 1952; Vol. 503, c. 88] supplied the following further information:
(1) (a) There are a number of goods which for moral, ethical or political reasons are classified as prohibited imports, and these are dealt with under Section 47 of the Customs Management Ordinance (Cap. 261). It would appear, however, that reference is not being made to these, but to other goods which are subject to restriction but not to prohibition. These are given in Kenya Press Office Communique No. 54, an extract from which appears below, and the restriction which is effective is in the interests of the balance of payments and the defence of the reserves of the sterling area.
(b) By virtue of Section 8 of the Control of Imports Order, 1941—Government Notice No. 793 of the 19th September of that year, as amended by Government Notice No. 35 of the 7th January, 1943—the Imports Controller, Kenya, who administers the Order, is empowered to
Refuse to grant an Import Licence, or may grant a licence to such an extent, or subject to such conditions as he may think fit, or may cancel any licence already issued without assigning any reason.Naturally, these powers are not used arbitrarily, and any restrictive measures are usually only taken after the trade has been consulted.
187WExtract from Press Communique No.datedth June,
(2) This communique deals with arrangements for the licensing of imports from countries outside the sterling area other than Japan and those in the North America and the American Account Group. The issue of specific import licences (S.L.) on all countries outside the sterling area, Japan, North America and the North American Account countries, which was temporarily suspended under Press Office communiques Nos. 25, 26 and 27 of 1952 will be resumed with effect from 16th June, 1952.
2. 1952. Licensing for the importation of goods from this area for shipment in 1952 will be restricted as occasion demands and generally speaking essentiality of importation in 1952 will be the guiding principle. The total value of 1952 imports will be restricted to a figure less than the total imports of that commodity or group of commodities in 1951. An importer's previous imports during 1952 will be taken into consideration when import licences are issued.
After consultation with recognised and authoritative trade organisations in Kenya it has been decided that in order to achieve the necessary reduction in imports from non-sterling sources during the period 1st July to 31st December it will be necessary to cut non-sterling imports from other than dollar and Japanese sources in the following sections as indicated below: the percentage cut is in each case with reference to the total importation during 1951 from sources other than the sterling area, American Account countries and Japan:
Per cent. I. Food products, beverages and tobacco 40 IV. Rubber 40 VIII. Textiles 50 XI. Non-metallic minerals and manufactures thereof 25 XII. Precious metals, precious stones, pearls and articles made of these materials 30 XIII. Base metals and manufactures thereof 40 XIV. Machinery, apparatus and appliances and vehicles: (1) Agricultural and industrial nil. past performance (2) Other items in this section 25 XV. Toys 25 Other miscellaneous commodities n.e.s. 40