HC Deb 09 December 1953 vol 521 cc237-8W
65. Mr. Sorensen

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware of the petition of the Meru Citizens' Union of Tanganyika to the Trusteeship Council in which it is stated that Government officials destroyed coffee trees, banana plants, corn and beans on the boundary fixed by the Government between the land of a white settler and the Wa-Meru and that a large area of land was transferred to the settler by force: and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lyttelton

This petition relates to a case in which a European settler has taken legal proceedings to evict Meru squatters from part of his farm which has been his freehold property for over 30 years. A survey of the farm boundary was carried out in September in the presence of the District Commissioner. No crops were destroyed and the allegations made in the petition are completely false.