legislation, if sanctioned, will be binding upon all sections of His Majesty's subjects in Kenya Colony, regardless of race?

Mr. AMERY: I have seen the original draft of this Bill, which has since been referred to a Select Committee of the Legislative Council. Until it has assumed its final shape and been passed into law, it would be premature for me to express any views in regard to it.

EAST AFRICA (MASAI CATTLE).

16th February.

Mr. JOHNSTONE asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has yet received the Report upon the expenditure of the proceeds of the sale of the Masai cattle, and when this Report will be published?

Mr. AMERY: The proceeds of the sale of the Masai cattle amounted to £4,638. I should be glad to supply the hon. Member with the information. furnished to me by the Governor.

COMMUNAL REPRESENTATION.

20th February.

Colonel WEDGWOOD asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether that section of the Feetham Report which recommends communal representation for municipal elections in Kenya will be legislated on prior to the reception of the Report of the Hilton Young Commission; and whether the general approval of the Report indicated by him includes this section dealing with the franchise?

The SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. AMERY): I have no recent information from the Government of Kenya which would indicate when legislation is likely to be introduced or passed on this subject. The conditions on which general approval was given to the Feetham Commission's recommendations in their report relating to Nairobi did not further distinguish between sections of the Report.

Colonel WEDGWOOD: May we have an assurance that the Report of the Hilton Young Commission will not prejudice this very serious point by any premature legislation on this question in Kenya or elsewhere?

Mr. AMERY: Naturally that is a matter which will be taken into consideration by the Government.

Colonel WEDGWOOD: Would it be possible to make that known to the Government of Kenya?

Mr. AMERY: I think they fully realise its importance.

NATIVE REserves.

Colonel WEDGWOOD asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, seeing that it is now some years since it was proposed to vest the land in Kenya occupied by natives in some form of trust, he is yet in a position to lay before the House the proposed constitution of this

trust?

Mr. AMERY: No, Sir. I am still in communication with the Governor of Kenya on the subject.

Colonel WEDGWOOD: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that he gave me that answer two years ago? Would it not be possible now that he has come back from his tour to give a more satisfactory answer on this question, or at any rate inform the House that no more land will be taken from the natives until this Commission is definitely settled ?

Mr. AMERY: I know that the matter has taken rather long to consider, but we are anxious to get the most satisfactory form of trust. Negotiations have actually been proceeding all the time, and I am not aware that any land has been transferred pending the negotiations.

Brigadier-General CLIFTON BROWN: Is it not a fact that the natives are not making very much use of the land and that they prefer going outside and working for the white men?

Mr. AMERY: That may be the case, but I do not think it affects the desirability of having a satisfactory land trust to safeguard the interests of the natives.

Colonel WEDGWOOD: Are we to understand that, pending the setting up of this trust, no more land will be alienated from the natives?

Mr. AMERY: I cannot give a definite pledge on that point off-hand, but I do not think that any actual transference is taking place in native territory.

Colonel WEDGWOOD: Cannot the right hon. Gentleman see that every month that this question is postponed means that more land will be alienated and that the whole position will be prejudiced?

Mr. AMERY: I entirely agree with the right hon. and gallant Gentleman's object.

LAND SETTLEMENT.

27th February.

Sir R. THOMAS asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has received any complaints that prospective settlers with capital are deterred from taking up farms in Kenya owing to the operations of land companies who hold out for inflated prices; and whether any considerable area of Crown land suitable for growing coffee, maize, and wheat is still available for alienation?

Mr. AMERY: There is no record of any complaints of the nature referred to in the first part of the question having been addressed to me. I regret that I am not in a position to give any details of the areas of Crown land in Kenya available for alienation and suitable for particular crops; but the scheme of land settlement foreshadowed in the Legislative Council on the 1st November last included the allocation during 1928 of 170 farms, of which 100 would be mixed farms of from 500 to 1,200 acres, and seventy would be small holdings of 100 acres.

RAIDS.

Lord H. CAVENDISH-BENTINCK asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will consider the advisability of issuing, in the

form of a White Paper, the number of raids, with casualties, made by Abyssinians into Kenya Colony during the last fifteen years?

Sir A. CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, Sir. It is proposed to issue a White Paper on this subject, and the necessary material is now being collected.

Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can now make any statement about the negotiations with the Royal Abyssinian Government regarding the proposed Blue Nile barrage?

Sir A. CHAMBERLAIN: Since the negotiations are still in progress, I regret that I am unable at this stage to add anything to the reply which was given on the 22nd of November last.

BRITISH CARAVAN (ATTACK).

Mr. LUMLEY asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what is the conclusion arrived at by the Court of Arbitration on the attack made by Abyssinian soldiers last June on a British camel caravan?

Sir A. CHAMBERLAIN: The Court fixed the damages at $25,000 (about £3,600), and this sum has duly been paid by the Abyssinian Government. It also recommended the removal of the Abyssinian officer chiefly responsible, and he has accordingly been dismissed from his post by the Abyssinian Government. The findings of the Court thus bear out the view of this outrage which I expressed in my reply to the hon. Member for Central Southwark (Colonel Day) on the 25th of July last.

Colonel WEDGWOOD asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether negotiations are proceeding satisfactorily with the Unites States of America Government in regard to the construction of the dam and reservoir at Lake Tsana by American capital?

Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSON: The right hon. Gentleman will recollect that, in answer to a supplementary question by my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle North (Sir N. Grattan-Doyle) on the 8th November last, my right hon. Friend stated that no issue has arisen between His Majesty's Government and the United States Government on this subject, and I do not conceive it possible that it should give rise to any difference of opinion. There has therefore been no occasion for any exchange of views between the two Governments in this matter. I would add that the object of the British Government is to get the barrage constructed and worked on sound engineering lines and on conditions satisfactory alike to the Government of Abyssinia and the Governments of the Sudan and Egypt, our primary interest being to secure this additional water for the Sudan.

Colonel WEDGWOOD: And you do not mind whose capital it long as the thing is built?

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Viscount SANDON asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Government of British Somaliland has made any representations on the subject of the award given as to the Abyssinian attack on their caravan; what was their nature; and what action is being taken on them?

Mr. AMERY: His Majesty's Government, in consultation with the Government of Somaliland, is considering the allocation of the compensation awarded by the Court of Arbitration. I am not prepared to make any statement on the subject at present.

Viscount SANDON: Is it not a fact that the local government were not satisfied with the method of finding the award, and is the constitution of that arbitration award to be considered either as desirable or as a precedent in similar cases?

Mr. AMERY: I am not prepared to make a statement at present.

Sir R. HAMILTON asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is proposed to issue, in White Book form, for the information of the House, the correspondence covering the negotiations with the Abyssinian Government in connection with the proposed barrage of Lake Tsana?

Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSON: The negotiations are still in progress, and I regret that I cannot, therefore, at present give any indication of the form in which their outcome will be brought to the notice of the House.

INDIA.

SLAVES (EMANCIPATION, BURMA).

16th February.

Mr. WALTER BAKER asked the Under-Secretary of State for India. whether he will consider the advisability of issuing, in the form of a single White Paper, a full account of the efforts made in Burma for the release of slaves?

Earl WINTERTON: I would refer the hon. Member to the Memorandum prepared for the League of Nations, which was circulated with the Official Report of the 16th June last. I am also placing in the Library of the House copy of Papers relating to Mr. Barnard's expedition to the area known as the "Triangle" during the season 1926-27. A further expedition under Mr. Barnard is now operating in the same area to finish the work of emancipation of the slaves and to establish the position of those already emancipated. I hope that these Papers, which have been fully noticed in the public Press, will meet the object which the hon. Member has in view. 20th February.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS (SLAVERY CONVENTION). Sir R. THOMAS asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many Powers have ratified the Slavery Convention of the League of

Nations; and what are the names of the maritime and colonising Powers that have ratified it up to the present?

Sir A. CHAMBERLAIN: According to the most recent information in my possession, the Slavery Convention of 26th September, 1926, has so far been ratified by the following: Austria, Belgium, Great Britain and Northern Ireland and all parts of the British Empire which are not separate members of the League of Nations, the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, India, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden; and acceded to by Haiti, Hungary, Monaco, Nicaragua and the Sudan.

SIERRA LEONE (NATIVE LAW ORDINANCE).

Mr. W. BAKER asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that the Ordinance abolishing the legal status of slavery in Sierra Leone is inconsistent with the provisions of Part VII of the Protectorate Ordinance which prohibits the exodus of any man from his chiefdom except on payment of a sum of money which is beyond the means of the average slave; and whether he will abolish slavery in fact by repealing Part VII, and by taking the step to see that all slaves are informed of the change of their legal status ?

Mr. AMERY: I am asking the Governor for a report as to the bearing of Part VII of the Protectorate Native Law Ordinance upon the slavery question. The Sierra Leone Government have been taking steps for some time past to make the abolition of the legal status of slavery known, throughout the Protectorate.

EMPIRE TOBACCO.

Mr. E. BROWN asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, seeing that this country accords to tobacco grown in Nyasaland and Southern Rhodesia a preferential rate, his attention has been drawn to the fact that this country is unable to absorb more than a small proportion of the tobacco now grown under preference in these territories; and, if so, if any steps are proposed to be taken?

Mr. AMERY: I am aware that the policy of preference has been so successful that the production of tobacco in Nyasaland and Rhodesia has increased to an extent which has led to certain difficulties as regards absorption in the home market. The situation is being watched, but the most obvious remedy is for the public to make a more insistent demand for Empire tobacco.

SOUTHERN RHODESIAN BILL.

21st February.

Mr. L'ESTRANGE MALONE asked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs what is the position with regard to the Southern Rhodesian Bill for the control of natives, which confers on the native commissioners very stringent powers over native workers?