Land in Kenya
SIR,—Your correspondent Mr. Stephen Martin has been misled as to the facts of the division of land in Kenya, which he rightly says should be published in the interests of truth and justice. A cursory examination of the geography of Kenya would show him that the two areas of most fertile and well-watered land in the colony lie, firstly, to the north of Nairobi and east of the Aberdares, and round the southern and eastern slopes of Mt. Kenya, and, secondly, near Lake Victoria. Both these areas are native land units, or reserves, vested in the Native Lands Trust Board., These are the regions which African argicultural tribes were occupying when the first Europeans came, for the very reason that they were the most favourable lands in the territory. Only the claims of the ,pastoral Masai and Nandi, resting on the-authority of the spear, to graze their stock at infrequent intervals over what now constitutes the White Highlands, have been denied by 'the settlers. The Masai today have more land per head of population than any tribe outside the Northern Province; so they cannot be said to have suffered much loss. The most fertile lands in Kenya are in the possession of Africans, though unfortunately they do not make the best use of it.—Yours faithfully,
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