The Natives in Kenya • The long-expected report of Sir
Morris Carter and his colleagues on native lands in Kenya is a voluminous and valuable document, and it is satisfactory that it has been welcomed in the colony itself. The preservation and, where necessary, the extension of the native reserves is imperative if justice is to be done to the natives, for the creation of a class of landless natives must almost evitably lead to degradation and economic enslavement. The main proposals of the Conimissioners have been adopted by the Colonial Secretary. Some 2,500 square miles are to be added to the 50,000 square miles of which the native reserves at present consist, the bounds of the highlands, which are reserved for Europeans, are to be specifically defined, and strict control is to be exercised over the issue of leases to non-natives in certain areas where, while they are not specifically native reserves, priority is considered to be due to natives. The Imperial Government, moreover, is 'to finance the proposed changes to the extent of £50,000, which may be regarded as an ex gratin response to claims whose validity the Government does not admit, in respect of services rendered by natives during the War. More than £50,000 will certainly be needed, and the obvious way to raise it is-by a levy on the gold now being mined in the native reserves in Kavirondo. It is to be hoped the Government is not losing sight of t hat.
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