25 FEBRUARY 1949, Page 16

FOUR RACES IN KENYA

Stu,—I agree with Mr. Hill's picture of the Colonial future in Kenya, but it can be improved on by getting straight some facts about the Colonial past. He quotes Sir Philip Mitchell as saying, "Never has a Colonial enterprise been carried out . . . with such protection of the aboriginal inhabitants and their liberties and rights, including land rights." Where were the Masai when land rights were being protected ? Evicted to make a Whiter Highlands ? Doubtless the Masai are far from obsequious, have speared a D.C. and otherwise disposed of the odd Italian prisoner of war in recent years, and were not " granted all the land by their God." Nevertheless their decline and division remain a noteworthy feature of our colonisation. Thus an obligatory mention of the Wa- Kikuyu is as characteristic of writings on Kenya as the tactful omission of the Masai. " History will not go into reverse," says Sir Philip. Might

it not catch up with him ?—Yours truly, GORDON SMITH. King's College, Cambridge.