GROUNDNUT ACHIEVEMENT
SIR,—Mr. Hynd's defence of the groundnuts fiasco may convince readers in England that all is well. From Africa we view things differently.
1. Plenty of his " primitive " Africans are driving bulldozers—but how ? One firm in Nairobi has run out of cylinder heads because the drivers are so primitive that they still pour cold water into almost empty radiators without keeping the engine running. Others managed to break, in 20 minutes, a certain tractor that experts from England failed to break after 3 hours of trying to break it.
2. The boss of the newly amalgamated railways and hafbours of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika has had to ask the shipping lines to stop shipping badly needed goods owing to the appalling congestion at Dar-es-Salaam due entirely to the groundnuts scheme.
3. " ... might have proved less costly ... " The taxpayer should agree when he gets perhmot whole ounce more margarine in 1949. The sisal growers will agf6es even more with this " might " when they lack labour and wages for loading sisal.
4. " The African population is already undernourished." Evidently his looks belie him. As far as calories are concerned he does far better than manual labour in Europe, and this labour works throughout the year, whereas the African does not, and what he does do lasts very few months. In Kenya there is a shortage of artisans presumably caused by white and black. peanut vendors. How lucky for the African that this scheme was started.
As nationalisation is so popular, in spite of coal, why not nationalise the African ? - That would certainly make life easier for the European.— Box 1664, Nairobi.
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