Mau Mau Still Stronger
The news from Kenya is, once again, anything but good. Mr. Lyttelton's fairly optimistic speech, which he made before returning from Nairobi to London a fortnight ago, was rapidly followed by a steadily increasing Mau Mau activity, and later by disquieting reports that the security forces were too much on the defensive. This has happened too often before— reassuring observations almost immediately proved false by still greater bouts of violence. The newspapers here have had little free space lately, and it may have escaped notice that on the very eve of the Coronation there was fierce fighting all over the troubled areas in Kenya : at least eleven loyal Kikuyu and fifty-four terrorists were killed. These are signs that Mau Mau may be working up to the really big outbreaks which were forecast in Nairobi a month or so ago; and the appoint- ments of General Sir George Erskine as head of the new East Africa Command and Mr. Frederick Crawford as Deputy Governor are indications that the Government is preparing to meet it. General Erskine will be directly responsible to London and he will have complete control of all the security forces in Kenya. This is much more like the " Malayan remedy " for which the settlers have cried out than the scheme announced as such by Sir Evelyn Baring in April, when Major-General Hinds was appointed " director of operations."
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