Mau Mau
Sut,—There was one important event not mentioned in your article, The Mau Mau Threat. In 1938 The Crown Lands Ordinance No. 27 and The Native Lands Ordinance authorised the alienation of native lands and the restriction of African natives to reserved areas. Therefore any dispute as to the ownership of land which existed prior to these Ordinances is of little consequence. The facts today are that,. whether it was intentional or not, these Ordinances have resulted in the most fertile land being reserved for the Europeans and the least fertile for the natives. Moreover, cheap native labour is thus created and wages kept at a low level.
I submit that the only solution is to recognise that natives, Europeans and other races have an equal right to occupy land, pro- vided they pay to the Kenya Legislature the economic rent of their holdings and that this is collected by way of taxation assessed on the bare unimproved value of the site. In the interest of truth and justice these facts should be published.—Yours faithfully,
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