GOLD IN KENYA

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 16, 20 January 1933, Page 7

GOLD IN KENYA

RECENT DISCOVERY

EFFECT ON NATIVE LANDS

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

(British Official Wireless.) BUGBY, 18th January. The Colonial Offices in an authoritative statement deals with the position of native lands following upon the recent discovery of gold in Kenya. It is explained that in East Africa minerals are the property, not of the occupiers of the land, whether European or native, but of the Crown. Large areas totalling nearly 31,000,000 acres have from time to time been set aside for the native population, but the creation of such native reserves has in no way affected the Crown's ownership of minerals in or under the soil. An ordinance passed in 1930 provided that with the-advice and consent of the Central Native Lands Trust Board, the Government could exclude from the native reserve land required for such purposes as railways, aerodromes, townships, and waterworks, and for the development of the mineral resources of the colony. "Where any such exclusion was made, an equivalent area of land was to be added to the reserve. .COMMISSION AT WQEK. Meanwhile, a. Land Commission, appointed to consider the needs, both present and prospective, of the native population in Kenya, in regard to land, and to report on the desirability and practicability of setting aside further lands for native occupation, has been at- work in Kenya since August last. The discovery of gold is of the greatest importance to Kenya as a whole. The local Government has given most careful consideration to the policy to be followed in developing the potential goldfield. On technical aspects it has secured the advice of Sir Albert Kitson, a very eminent geologist of world-wide experience, and in framing the necessary ordinance to deal with the imme' diate situation it has taken the opinion of the Central Native Lands' Trust Board, the Chief Native Commissioner, ana the Land Commission. Moreover, the Governor has taken the wise step of explaining the position to the natives themselves in their tribal gatherings. Every care has been taken to safeguard not only the interests of individuals in the immediate present, but also the ultimate interest of the tribes as a whole in future.

The surface actually required for reef mining in Kenya is a matter, of acres only, and the total amount of land likely to be excluded from the reserves is "relatively very small. Moreover, exclusion is only for the duration of the. lease.

COMPENSATION PROVIDED,

A matter of immediate importance is to ensure that any individual native whose holding covers ground required for mining operations shall receive compensation for disturbance and an alternative piece of ground on which he may live and work in close proximity to his market. The Governor does not contemplate any difficulty in providing individual dispossessed natives with land. Compensation will also bo paid to local native funds.

The function, of the Land Commission is to report on the adequacy of the reserves, and it will take all factors into account, including the requirements of possible mining development. The Government of Kenya has approached the difficult problem in a practical and sympathie way. It is dealing effectively with the immediate necessity of settling individual natives on whose land gold is found, and when the Land Commission reports, the Government of Kenya and the Government at Home will be able to deal comprehensively with the wider question of tho ultimate adequacy of the reserves.