OWNERSHIP OF KENYA GOLD

Taranaki Daily News, 20 January 1933, Page 7

OWNERSHIP OF KENYA GOLD

STATEMENT BY COLONIAL OFFICE MINERALS PROPERTY QF CROWN. (British Official Wireless.) Rec. 5.5 p.m. Rugby, Jan. 18. The Colonial Office in a statement deals with’the position of native lands following the recent discovery of gold in Kenya. In East Africa minerals are the property not of the occupiers of the land, whether European or native, but totalling nearly 31,000,000 acres, have been set aside for the native population, but the creation of such native reserves in no way affected tne Crown’s ownership of minerals in or under the soil, and the ordinance passed in 1930 provided that with the advice and consent of the Central Native Lands Trust Board the Government could exclude from a native reserve land required for such purposes as railways, aerodromes, townships, waterworks and the development of the mineral resources of the colony. Where any such exclusion made an equivalent area of land was to be added to the reserve. The discovery of gold is of the greatest importance to Kenya. The local Government has given most careful con " sideration to the policy to be followed in developing the potential goldfield. Every care has been taken to safeguard the interests of individuals and tribes as a whole in the 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 reserves is relatively very small. Moreover, exclusion is only for the duration of the lease. The Governor does not contemplate any difficulty in providing the individual dispossessed native with other land. Compensation will also be paid to the local native funds.