INDIANS IN KENYA.
PART I.
1. THE question of the status of Indians in Kenya has come under the consideration of successive Secretaries of State for the Colonies in one form or another for many years; but with the recent change in the constitutional and political position of India, it has now become a matter of Imperial policy, to which His Majesty's Government have given prolonged and anxious consideration in order to reach a settlement of the existing difficulties.
2. The history of the position of Indians in Kenya up to the end of the late war may be summarised briefly. There have been Indian merchants established along the East African Coast for a long time, and, with the opening up of Uganda and Kenya, and particularly with the development of British administration in those countries during the last thirty-eight years, Indian traders have penetrated into the interior. Many Indian artisans and labourers employed on the construction of the Uganda Railway remained to engage in commerce, and, at the beginning of the present century, the number of Indians in Kenya was greatly increased by the arrival of artisans, clerks and small traders. There is a limited number also of professional men and traders on a large scale who have come from India to the Colony. The agricultural Indian is, however, almost unknown in Kenya.
3. It was the question of the ownership of land in the Highlands which first brought Indian and European interests into conflict. The Highlands, less the area in that region reserved for Africans, amount to about one-tenth of the total area of the Colony and Pro- tectorate, and they are in climate unique in the great belt of Tropical African possessions of the Crown. There were a few European settlers from about 1897, but the encouragement of their immigration into the country as a matter of policy may be dated from 1902. From that time the influx of European settlers increased steadily. policy of the reservation of the Highlands for Europeans was definitely The laid down by the Earl of Elgin, when Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1908.
4. At that time the unofficial element on the Legislative Council was entirely nominated, and in 1909 the experiment was tried of adding an Indian nominated member. This experiment did not prove entirely satisfactory, and the appointment was not renewed when the term of office of the Indian concerned came to an end.
5. In 1913, a distinguished sanitation expert, Professor (now Sir William) Simpson, furnished a report on sanitary matters in Kenya, in which he advocated strongly a system of racial segregation, both in the residential and in the commercial areas of the large towns. His views were accepted, and when the time came for applying them after
the war, this question of segregation formed one of the main points at issue between the European and the Indian communities.
6. At the end of the war it was decided to give effect to the long- standing desire of the European community for representation on the Legislative Council by means of elected members. The grant of elective institutions was approved by Viscount Milner in 1919 and took effect at the beginning of 1920. The number of European elected unofficial members of the Council was fixed at eleven, but provision was made for maintaining an official majority in the Council.
7. In 1918, the report of a local Economic Commission of Enquiry into post-war development was published. This contained dis- paraging references to the Indians then in Kenya, and advocated strict control of future immigration from India. Although the passages in question were repudiated by Lord Milner as not representing the view either of His Majesty's Government or himself, the report undoubtedly added to the feeling of bitterness among the Indians.
8. At the same time Indian sentiment, both in India and Kenya, was becoming more and more articulate, and a large number of claims was put forward by the Indian community in Kenya, including a demand for representation on the Legislative Council on an equality with Europeans. After full consideration and discussion, Lord Milner addressed a despatch on the 21st May, 1920, to the Governor of Kenya, conveying decisions on the various points at issue. That despatch has already been published locally in the "Official Gazette." The decisions may be summarised as follows:-
(a) Arrangements to be made for the election of two Indian
members of the Legislative Council on a special franchise.
(6) Arrangements to be made for elective representation of
Indians on Municipal Councils.
(c) No restriction on Indian immigration which would place the natives of India at a disadvantage as compared with other immigrants.
(d) Lord Elgin's decision in regard to the reservation of the Highlands for Europeans to be maintained, but reasonable opportunity to be afforded for Indian agricultural settle- ment in areas of adequate extent and good quality which could be set apart for that purpose without infringement of native rights.
(e) The principle of race segregation to be adhered to in residential areas and, whenever practicable, in commercial areas also.
Other matters were dealt with, but these were of minor importance and need not now be recapitulated.
9. The Government of India reviewed the whole position in a despatch of the 21st October, 1920, which has been published as Command Paper 1311.
This despatch reopened the whole question and led to protracted discussion between the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Secretary of State for India, in which the points at issue were
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