KENYA.

Correspondence with the Government of Kenya relating to Lord Delamere's acquisition of land in Kenya.

No. 1.

The Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Officer Administering the Government of Kenya.

I understand that attention is certain to be drawn to the accusations of "dummying " made against Lord Delamere on pages 157-8 of Dr. Norman Leys' book "Kenya," and I shall be glad if you will, at your earliest convenience, report to me fully on that subject.

In view of the prominence given, not only in this book but elsewhere, to Lord Delamere's holdings in land, it may be of value if, in addition, you will give me any information which may be available as to the extent to which, and the date at which, he has disposed of the original grant of 100,000 acres in 1903.

I have, &c.,

L. S. AMERY.

No. 2.

The Acting Governor of Kenya to the Secretary of State for the

SIR,

Colonies.

(Received 18th July, 1925.)

[Answered by No. 4.]

Government House, Nairobi, Kenya, 26th June, 1925.

I have the honour to refer to your despatch of the 20th May* in respect of past land transactions effected by Lord Delamere, and to inform you that I have now caused full inquiries to be made in regard to this matter.

No. 1.

2. The annexures consist of (A) a memorandum by the Commissioner of Lands and certain detailed particulars supplied by the Land Office to furnish the information required by your despatch, (B) a memorandum submitted by Lord Delamere which appears to be generally in agreement with the conclusions arrived at by the Land Office here.

3. I desire to state that Lord Delamere has both personally and through his agents afforded the fullest opportunity to Government inquiries into what is now somewhat ancient history. I have no reason to doubt that you will find in the attached papers an accurate account of the essential facts.

I have, &c.,

E. B. DENHAM,

Acting Governor.

ENCLOSURE 1 In No. 2.

Memorandum on Secretary of State's despatch of 20th May, 1925.

Dummying" appears to be a somewhat loose term and presumably varies in meaning in different circumstances and under different laws. In any case the suggestion of underhand dealing and evasion of law can be taken as a common element in any definition of this particular activity. The statement made by Lord Delamere is based on his own memory of land transactions in the past at the same time I have very carefully inspected not only my own departmental records but also the daybooks or diaries of Lord Delamere's agents at the time when the transactions took place. My conclusions as to what actually happened are supported by definite evidence from both sources which in no case is contradictory. They are briefly as follows:

(1) On Lord Delamere losing practically all his large flocks. of sheep at Njoro he endeavoured to find good grazing land where he might meet with more success, while proceeding to continue the very large agriculture development of the original Njoro grant.

(2) He therefore proceeded to buy up land in the Rift Valley near Elmenteita, commencing with a 9,000-acre block from a Mr. Flemmer who had been granted a large concession there, and later from other concessionnaires in the same locality.

(3) As he purchased so he developed, introducing pipelines, growing stock to the benefit of such adjacent concessionnaires as Mr. Chamberlain (vide Dr. Leys' "Kenya," page 157), who were not in a position themselves to do much to increase the value of their own land.

(4) I append extracts from two memoranda of my predecessor, Colonel Montgomery, who sets forth at length his opinions on the whole subject of Lord Delamere's purchases.

(5) It should be noted that Colonel Montgomery was at the time kept fully au fait by Lord Delamere of all his land transactions whether in process of completion or in contemplation.

(6) I further find that genuine value was paid in each case to the vendor, after the grant had been made to the latter, and in each case with the full knowledge of the Government.

(7) I further find that not only is there no evidence that Lord Delamere put up men of straw to obtain grants on the strength of financial guarantees supplied by himself, but that there is positive evidence in the private books of his agents to show that when once so approached he refused to do so.

(8) In every single case of these purchases the prior consent of the Government was asked for and obtained, before grants were issued, and, as already stated, Government may be considered to have been a party with full knowledge.

(9) There is no instance of Lord Delamere doing what some other people did at the time, i.e. putting in the names of female and other relatives in England who were not likely to visit this country for land grants and obtaining from such relations, when the grants were made, powers equivalent to complete possession, as means to exceeding the acreage which Government was willing to grant to individuals.

(10) It would be unreasonable to expect that approved applicants for grants would consent to dummy for another person, unless they were personally incapable of showing the necessary proof of means and could only obtain it from the dummier.

(11) It is equally absurd to suppose that the dummier would then proceed to pay his dummy the full market value of the land.

(12) In this particular case it is interesting to note that not only prices up to 5s. an acre were paid in these very early pioneer days by Lord Delamere for these Rift Valley farms; but also that it would hardly be too much to state that these values were very largely his own creation, as the result of his own prior efforts and expenditure up to 1906-07 in the Valley (Njoro and Elmenteita) of some sum approximately £60,000.

(13) I append a list showing the agreements for sale (or sales) in respect of the original 1903 grant. It should, of course, be remembered that the proceeds of these sales can be reasonably considered as either a justifiable recoupment for past losses or a source of very great present development.

If in 1906, Colonel Montgomery was satisfied that Lord Delamere's work and expenditure then fully justified his holdings, I can certify now with even greater confidence that any district in which Lord Delamere held land, he develops land, and that no such district is not greatly benefiting from his activities. It would not, I think, be too much to add that no better settler ever spent his all in such a difficult Colony as this, and that any suggestion of underhand dealing in respect of his land or any other transactions with Government is not only cruel and malicious but conveys the precise opposite of the plainly evident truth.

H. T. MARTIN,

Commissioner of Lands.

Contemporary opinions of the Land Department as to Lord Delamere's land transactions.

Commissioner of Lands note of 11th December, 1906:

"The following is a detail of the land at present held by Lord Delamere:

44

46

"I venture to hope that the Secretary of State, taking all these facts into consideration, will make no objection to sanction the transfers of the properties so far acquired by private treaty. It is implied, of course, that as regards "each grant the acquirer undertakes all the responsibilities "attaching to it, and failure to develop any property will render him liable to the forfeiture of the grant.

64

46

66

"In 1906 Lord Delamere, who had received permission to purchase various lands previously amounting to 26,000 acres, asked for 10,000 acres at the coast, an application "which he subsequently withdrew. Apropos of this application Lord Delamere furnished a statement of the further "lands which he had already received permission to purchase "and those for which he had been subsequently negotiating "and would require permission for transfer to himself. He "also produced his bank books showing very large expen"diture on development and also on these purchases."

The Commissioner of Lands said further:

66

66

66

66

66

"Lord Delamere came to this country in 1902, and has since lived continuously in it. He received on arrival a grant of 100,000 acres and has subsequently acquired 66 some 60,000 acres more by purchase from other 'grantees. And He has given me his bank accounts from the beginning of 1904. These show that he has spent "over £40,000 in the last two and a half years. Probably "the expenditure from the beginning would total some £50,000 £60,000. Part of this money has gone to the "purchase of land from other grantees, but there can be no doubt that much money has been laid out in development, "that is, in farm buildings, in the purchase of stock both in the country and from abroad, in breaking up land, and in "timber business. The importation of stud-stock has been "full of risks; practically all the imported animals have died, "but valuable experiments have been made, especially in the way of crossing with county breeds. Lord Delamere has, "in short, been a pioneer of the best type. He has con"sistently spoken well of the country; he has incurred a good deal of risk; he has induced a large number of persons "(some of them men of substance and means) to throw in their lot with the country; and he has helped the struggling settler with money and stock, and so has enabled him to "tide over times of difficulty.

66

66

66

66

46

And elsewhere:

66

66

64

:

He has without doubt done more than anyone else in developing his property and spending capital in the country; and he has made his name (? home) here. In this respect "his action contrasts very favourably with that of certain other persons who have come to the country on short "visits, have put in applications for large grants, and have then gone home to raise companies to work the concessions they have obtained. Whatever Lord Delamere has effected "has been done by himself without the aid of financiers; and he is not a very wealthy man."

It should be stated that when the late Sir Donald Stewart was delimiting the new Masai Reserve last year (1905), the "negotiations with the Masai were much facilitated by the readiness with which Lord Delamere agreed on his own behalf and on that of his brothers-in-law to give up their land which came inside the proposed reserve. It is true "that he obtained favourable terms for such relinquishment, but it is also true that the land given up in the Aberdare "Range is admittedly first class, and it is doubtful if that taken in exchange, even though in greater quantity, is of "equal value to that given up."

66

66

J. MONTGOMERY.