15 MAY 1959, Page 7

A Spectator's Notebook

'IT IS IMPOSSIBLE,' according to the magistrate who investi- gated the brutalities in the Mau Mau detention camp, 'to determine beyond reasonable doubt which injuries on the deceased were caused by justi- fiable and which by unjusti- fiable blows, and which injury or combination of injuries resulted in the shock and haemorrhage causing death.' This view has been accepted by the Attorney-General of Kenya, and transmitted to Parliament by the Minister of State for the Colonies, the Earl of Perth. I am sure it will bring incxprmible comfort to the relatives of the de- ceased; particularly as they now have Lord Perth's assurance that the detainees were sent to this camp 'for rehabilitation.'