A LAST CHANCE IN KENYA By Dr. Norman Lays'
Dr. Norman Leys' A Last Chance in Kenya (Hogarth Press. 8s. Gd.) is a formidable indictment and demands the attention of all concerned. In effect, it avers that a scarcely veiled system of slavery is in operation to-day in Kenya ; that the famous White Paper of 1930 is practically ignored ; and that the sanctions of that slavery are forced labour and an oppres- sive hut-tax. A few—a very few—figures are significant. The author states that the average annual income of the Kenya natives, who comprise 98 per cent. of the total population, is E5 ; and the average annual taxation by Government -alone is 28s. According to Lord Delamere, the average annual income of a European family is 1600 ; on tiler-the direct taxation, even for the richest, is £3. The native's taxes arc collected tyranically and sometimes fraudulently, .and he has no vote, with the result that the money is spent princi- pally for the benefit of the white settler. " No Africans in Kenya have been allowed to grow coffee nor to have land on individual tenure, nor has taxation been )graded in accordance with wealth." The native is helpless in the grasp of economic ;forces and of white pcilitical supremacy. We "repeat that for he sake of our own good name this matter cries for refutation.
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