Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 29 Gorffennaf 1926.
The right hon. Gentleman quoted the Gold Coast as an example of the successful operation of the West Coast idea. In the South-East of Nigeria there is a very serious land problem, as there is on the Gold Coast. In the Gold Coast we have seen practically the whole of the native ideas of land tenure disappear under the impact of English law, and more and more land in the Gold Coast is being treated as if it were held in terms of the English law. Precisely the same thing tends to creep in in South-Eastern Nigeria and the people of South-Eastern Nigeria are being exploited and impoverished by endless land litigation. The right hon. Gentleman says that everything we have done in East Africa is so much worse than what we have done in West Africa, but all I can say is that, if that is so, the evidence of my own eyes must be at fault.