Oral Answers to Questions — Kenya – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 24 February 1954.
Mr Charles Hobson
, Keighley
12:00,
24 February 1954
asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will place a copy of the Mau-Mau oaths in the Library.
Mr Oliver Lyttelton
, Aldershot
I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend on 10th February to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for New Forest (Colonel Crosthwaite-Eyre).
Mr Charles Hobson
, Keighley
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that a copy of the oaths has been placed in the library since this Question was put on the Order Paper? Will he see that copies are sent to the Editor of the "Church Times"?
Mr Oliver Lyttelton
, Aldershot
On this general matter I feel that, without the expression of a further Parliamentary opinion, we have gone as far as we properly can.
Mr Frederic Harris
, Croydon North
Would my right hon. Friend give more publicity to the details of those oaths so that the people of this country can understand what the law-abiding people of all races in Kenya are up against?
Mr Oliver Lyttelton
, Aldershot
My hon. Friend's question accords with my view that the nature of these oaths should be widely known, but I want as far as possible to secure that they are not on sale at one shilling on the bookstalls where people can get them merely from prurient curiosity.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
This phrase is often used in written answers to indicate that a minister has deposited some relevant information in the House of Commons Library. Typical content includes research reports, letters, and tables of data not published elsewhere.
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