THE GATEWAY TO KENYA 



from His Excellency, the late Sir Robert Coryndon, to 

 celebrate the centenary of this voluntary hoisting of the 

 Flag on 1 2th December 1923. Over sixty people, rep- 

 resenting every interest in the Colony, met in London at 

 luncheon in a quiet little restaurant in Jermyn Street. 

 The occasion is memorable for the fact that this was 

 probably the first time in the history of the Colony that 

 so large a number of people representing widely varying 

 interests, forgetting politics and their differences of 

 opinion, came together in a disinterested way to com- 

 memorate a purely historical occasion. 



But to return to the history of Mombasa. It was not 

 for another fifty years that the British India Steam 

 Navigation Company established regular communica- 

 tion with these parts. In 1887 the Sheikh Sayyid Bargash 

 granted to the Imperial British East Africa Association, 

 a concession of his mainland possessions between Imba 

 and Kipini. This Company, whose Chairman was Wil- 

 liam MacKinnon, was largely animated by humane mo- 

 tives and a desire to enforce the law against slave trading. 

 This Company also started industrial missions, built 

 roads and administered justice, and in 1894 surrendered 

 its charter to the Imperial Government who assumed the 

 Protectorate when Sir Arthur Hardinge was appointed 

 Commissioner and Consul General. 



There was steady progress in the development of gov- 

 ernment at Mombasa and in 1896 the construction of 

 the Uganda Railway was started. Four years later Sir 

 Charles ElHot succeeded Sir. A. Hardinge as Commis- 



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