ioo A COLONY IN THE MAKING chap. 



this point the farmers and townsmen are for once 

 unanimous ; and it must be confessed that it is almost 

 incomprehensible that the opinion of those who have 

 special knowledge, and who alone are affected, should 

 be held absolutely valueless. 



The argument of the farmer is this : I take up 

 5,000 acres of land, the possibilities of which are un- 

 known and which is accordingly valueless. My neigh- 

 bours and I spend time and money in experiment and 

 find out that it will grow coffee, wattle, or sisal. By 

 our efforts the unimproved value of this land becomes 

 £2 an acre. As a reward for my efforts I am to be 

 fined ^500 per annum ! It is pointed out that when 

 unearned increment was introduced into England, on 

 not one but on a thousand Radical platforms it was 

 argued that the duty was only fair where it arose from 

 extraneous circumstances, and that to penalise a man 

 for the improvements his own industry had effected 

 would be grossly unjust. What was grossly unfair to 

 the voting community in England is good enough for 

 the voteless people of British East Africa. 



The only two arguments in favour of this revisal of 

 rent that I have heard from the British East African 

 officials are : — Firstly, that long before the end of the 

 thirty-three years the Protectorate will be in a position 

 to make or repeal any land laws it may choose. 



To which the answer is that it seems a pity to impose 

 a regulation with the anticipation that it will be 

 repealed, but which in the meantime undoubtedly 

 repels the influx both of settlers and capital. 



Secondly, that as the Ordinance is not retrospective, 

 it actually increases the values of those farms held 

 under the older and better conditions. 



This argument is as immoral as it is unsound and 



