The terms of reference for the commission, which was appointed by the short-lived First MacDonald ministry, included to report on measures to accelerate economic development, to improve the social conditions of African residents, to investigate employment practices and to secure closer cooperation between the five British dependencies in East and Central Africa.
By the time the commission reported in April 1925, the MacDonald ministry had lost power and, although Ormsby-Gore had become Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in the new government, little action was taken on its proposals.
Its report in 1929 re-examined and supported the closer union of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, but this was not acted on owing to financial constraints.
[5][6] In June 1924, the Parliamentary Commission officially named "The East Africa Commission" was appointed with the mandate:- "To visit Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Tanganyika Territory, Uganda, and Kenya with a view to obtaining as much information as possible in the time available on all subjects covered by the terms of reference to the East Africa Committee, and to report to the Secretary of State on any facts which they may consider have a bearing upon the above matters."
The terms of reference to the East Africa Committee were:— "To consider and report:— (a) on the measures to be taken to accelerate the general economic development of the British East African Dependencies and the means of securing closer co-ordination of policy on such important matters as transportation, cotton-growing, and the control of human, animal, and plant diseases; (b) on the steps necessary to ameliorate the social condition of the natives of East Africa, including improvement of health and economic development; (c) on the economic relation between natives and non-natives with special reference to labour contracts, care of labourers, certificates of identification, employment of women and children; (d) on the taxation of natives and the provision for services directed to their moral and material improvement".
[8] Ormsby-Gore, the commission's Chairman was the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Stafford from 1910 to 1938 and Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1922 to 1929, except during the period of the MacDonald ministry from June to November 1924.
Church's main interest was promoting trade between Britain and its colonial Empire and, as a result of his visit to East Africa, he supported the political ambitions of white settlers for internal self-government on the model of Southern Rhodesia, in defiance of official Labour Party policy.
[18] It suggested a rail link from North-Eastern Rhodesia and Northern Nyasaland to the existing Tanganyika Railway Central Line.
[31] The commission accepted that trade and commerce was generally underdeveloped, more particularly in Nyasaland,,and in and Northern Rhodesia where copper mining was only just starting.
[33] It also considered the importance of promoting scientific research in many fields, including crop production, forestry, fisheries and animal husbandry, and suggested that much of this should be financed by the British Government rather than from local revenue sources.
[35] However, Linfield argued more strongly against this theory, on the basis that lengthy absences by male workers from their homes damaged African societies and reduced their ability to be self-supporting.
The existence of this mandate, which suggested impermanence, and the wartime destruction had hampered investment and many government departments were under-staffed or under-resourced.
[43] The commission considered that the territory could best be developed if the existing railways were repaired and extended and roads and port facilities improved.
However, the governor of Kenya, based in Nairobi had, since 1914, also been the British High Commissioner for Zanzibar, an arrangement that caused delays, as no matters of importance could be settled locally.
[51] The extension of European agriculture was causing demands for African workers that competed with opportunities for them to cultivate their own land or to migrate to work in the towns.
As the supply of African labour was limited, the commission advocated limiting the influx of settlers wishing to take on new large farms and restricting further conversion of African-occupied lands into such farms[52] Much of the work of the Ormsby-Gore Commission was called into question by the change in government which took place while its members were in Africa.
[55] It also promoted the education of girls and young women and the establishment of a hierarchy of schools that would eventually include university-level institutions.
In all of these areas, Ormsby-Gore laid the educational foundations for the first generation of African professional men and women in these territories, and for such future political leaders as Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga[58] Ormsby-Gore was promoted away from the Colonial Office in 1929, but returned as Secretary of State for the Colonies between 1936 and 1938.