December t, 1909.] 



THE iNDIA RUBBER WORLD 



83 



In the Congo Rubber Country. 



MINISTER RENKIN'S REFORM PROPOSALS. 



SINCE the annexation of the Congo Free State to Belgium 

 the reform of conditions in the African dependency has 

 received much serious consideration at the hands of the 

 government. The minister of colonies, Mons. Renkin, has made 

 an extensive tour of the Congo colony, as a result of which he 

 has made numerous representations and proposals to the Bel- 

 gian chamber of representatives. From a resume of these in 

 La Tribune Congolaise (Antwerp) the following excerpts are 

 made, as bearing more or less upon rubber interests : 



"The Harvesting of the Products of Government Lands. — 

 What conclusions are to be drawn from the principle of gov- 

 ernment ownership? The minister has referred to the statement: 

 'I am not an enthusiastic supporter of government monopoly,' 

 made by him in 1908. 



"He thinks the time has arrived for gradually leaving to private 

 enterprise the harvesting of the products of government lands 

 (domainc prive) , which are mainly rubber and gum copal. He 

 proposes to carry out this reform measure in three stages or 

 periods, to commence on July 1, 1910, July 1, 191 1, and 

 July 1, 1912. 



"Under this plan the districts of the Lower Congo, the Pool, 

 Kwango, Lulualaba Kasai, south of Sankuru, Katanga, the 

 eastern province south of the latitude of Kamimbo, the Gurba 

 Dungui territory and part of Lake Leopold II, and Equateur 

 district would be surrendered to private enterprise on July 1, 1910. 

 On the two subsequent dates, as aforesaid, the government would 

 surrender the working of the remaining government lands, 

 with the exception of five government tracts of an area of 600,000 

 hectares, which would be reserved. 



"As regards the territories for which concessions have been 

 granted, the government would subsequently examine into the 

 question, whether or not it would be advisable to make different 

 arrangements in agreement with the interested parties. Natives 

 should have the right to harvest the products of the Govern- 

 ment lands. In the territories surrendered to private enterprise 

 the government would sell or lease to such parties parcels of 

 land for the purpose of erecting factories. 



"Tax Imposed on the Natives. — In his statement of the 

 grounds on which the proposed budget is based, the minister sub- 

 sequently enters into an examination of the question of taxes 

 imposed on the native population. The system of compulsory 

 labor is no longer practised in the Congo, and it is a manifest 

 exaggeration to claim that a large proportion of the population 

 has been reduced to a condition bordering on slavery. 



"The minister states that conditions have already improved. 

 He announces that the tax will henceforth be collected in money, 

 but that the government reserves the right to take in certain 

 cases appropriate measures in furtherance of the interests of 

 the population. 



"The tax payable in foodstuffs against a compensation for 

 the same is to be abolished. Until all the provisions of the 

 new system shall be in force, the natives may pay the tax in 

 products of the soil, and will receive their compensation in 

 money, such compensation to be based on the value of the 

 product given in payment. 



"The maximum native tax rate is to be revised, and the 

 local tax rate modified whenever the returns justify such 

 modification. 



"Replanting Rubber. — Entering into a consideration of the 

 question of replanting, the minister announces his intention 

 to abrogate compulsory replanting, as at present required of gov- 

 ernment agents and private parties. 



"The minister purposes henceforth to levy a replanting tax, 



to be fixed either at 0.40 or at 0.20 francs per kilogram of rub- 

 ber produced, either from trees or lianes (creepers). The gov- 

 ernment is to establish standard plantations. 



"In his proposition the minister outlines an initial plan, pro 

 viding for the annual establishment of rubber plantations cov- 

 ering an area of 2,000 hectares [=4,942 acres], during a term 

 of ten years. 



"In addition to the proceeds of the tax, an annual appropriation 

 of 1,000,000 francs [=$193,000] is to be set aside for this purpose. 

 The government intends to encourage the laying out of planta- 

 tions by private parties, by selling them land." 



[Reference is had in the last paragraphs to the regulation 

 existing for some years in the Congo Free State, under which 

 a certain number of rubber trees or vines were required to be 

 planted for each ton of rubber exported.] 



RUBBER IN THE CONGO BUDGET. 



According to the plan for the Congo budget for 1910, pre- 

 sented to the Belgian chamber of representatives, the proceeds 

 of the sale of rubber are estimated at 13,397,500 francs, against 

 15,000,000 francs in 1909. This latter estimate was based on a 

 production of 1,875 tons of rubber, of an estimated value of 8 

 francs per kilogram. The present budget is based on a pro- 

 duction of 1,165 tons. If figured at a price of 8 francs per kilo- 

 gram [=70 cents per pound] — i. e.. at the same price as in 

 1909, the value of the production would be 9,320,000 francs, 

 which means a decrease in receipts amounting to 5,680,000 francs. 

 The favorable condition of the rubber market, which has been 

 constantly improving and becoming more firmly established since 

 the end of last year, allows, however, of figuring on the basis 

 of a higher selling price. The price on which the estimate for 

 1910 is based is 11.50 francs per kilogram [=$1 per pound], 

 which figure is below the market price as quoted during the 

 past few months. In consequence of the present condition of 

 the market, the estimate, as inserted in the budget, means only 

 a falling off in receipts of 1,602,500 francs. 



AMERICAN INTEREST IN THE CONGO. 



Although much interest was manifested in the United States 

 in the formation of La Societe Internationale Forestiere et 

 Miniere du Congo, three years ago, on account of the participa- 

 tion of American capitalists in what promised to be an unusually 

 important concession in the Congo state, there has been scarcely 

 a mention of the enterprise in the American press since. This 

 does not indicate, however, that the work of developing this 

 concession, on which the time limit is sixty years, has been 

 overlooked by the interests involved. The lands embraced in 

 the concession are in the remote Katanga territory, and the 

 organization of the work proposed by the concessionaires must 

 naturally be slow, measured by business conditions in more 

 civilized countries. The object of the company is to develop 

 mineral and forest resources, the latter including india-rubber, 

 besides which the company expect to plant rubber extensively. 

 A recent number of La Tribune Congolaise (Antwerp) contains 

 this report from Lac Leopold II : 



"In the interest of the Societe Internationale Forestiere et 

 Miniere du Congo, M. Boulard, chief of this division, accompan- 

 ied by his assistant, M. Bricusse, together with a new agent, 

 M. Ledoux, who has recently arrived here, have ascended the 

 Olongolo river to the place where it empties into the lake, 

 to establish a new plantation station there, some hundreds of 

 meters above the State station, Bongo. This new station will 

 bear the name of Olongo, and will be under the control of M. 

 Ledoux, agricultural engineer, who before rejoining our Nioki 

 Division, had been sent off on a trip into the Mayumbe region 

 to study the conditions there." 



