224 MOZAMBIQUE 



upkeep of outposts, and the most potent source of 

 friction and dispute abolished for ever. Will not 

 some of our great societies take the matter up 

 and combine to bring to Africa this inestimable 

 boon ? 



Mozambique is entangled in a web of tariffs 

 from which even the resident who does not leave 

 the country can never extricate himself. Em- 

 barking in a coasting boat and proceeding to 

 Inhambane, Chinde, or any other port in the 

 territory, he is treated like a traveller from a 

 foreign country ? If he crosses from one side of 

 the Zambezi to the other he is held up by a 

 customs official ; if he recrosses next morning he 

 is stopped by another. He has probably nothing 

 but Portuguese wines with him and provisions 

 bought in the country ; it matters not, as things 

 conveyed from one administrative centre to 

 another are subject to duty. The presence of 

 the Mozambique Company further complicates 

 matters, and being expected to earn dividends 

 it is compelled to ply its tariff loom with 

 persistence. 



It is this mesh of dues, licences, taxes, fees, and 

 rates, that keeps capital away, and no one more 

 laments the fact than the Portuguese them- 

 selves, who complain bitterly of these grinding 

 wheels which go round and round but never 



