MISJUDGMENT 371 



which not only varied at the different ports, but 

 were so high at most of them as to prevent foreign 

 trade. The tariff at Luanda, Benguella, Lobito, 

 and Mossamedes, the principal ports, is 25 per 

 cent, ad valorem on unspecified goods, and higher 

 than this on certain specified articles. The dues 

 at Ambriz remain moderate (10 to 12 per cent, ad 

 valorem), largely owing to the initiative of Monteiro, 

 an Englishman with a Portuguese name, and the 

 duties in the Congo district of Angola are only 

 as moderate as 6 per cent, because they are 

 regulated by international agreement. 



Inordinate preference is also given to goods 

 carried in Portuguese vessels, a fact which dis- 

 courages the free shipping which the colony needs. 

 Owing to this somewhat short-sighted policy, 

 trade has remained almost stationary for the 

 last twenty years, the imports being from 

 $6,000,000 to $10,000,000, while exports, in- 

 fluenced by other strangling ordnances, have been 

 equally stationary. The shipping returns, a re- 

 flection of the trade of the country, have remained 

 less than a million tons during the last dozen 

 years. 



Angola's budget returns show that her ad- 

 ministrative methods are as open to criticism as 

 her commercial policy. 



The revenue of $2,000,000 to 83,000,000 

 never seems to balance the expenditure, which is 

 often twice as great ; and Portugal pays for 

 Angola instead of profiting from its greatest 

 colony. The colony suffers also, I think, from 

 bureaucracy, too many poorly-paid adminis- 



