Down the Congo 



could be better brought about by a more vigorous admini- 

 stration under a Governor with a freer hand and acting 

 independently of Boma. 



In comparison with English standards, labour in the Congo 

 is cheap. Ordinary local labour for portage or plantation 

 work costs about thirty-five to forty centimes a day anywhere 

 in the Congo, with the exception of the Katanga. Here, 

 however, the pay of natives has advanced out of all pro- 

 portion owing to the inducements offered by the contractors, 

 and a good native now asks from two to three francs a day 

 inclusive of food. The Belgians keep prices down, the 

 foreigners put them up. 



Task work is the order of the day in the Katanga and on 

 the mines, but is not generally adopted throughout the Congo. 

 Giving a set task to a native and paying him for any work 

 done over and above the stipulated amount, I believe to be 

 the only way to work natives successfully. The native 

 population of the Congo is now put at ten millions, 

 but epidemic diseases being kept in check, it is increasing 

 considerably, which increase should be enough for all ordinary 

 requirements when properly organised. 



It will be seen throughout these notes that the conditions 

 existing in the rich province of the Katanga are continually 

 cropping up as differing from those at work in the rest of 

 the colony, which may be taken as an advocacy for its admini- 

 strative independence. Again in the matter of food for native 

 labour, the Katanga does not supply enough for its needs, 

 having to buy in South Africa, and thus presenting a defect 

 in its agricultural policy or a want of organisation in the supply 

 of food from other districts. Whereas the food supply is 

 more than sufficient, in fact there is a large surplus — for the 



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