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Minnie Throop England 



Belgium, or more correctly speaking, the sovereign of Belgium 

 has profited greatly from the commercial exploitation of Congo 

 Free State. During the five years 1897-1901 the import trade of 

 the colony increased 4 per cent ; but the export trade within the 

 same time increased 234 per cent ! Bourne 101 says : 



" There have been further extensions of the domaine prive 

 system, and the granting of monopolies under it, especially in the 

 Kasai district, and the enterprise of the privileged companies old 

 and new has certainly not slackened, although through increasing 

 difficulties in the collection of rubber, which now constitutes in 

 value nearly seven-eighths of all the produce exported, their 

 profits have been notably reduced. Hence the speculative value 

 of the shares issued by the privileged companies has, in some 

 cases, fallen to less than half the amount reached in their palmier 

 days. For all that, however, it was reckoned in August, 1902, 

 that the aggregate of the shares held by the State alone in those 

 companies might have been sold for 80,000,000 francs or nearly 

 thrice the 28,709,000 estimated for the entire revenue of the 

 State in 1902. The State is still a valuable asset to its Sovereign 

 and his partners ; and others besides financiers and financial gam- 

 blers have been enriched by it." 



The proportion of imports into Congo Free State from Belgium 

 was in 1901 72.3 per cent of the total imports, and in 1908 prac- 

 tically the same — 72.4 per cent; the proportion of the exports of 

 the colony which went to Belgium was in 1901 and in 1908 93.3 

 per cent and 88.7 per cent respectively. 102 The reform policy so 

 recently adopted, through throwing the territory open to trade, 103 

 may in time materially reduce these proportions. 



101 Bourne, Civilisation in Congoland, 280. 



103 Trade of Congo Free State. 



Compiled from Statesman's Year-Book. 



"The Belgian Minister for the Colonies, in October, 1909, indicated 

 his scheme of reform in the Congo. The natives would be granted the 



204 



