Page 2 
Desp. No. 397 
From Leopoldville 
UNCLASSIFIED 
authorities, it was necessary for the Consulate General to retain the copy 
of the import permit and all shipments were checked off against this docu- 
ment in Leopoldville, In accordance with a well understood arrangement, 
this document was sent to the Customs authorities at Usumbura, and Dr. Schmitt 
was directed by telegram to call in at that Customs point and arrange there 
for final clearance of the Congo of all the equipment imported, whether at 
Leopoldville or Stanleywille , It was impressed on Dr. Schmitt that until he 
went through this procedure the Consulate General would be held liable by the 
Belgian Congo Customs authorities for payment of duty on goods consumed in the 
Congo , 
It now develops that Dr. Schmitt did not call in at the Customs office in 
Usumbura but made arrangements through I.R.S.A.C. and through friends in the 
Eastern Congo to clear out of the Congo at the small Customs station of Kaki- 
tumba in Ruanda-Urundi. He did not call as directed to receive letters that 
were being held for him by the chief Customs officer at Usumbura and also to 
collect the import document which had been especially directed to him there. 
The Consulate General has now received a letter from Dr. Schmitt, dated 
May 30, 1955, and mailed from Khartoum, Sudan, in which he apologizes for this 
oversight and expresses the hope that the Consulate General has not been there- 
by inconvenienced. 
In view of all the trouble taken by the Consulate General and the previous 
discussions had with the Director of Customs, it was considered advisabe to in- 
form this official that Dr. Schmitt had, in fact, left the Congo. The Consulate 
General had no alternative but to state that it was quite prepared to honor the 
guarantee it had given to the Customs in Leopoldville. The Director of Customs 
stated that he would cause a full investigation of this matter to be made and 
would inform the office in due course of the amounts to be paid. The Consulate 
General does not doubt that Dr. Schmitt on being informed of this situation will 
agree to pay whatever duties or penalties are assessed. The purpose of this 
despatch is simply to ask the Department to bring to the attention of the Smith- 
sonian Institution the rather embarrassing position in which the Consulate Gen- 
eral finds itself as a result of Dr. Schmitt's oversight. 
The Expedition admittedly got off to a poor start, and it is suggested 
that any future scientific expedition coming to the Congo be the subject of 
an instruction to the Embassy in Brussels for notification through' the Min- 
istry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Colonies. In this way the Gover- 
nor General will be put on notice and his various departments instructed to 
afford all suitable courtesies, it being understood that under the present re- 
gulations no exception whatever may be made in favor of scientific expeditions 
in so far as the customs are concerned. It is believed that Dr. Schmitt will 
acknowledge that the Consulate General did everything in its power to facili- 
tate his mission, and in fact the Consulate General is only too aware that it 
exceeded what the Department would normally consider its authority in guaran- 
teeing that any part of the Expedition's equipment would eventually leave the 
UNCLASSIFIED 
