92 [ 10.99 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 1 > in 1916 were very onerous. The arrangement with the Great Lakes Railway Company of 1902 requires the Government to exploit and pay three -quarters of the profits of 8,000,000 hectares, while the company is to work the minerals. The actual construction of the railways was carried out by the State at the expense of the company, which , however, works the lines.

In Katanga the Katanga Railway Company, in stituted by a decree of March 11 , 1902, started with a capital of 1,000,000 frs. , of which three-fifths were provided by the State, and the rest by the English group headed by Mr. R. Williams. On January 25,1909, the capital was increased by 25,000,000 frs ., in order to permit of the construction of the line from the frontier to Elisabethville, 10,000,000 frs. being provided by the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga, and the rest by the Compagnie du Chemin de fer du Bas -Congo au Katanga, which latter added 54,000,000 frs. to cover the additional cost of the line from Elisabethville to Bukama, and constructs and operates the lines for the Katanga Company. This second body, which has now as its main function the construction of the lines to meet the Portuguese line, and to the lower Congo by a direct route through the Kasai basin, is also entrusted by the agreement of November 4, 1906 , with the duty of representing the Government in relation to the Katanga Railway Company. Its own capital is only 2,000,000 frs., all the other sums required being provided from a loan of 150,000,000 frs. at 4 per cent. authorized in 1906 by the State, which will obtain half the profits on the working of the lines to be constructed. The company will also work minerals, for which it has the sole right to prospect in a large part of the Kasai Sankuru basin on half shares with the State.

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1 The agreement was under revision in 1913 (Cd . 6606 , p . 114) . The capital is 75,000,000 francs.