Belgian Congo 99 ] CUSTOMS ; PUBLIC FINANCE The Budget estimates of Customs receipts for the years 1912-14 amounted to : Year.

1912 1913 1914 Francs .

• 7,069,000 8,261,500 6,031,156 In 1913 , of the 8,000,000 odd francs received under this head , 3,000,000 came from exports and 5,000,000 from imports. The scantiness of the Customs receipts (barely 16 per cent. of the total revenue) is largely the result of the policy of monopoly and restrictions on trade, and of the operation of exploitation en régie, which held sway before the inauguration of the present regime. It cannot be doubted that the maintenance in the Congo of the system of free trade introduced in 1912 will under normal conditions result in a rapid rise in Customs revenue. During the first year of its operation, 1913 , the new system had produced an increase, arising from imports alone, of 1,000,000 francs, and the set-back in the following year was wholly due to the outbreak of war.

9 (D) FINANCE (1 ) PUBLIC FINANCE The immediate result of the abandonment, in 1912 , of the system of Government exploitation was a great reduction in the gross revenue of the Colony. In 1908 , out of 35,000,000 frs . , 16,000,000 were credited to products of the domain, tributes and imposts paid in kind ' , a category which embraced resources of very different kinds. Even in 1911 , the last year in which a considerable part of the Congo remained under Government exploitation, the receipts were over 10,000,000 francs .

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