Bonglan] PUBLIC FINANCE ; BANKING, ETC. 101 2 3 or 200 francs for a licence to trade in other commodities. Natives must pay from 5 to 12 frs. per adult male, and 2 frs . for each wife beyond the first, though the rate may be lowered in case of distress . The tax yielded some 9,000,000 francs in 1913, and its yield will steadily increase with the bringing of the tribes under control and the growth of the wealth of the natives. It can only be paid in cash, in terms of a decree enacted in 1910 in order to prevent the old abuses. The total revenue 1 is not sufficient to cover the necessary cost ? of developing the administration, and on the strength of the potential wealth of the Colony new loans have been contracted , so that by 1913 the interest on the public debt amounted to 9,673,035 francs.

(2 ) BANKING AND CURRENCY Of the three banks in existence, the chief is the Banque du Congo Belge, established in 1909 with a capital of 5,000,000 francs , with branches at Boma, Matadi, Kinshasa, Stanleyville, Kilo, Kigoma, and Elisabethville, and head office (at present ) in London. The Banque Commerciale du Congo has a capital of 1,000,000 francs , and its profits for the year 1912–13 1 40,418,410 francs in 1913 ; 45,367,639 in 1912 ; 30,451,276 in 1914 ; 30,451,250 in 1915 ; 32,049,082 in 1916 ( Cd. 6606, pp . 1 and 13 ).

2 63,076,573 francs in 1914 ; 65,957,084 francs in 1913 ; 66,538,970 in 1912. The ordinary expenditure in 1915 was 51,936,000 francs in 1916 , 54,755,912 francs. The central administration at Boma , the Governor -General's head-quarters, is conducted on very expensive lines, costing 2,170,000 francs in 1913. The annual instalment of 3,300,000 francs payable under the arrangement of cession to the King for colonial purposes is devoted to works of utility, such as the campaign against sleeping-sickness.

3 Of the total debt on which this interest was paid 62,545,000 francs represented the floating debt, and 99,780,000 francs the loan of 1888 , the repayment of which is not quite adequately provided for by fonds d'amortissement.