108 [No. 99 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS large areas will in due course be effectively worked for the production of palm products.

The natives should also be encouraged by the Govern ment to apply for grants of land, to be given free on condition that they are brought under effective cultiva tion in a specified time ; and in this manner rubber, palm-trees, manioc, pea-nuts, bananas, perhaps cocoa, coffee, and even cotton , may be effectively cultivated.

Any substantial extension of this system beyond pro duction for domestic wants will require co-operation by the Government or capitalists in setting up machinery to deal with the produce and prepare it for commercial export. An obvious desideratum is an agricultural bank on something like the Egyptian model.

Another question for serious consideration is whether the development of industry does not render requisite a departure from the present policy of recognizing only communal rights on the part of the natives. In the case of chiefs so far from enlightened as those of the Congo, there is grave risk that the individual may find himself disinclined to efforts from which he will not reap substantial benefits.

In any case, however, there is really no doubt that for a long period the labour supply of the Congo will not be equal to the demands upon it ; the importation of outside labour is practically impossible ; white labour is very expensive, and the possibility of white settlement on a substantial scale cannot be regarded as at all pro mising.

(iv) Lack of Capital. — Whatever potentialities of development may exist in the Congo, they cannot be exploited except by the free expenditure of capital. It is not at all clear from what source after the war such capital will be forthcoming on a purely com mercial basis, for the risks of large enterprises in the Congo are obviously considerable, and can be faced