Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/799

 INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS 677

According to the Board of Trade Returns the imports into the United Kingdom from the Congo State in 191.1 amounted to the value of 35,891?. (rubber, 17,555?., gum, 922?,); and the exports of British produce and manufactures to the Congo State, to 256,551?. (cottons, 158,961?.).

At the port of Boraa in 1911 of sea-going vessels there entered 117 of 435,941 tons. In the coasting trade there entered 90 vessels of 9,378 tons. There is regular steam commmiication every three weeks with Antwerp and frequent steam communication with Liverpool, Hamburg, Rotterdam, liisbon, and Bordeaux.

The administration possesses 11 steamers on the Lower Congo, and 37 on the Upper Congo.

A special office, called the 'Office Colonial,' collects and gives in- formation on all subjects relating to commerce and industry in the Congo.

Internal Communications. — The Congo is navigable for about 100 miles from its mouth to Matadi, and on this section 11 steamers belonging to the State ply. Above this, for over 200 miles, are numerous rapids, which render the river unnavigable as far as Stanley Pool (Leopoldville). Above the Pool theie are about 1,200 miles of navigable water, as far as Stanley Falls, while several of the great tributaries are navigable over a considerable extent of their course.

A railway of about 250 miles in length, running at an average distance of 20 miles south of the river, connects Matadi with Stanley Pool. This railway is open for traffic in its whole length. There are four other short lines in the Congo, including two sections of the Cape-to-Cairo Railway, making a total mileage of 900. The distance from Elisabethville, Katanga, on the Cape -to -Cairo Railway, to Cape Town is about 2,300 miles. On Januiry 1, 1911, the entire rolling stock in Kongo consisted of 93 locomotives, 37 passenger coaches, and 589 freight cars. Projected lines include one from Elisabethville to Bakuma, 310 miles ; Kambovo to Lake Dilolo, 435 miles ; and the extension of the Benguella Railway in Angola to Dilolo to connect with the second line mentioned. The last two lines would shorten the distance from Elisabethville to the sea by about 1,000 miles. From Leopoldville a public transport service on the Upper Congo has been organised by the Government, 37 steamers being employed for this purpose.

An important development in 1911 was the construction of a pipe line from jNIatadi to Leopoldville, 246 miles long, for the purpose of transporting crude oil for the use of river steamers. It has a diameter of 4 inches, with 8 pumping stations capable of delivering 50,000 tons of oil at Leopoldville, the terminus. The concession is for 50 years, at the expiration of which period all the pipe lines, with the material, except the vessels and stores of petroleum, will pass into the hands of the Congo Government.

In 1911 there were 39 post offices, 17 telegraph offices, and 6 telephone offices. In 1911 in the internal service 401,427 letters, papers, &c., were transmitted ; and in the external, 2,079,652 were handled, and 15,964 passed in transit. The Congo is. included in the Postal Union. Tele- graph lines connect Boma and Leopoldville, 280 miles ; Leopoldville and the Equator, 464 miles ; Kasongo and Uvira (Lake Tanganyika), 210 miles ; Stanleyville and Ponthierville, 79 miles ; Boma and Banana and Moanda, 80 miles, and there are 50 miles of telegraph line in Mayumbe : total length, 1,083 miles. There are at" present ten stations in the Belgian Congo — at Banana, Boma, Coquilhatville, Lisala, Stanleyville, Lowa, Kindn, Kongolo, Kikondja, and Elisabethville. All these posts communicate with each other.