The Casement Report 45

The Casement Report 45

Be this how it may, it is to be observed that nowhere in the territory

which is the scene of the operations of the A.B.I.R. Company did the

Consul discover any evidence of acts of cruelty for which the commercial

agents might have been considered responsible. The coincidence is

remarkable, since it so happens that the A.B.I.R. Company is a

concessionary Company, and that it is the system of concessions to which

are constantly attributed the most disastrous consequences for the

natives.

 

What it is important to discover from the immense number of questions

touched on by the Consul, and the multiplicity of minor facts which he

has collected, is whether the sort of picture he has drawn of the

wretched existence led by the natives corresponds to the actual state of

affairs. We will take, for instance, the district of the Lulanga and the

Lopori, as the head-stations of the missions of the “Congo Balolo

Mission” have been established there for years past. These missionaries

are established in the most distant places in the interior, at Lulonga,

Bonginda, Ikau, Bongandanga, and Baringa, all of which are situated in

the scene of operations of the La Lulonga and A.B.I.R. Companies. They

are in constant communication with the native populations, and a special

monthly review, called “Regions Beyond,” regularly publishes their

letters, notes, and reports. An examination of a set of these

publications reveals no trace, at any time previous to April 1903--by

that date, it is true, Mr. Herbert Samuel’s motion had been brought

before Parliament--of anything either to point out or to reveal that the

general situation of the native populations was such as ought to be

denounced to the civilized world. The missionaries congratulate

themselves on the active sympathy shown them by the various official and

commercial agents,[115] on the progress of their work of

evangelization,[116] on the facilities afforded them by the construction

of roads,[117] on the manner in which the natives are becoming

civilized, “owing to the mere presence of white men in their midst, both

missionaries and traders,”[118] on the disappearance of slavery,[119] on

the density of the population,[120] on the growing number of their

pupils, “especially since the State has issued orders for all children

within reach to attend the mission schools,”[121] on the gradual

disappearance of the primitive customs of the natives,[122] and lastly,

on the contrast between the present and the past.[123] Will it be

admitted that these Christian English missionaries, who, during their

journeys, visited the various factories, and witnessed markets of rubber

being held, would, by keeping silence, make themselves the accomplices

of an inhuman or wrongful system of government? Among the conclusions of

one of the Annual Reports of the Congo Balolo Mission is to be found the

following: “On the whole, the retrospect is encouraging. If there has

been no great advance, there has been no heavy falling off, and no

definite opposition to the work.... There has been much famine and

sickness among the natives, especially at Bonginda.... Apart from this,

there has been no serious hindrance to progress....”[124] And speaking

incidentally of the beneficial effect produced by work on the social

condition of the natives, a missionary writes: “The greatest obstacle to

conversion is polygamy. Many evils have been put down, _e.g._, idleness,

thanks to the State having compelled the men to work; and fighting,

through their not having time enough to fight.”[125] These opinions of

missionaries appear to us to be more precise than those expressed in a

Report on every page of which it may be said one finds such __EXPRESSION__s

as: “I was told,” “it was said,” “I was informed,” “I was assured,”

“they said,” “it was alleged,” “I had no means of verifying,” “it was

impossible for me to verify,” “I have no means of ascertaining,” &c.

Within a space of ten lines, indeed, occur four times the __EXPRESSION__s,

“appears,” “would seem,” “would seem,” “do not seem.”[126]

 

The Consul does not appear to have realized that native taxes in the

Congo are levied in the shape of labour, and that this form of tax is

justified as much by the moral effect which it produces, as by the

impossibility of taxing the native in any other way, seeing that, as the

Consul admits, the native has no money. It is to this consideration that

is due the fact, to give another example, that out of 56,700 huts which

are taxed in North-Eastern Rhodesia 19,653 pay that tax “in labour,”

while 4,938 pay it “in produce.”[127] Whether such labour is furnished

direct to the State or to some private undertaking, and whether it is

given in aid of this or that work as local necessities may dictate, one

ground of justification is always to be found in what the Memorandum of

the 11th February last recognizes is the “necessity of the natives being

induced to work.” The Consul shows much anxiety as to how this forced

labour should be described; he is surprised that if it be a tax it is

sometimes paid and recovered by commercial agents. Strictly speaking, of

course, it cannot be denied that the idea of remunerating a person for

paying his taxes is contrary to ordinary notions of finance; but the

difficulty disappears if it is considered that the object in view has

been to get the natives to acquire the habit of labour, from which they

have always shown a great aversion. And if this notion of work can more

easily be inculcated on the natives under the form of commercial

transactions between them and private persons, is it necessary to

condemn such a mode of procedure, especially in those parts where the

organization of the Administration is not yet complete? But it is

essential that in the relations of this nature which they have with the

natives, commercial agents, no less than those of the State, should be

kind and humane. In so far as it bears on this point the Consul’s Report

will receive the most careful consideration, and if the result of

investigation be to show that there are real abuses and that reforms are

called for, the heads of the Administration will act as the

circumstances may require.

 

But no one has ever imagined that the fiscal system in the Congo

attained perfection at once, especially in regard to such matters as the

assessment of taxes and the means for recovering them. The system of

“Chieftaincies,” which is recommended by the fact that it enables the

authorities and the native to communicate through the latter’s natural

Chief, was based on an idea carried into practice elsewhere:--

 

“The more important Chiefs who helped the Administration have been

paid a certain percentage of the taxes collected in their

districts, and I think that if this policy is adhered to each year,

the results will continue to be satisfactory and will encourage the

Chiefs to work in harmony with the Administration.”[128]

 

The Decree on the subject of these Chieftaincies[129] laid down the

principle of a tax, and its levy in accordance with “a table of

contributions to be made every year by each village in produce, forced

labour, labourers, or soldiers.” The application of this Decree has been

provided for by deeds of investiture, tables of statistics, and

particulars of contributions, forms of which will be found in Annex IV.

In spite of what is stated in the Report, this Decree has been carried

out so far as has been found compatible with the social condition of the

various tribes; numerous deeds of investiture have been drawn up, and

efforts have been made to draw up an equitable assessment of the

contributions. The Consul might have found this out at the

Commissioners’ offices, especially in the Stanley Pool and Equator

districts, which he passed through; but he neglected as a rule all

official sources of information. No doubt the application of the Decree

was at first necessarily limited, and it is possible that the result has

been that for a certain time only such villages as were within a short

distance from stations have been required to pay taxes; but this state

of things has little by little altered for the better in proportion as

the more distant regions have become included in the areas of influence

of the Government posts, the number of villages subject to taxation has

gradually increased, and it has been found possible to levy taxes on a

greater number of persons. The Government aim at making progress in this

direction continuous, that is to say, that taxation should be more

equitably distributed, and should as much as possible be personal; it

was with this object that the Decree of the 18th November, 1903,

provided for drawing up “lists of native contributions” in such a way

that the obligations of every native should be strictly defined.

 

“Article 28 of this Decree lays down that within the limits of

Article 2 of the present regulations (that is to say, within the

limit of forty hours’ work per month per native) the District

Commissioners shall draw up annual lists of the taxes to be paid,

in land or duration of labour, by each of the natives resident in

the territories of their respective districts. And Article 55

punishes ‘whoever, being charged with the levy of taxes, shall have

required of the natives, whether in kind or labour, contributions

which shall exceed in value those prescribed in the tables of

taxes.’”

 

It in matter of common notoriety that the collection of taxes is

occasionally met by opposition, and even refusal to pay. The proofs of

this, which are to be found in the Report of the Consul for the Congo,

are borne out by what has happened, for instance, in Rhodesia:--

 

“The Ba-Unga (Awemba district), inhabitants of the swamps in the

Zambezi delta, gave some trouble on being summoned to pay

taxes.”[130]

 

“Although in many cases whole villages retired into the swamps on

being called upon for the hut-tax, the general result was

satisfactory for the first year (Luapula district).”[131]

 

“Milala’s people have succeeded in evading taxes.”[132]

 

“A few natives bordering on the Portuguese territory, who, owing to

the great distance they reside from the Native Commissioners’

Stations, are not under the direct supervision of the Native

Commissioners, have so far evaded paying hut tax, and refused to

submit themselves to the authority of the Government. The rebel

Chief, Mapondera, has upon three occasions successfully eluded

punitive expeditions sent against him. Captain Gilson, of the

British South Africa Police, was successful in coming upon him and

a large following of natives, and inflicting heavy losses upon

them. His kraal and all his crops were destroyed. He is now

reported to be in Portuguese territory. Siji M’Kota, another

powerful Chief, living in the northern parts of the M’toko

district, bordering on Portuguese territory, has also been

successful in evading the payment of hut tax, and generally

pursuing the adoption of an attitude which is not acceptable to the

Government. I am pleased to report that a patrol is at present on

its way to these parts to deal with this Chief, and to endeavour to

obtain his submission. It will be noted that the above remarks

relate solely to those natives who reside along the borders of our

territories, and whose defiant attitude is materially assisted by

reason of this proximity to the Portuguese border, across which

they are well able to proceed whenever they consider that any

meeting or contact with the Native Commissioner will interfere in

any way with their indolent and lazy life. They possess no movable

property which might be attached with a view of the recovery of hut

tax unpaid for many years, and travel backwards and forwards with

considerable freedom, always placing themselves totally beyond the

reach of the Native Commissioner.”[133]

 

The above is an instance of those “punitive expeditions” to which the

authorities are occasionally obliged to resort, as also of the native

custom, which is not peculiar to the natives of the Congo, of moving

into a neighbouring territory when they are seeking to evade the

operation of the law. Whether in the process of collecting native taxes

there have been cases in the Congo, amongst those mentioned by the

Consul, in which the limits of a just and reasonable severity have been

overstepped is a question of fact which investigation on the spot can

alone ascertain, and instructions to this effect will be given to the

authorities at Boma.

 

We are also unable to accept, on the information at present before us,

the conclusions of the Report in regard to the conduct of the forest

guards in the employ of the A.B.I.R. and La Lulonga Companies. These

subordinate officers are represented by the Consul as being exclusively

employed in “compelling by force the collection of india-rubber or the

supplies which each factory needed.”[134] It is true that another

explanation has been given--though not, indeed, by a native--according

to which the business of these same forest guards is to see that the

india-rubber is harvested after a reasonable fashion, and especially to

prevent the natives from cutting the plants.[135] It is, indeed, well

known that the law has made rigorous provision for preserving the rubber

zones, has regulated the manner in which they are to be worked, and has

made planting and replanting obligatory, with a view to avoiding the

complete exhaustion of the rubber plant which has occurred, for

instance, in North-eastern and Western Rhodesia.[136] A heavy

responsibility in this direction lies on the Companies and private

persons engaged in developing the country, and it is obvious that they

are bound to exercise the most careful superintendence over the way in

which the harvest is collected. The object for which these forest guards

are employed, therefore, may well be quite different from that alleged by the Consul;