CONGO FREE STATE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 242, 6 July 1908, Page 7

CONGO FREE STATE.

FRONTIER DISPUTE. BRITAIN MAY LOSE TERRITORY. MINERAL WEALTH. (BY TELEGRAM —PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.) (Rec. July 5, 4.15 p.m.) ; Lcndon, July 4. The Anglo-Congoleso Frontier Commission has completed a survey showing that thoro is a mistako in the maps on which the AngloCongoloso Convention of 1894 was based. Tho maps "placed tho thirtieth meridian (forming the frontier) twenty miles west of its true position; hence, a strip of territory 120 miles long, supposed to be British, is now provisionally regarded as neutral. Britain will uphold the Convention. Should tho strip be added to Congo territory, Britain will be deprived of access to Lake Albert Edward. The same report mentions that there is considerable activity on tlie Kilo goldlields, inside tho Congo border, which are to a large extent worked by Australians. The lirst two lots of gold obtained are valued at £70,000 sterling. THE COPPER AT KATANGA. Brussels, July 3. M. Schollaert, the Belgian Premier, declares the Congo's wealth surpasses tho imagination. Katanga is destined to become the largest copper-producing centre in tko world. , COPPER AND GOLD AT KATANGA. The. Katanga (or Garenganzo) country is in the southern Congo basin, in Congo Free State territory, almost on the confines of Rhodesia. It figures in Livingstone's works. The copper deposits have long been exploited by the natives, and, prior to the advent of Europeans, copper was held in more repute than gold, which is also found in the country. The administration of the Congo Free State have adopted a scheme to open a trade route between Borna and Katanga, using existing railways and the Congo River where possible, and building new railways where the river is not navigable. At present the chief exports of the Congo Free State aro rubber, ivory, nuts, and palm oil. Belgium has shown, and continues to show, much hesitation in annexing the country on the extortionate terms demanded by King Leopold, fearing that she will make a bad commercial bargain, especially as the forced labour and other past methods of squeezing revenuo out of the territory will bo proscribed. Tlie Belgian Premier's sudden enthusiasm over the historic, copper of Katanga may have a political motive, in the direction of popularising tho annexation project. If, however, tho scheme is sound from an economic point of view, the addition of mineral industries to tho present trade in rubber, ivory, and - vegetable products would no doubt go a long way to solve Belgium's problem, if not Europe's. An elaborato- scheme has lately been propounded for railway communication from Rhodesia, via Katanga, to Lobito Bay, West Africa. It is proposed firstly to' extend the Rhodesian railway from Broken Hill to the Star of tho Congo Mine at the eastern ond of tho Katanga Copper Belt. Albert: Edward (Nyanza) is a' lake, in ■ Central Africa, belonging to the upper part of the Nilo basin, lying for the most part just south of the equator. ' It is drained north by tho Semlijti into the Albert Nyanza. It was discovered and'named in honour of the Prince of. Wales by Stanley in 1889.