BELGIUM AND THE CONGO

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 133, 12 June 1909, Page 13

BELGIUM AND THE CONGO

"In the Chamber to-day," wrote tho ' Brussels correspondent of The Times on | olßt March, "the debate on the interpella- i tion on the law relating to the employment j ojE forced labour for public works was re- j sumed. M. Vandervelde declared that the ', decree of 6th January aggravted the sltua- ; tion. It was unlawful for natives to work j tor the Great Lakes .Railway Company on account- of the treatment to which they ! were subjected. The promises o£ Aimuters had not oeen fulfilled, 'ihe barbarities of tho chicolle, toguther with chains and BUvevj, had uisappcarc'i. iront ihe English and I'rench colonies, and Parliament ought to redeem Belgium irow this shame, '.Forced labour is a crime against human dignity, and the decreo m question is unlawful.' M. libbaul, a Clerical member wbo has visited the Congo, said he hoped that the Minister for the Colonies would make a full and (satisfactory statement. M. Renkin, the Minister tor tho Colonies, Eaid the main question was to hasten the construction of tho railway for public use. Ifc was necessary for the financial good of Belgium. Forced labour was not confined to the Great Lakes Company, bub was common to all colonies, and was to be found in the railways of Lagos, Uganda, and Sierra Leone. The administration of tho Congo was, perhaps, not ideal, but it was the best. Forced labour would eventually be abolished, but slavery was a secular institution. M. Hymans maintained that forced labour must disappear, but expressed his confidence in the Minister for the Colonies. M. Vandervelde emphasised tho necessity of repealing the decree. The Minister's information was derived from the Colonial Office, which was equivalent to the old Press Bureau of tho Congo." Iho Belgian Chamber. on tho Ist April passed the following resolution, proposed by M. Hjmans and accepted by the Minister for the Colonies :— "The Chamber being of opinion that there- is reason for substituting as soon as possible: tho free recruiting of labour for recruiting- on account of public utility for the construction of tho Great Lakes Railway*, and being convinced of tho possibility of introducing considerable improvements in the ,condition of the labourers of the contingent, especially in the direction of reducing tho duration of their service, of limiting the recruiting zone, and tho local proportions of tho contingent, of assuring to tho workers of the contingent remuneration equal to that of free labourers in tho region, and of paying that 1 enumeration in cash, taking note of the statement of the Minister for tho Colonies*, passes to the order of tho day."