§ MR. O'KELLY (Roscommon, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, under the General Congo Treaty of Berlin, 1885, the Congo Free State undertook that merchandise imported into that country should remain free from import or transit dues; whether, in violation of that undertaking, transit duties and an export duty of 5 per cent. are now levied on all exported goods; and whether, when the Brussels Act comes into force, if ever, the Congo Free State will be at liberty to raise both import and export duties; and, if so, to what percentage?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN"AFFAIRS (Sir J. FERGUSSON,) Manchester, N.E.1. The Congo Free State was a party to the provisions of the Berlin Act. 2. We are not aware that the Congo Free State levies transit dues. The Congo Act allows export dues. 3. As to import dues, the maximum under the Brussels Act will be 10 per cent. ad valorem, except as regards spirits, which will be subject to special regulations. They were sanctioned by the Brussels Conference, chiefly in order to enable the State to undertake the measures designed to extirpate the Slave Trade.
§ MR. O'KELLYI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the United States of America only consented to recognise the Congo Free State on the condition that merchandise imported to that territory should remain free of Import and Transit Duties; whether the Brussels Act can be enforced according to International Law without the consent of the United States; whether at the Brussels Conference the American Envoy opposed the proposition that the Congo Free State should be permitted to levy Import Duties, and declared the Conference incompetent to modify the Berlin Treaty of 1885; and whether the United States has since given its adhesion to the Brussels Act, authorising the establishment of Import and Transit Duties by the Congo State?
§ * SIR J. FERGUSSON(1) Yes. (2) Not as far as regards United States citizens. (3) The United States Government, at the commencement of the deliberations, raised objections to the levy of duties by the Congo State. (4) But subsequently signed a declaration relinquishing the right of the United States to the free entry of American merchandise into the Congo State, on the same conditions and within the same limits as those specified in the declaration signed by the Signatory Powers of the Berlin Act. This provisional declaration is eventually to be supplemented by a Treaty.
§ MR. O'KELLYUnder the present Act will the Congo Free State be at liberty to levy both Import and Export Duties?
§ * SIR J. FERGUSSONYes. The Congo Free State will have the same liberty to impose Export Duties as it has now.
§ MR. O'KELLYWill it be competent for America to send in merchandise without paying Import Duties?
§ * SIR J. FERGUSSONMy previous answer explains that point. If the American Government accedes to the Brussels Act, American merchandise will pay the same duties as that of other Powers.