THE POSTAL, TELEGRAPH, AND TELEPHONE SERVICE
[Sidenote: Twin Civilisers.]
Moderns regard the post-office and the mission school as substantial
signs of civilisation wherever the two are found in mutual endeavour.
In compliance with Article VII, of the General Act of Berlin, the
Congo Free State joined the Postal Union, and has sent official
representatives to its periodic congresses.
In the Belgian Congo the postal service is very efficient. It already
penetrates to districts most remote from the central office at Boma.
It was effectively established in 1885 when the irregular service was
succeeded by the rudiments of the present system. In 1887 it was,
in fact, a piece of perfect governmental machinery. On the 28th of
February that year it signed a formal Postal Convention with Belgium.
It was soon thereafter apparent that a postal money-order service was
required to facilitate the transit of small sums between Europe and
the Congo. Agreements in this respect were made with Belgium on May
13, 1893, and November 24, 1898. The rapid development of the Congo
Basin already calls for even further extension of the system.
The latest report on the subject is that of Vice-Governor-General
Fuchs, which follows:
POSTAL SERVICE
There are at present on the Congo: 23 post-offices,
sub-post-offices, and depots for stamps.
According to the returns before me, there were transported in 1885
only 33,140 letters and printed objects, whereas for 1902 the
postal movement was represented by 372,007 letters and printed
objects.
Correspondence is conveyed by either railway or steamer; on the
roads it is forwarded to its destination by special native couriers.
The weight of the despatches enclosing letters and printed matter
may not exceed, for transport by land, 10 kilogrammes.[21] The
porters required for this service are furnished by the chiefs of
posts.
The transmission of correspondence into the interior of the
country is, besides, regulated by instructions, to which the
local authorities frequently draw the serious attention of the
territorial chiefs. Thus, in all parts of the State territory, the
couriers must leave on a fixed day, and they have a certain time,
which has been calculated after much experience as sufficient, for
the journey from one point to another.
It is expressly forbidden to the authorities to detain the native
couriers after the date fixed for their departure, or to entrust
them with correspondence not sealed. All postal packages must be
paid for (with the exception that certain officials have the right
to post free) and enclosed in a sealed envelope having the address
clearly shown.
Each postal despatch contains a ticket of advice which is to be
returned to the originating office, dated and signed by the agent
of the office that received it, after he has found the contents
exact. The carrier of the mail is also in possession of a route
ticket which informs him of the number of sacks and envelopes
composing the mail. It must be checked and dated, and must show in
a special column, for the way out and back and for each station,
the hour of the arrival and departure of the couriers.
The sub-controllers of the post-offices must forward each month,
for the purpose of verification, to the Controller of the
post-office at Boma, the route tickets of the couriers sent during
the previous month.
The Director of Finance sends, as often as possible, the Controller
of the Post-Office to examine the accounts of the various offices
which are run by selected agents appointed from the Belgian
administration.
In districts where sub-post-offices are established, the District
Commissioner sees to the strict observance of the instructions
regulating the important postal service.
It has been found that in several districts the services of
soldiers in the garrison have been utilised for the mails. Not
only did these not always render the services which workmen or
other men specially engaged for the service of transports of all
kinds render, but even there was reason to fear that the soldiers,
on account of their uniform and arms, as well as being without
control, sometimes abused their powers to make levies on the
villages through which they passed. But now the strict instructions
of the Government forbid soldiers being taken away from their
garrison and military duties, and require that they should always
remain under the control of their chiefs. It has, therefore, been
positively forbidden to send any mail by soldiers of the Public
Force.
TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE SERVICE
On 27th November, 1893, the State ordered by decree the first
telegraphic line, and in July, 1895, a first wire was stretched
across the river; and on 15th September, 1898, it became possible
to telephone and telegraph from Boma to Leopoldville, or for a
distance of 452 kilometres (282 miles). Later on, and when the
transport of material had been made easier by the opening of the
Matadi-Leopoldville railway, the telegraph line was extended to
Coquilhatville.
At the present moment there are thirteen telephone and telegraph
offices working in the State.
The principal offices and distance separating them from each other
are:
Boma-Matadi 52 kilometres
Matadi-Tumba 185 ”
Tumba-Leopoldville 215 ”
Leopoldville-Kwamouth 233 ”
Kwamouth-Mopolenge-Yumbi 177 ”
Yumbi-Lukolela 121 ”
Lukolela-Irebu 102 ”
Irebu-Coquilhatville 114 ”
—————
Total 1,199 kilometres[22]
(nearly 750 miles) of development. This extensive telegraph and
telephone line is carried on iron posts from Boma to Leopoldville,
and from Leopoldville to Coquilhatville the wire is supported in
some places on steel posts, in others on trees, in the proportion
approximately of 4494 steel posts and 2782 trees.
The line has to make two very important crossings of water, one
across the Congo a little above Underhill Point (Hell’s Kettle),
the other across the Kassai near its mouth.
At the crossing of the river at Underhill the wires are supported
by trellised steel towers, the piers of which are distant 800
metres from each other; and they are placed 73 and 63 (2)
metres[23] respectively above the bed of the river at the highest
flood.
The crossing of the Kassai is made by two casts of the line, one
being 450 and the other 670 metres in length. Fourteen steel
towers, of 36.50 and of 38.50 metres in height, help crossing
the river. One of the towers is placed on an island, and four
conductors ensure the proper working of the telegraph line.
The camps of Lisala and Umangi are also connected by a telephone
line 22 kilometres in length. Besides a strong permanent body of
native workers and European linesmen, the line is maintained by
the natives of the villages through which it passes. The natives
receive ample compensation in monthly payments.
[Illustration: Children of the Settlement Drilling at New Antwerp,
1896 (Bangala).]
Another telegraph and telephone line of about 320 kilometres, which
leaves Kassongo on the Lualaba for Baraka on Lake Tanganyika,
was opened on 5th December, 1903. It connects the telegraph and
telephone offices of Kassongo, Kabambare, Kalembe-Lembe, Baraka.
This line will be extended to Lake Kivu, in the extreme eastern
part of the Free State.
For about two years past experiments have been in progress to
establish communication by wireless telegraphy between Banana and
Ambrizette, so as to connect the Congolese system with the rest of
the world.
Telegrams for Europe are at present brought either by the State
steamers or by ocean steamers from Boma to St. Paul de Loanda, to
San Thome, and to Sierra Leone, whence they are transmitted to
their destination. Telegrams can also be sent from the Congo for
Europe by the French route of the Gaboon by taking them to the
French office of Brazzaville. A convention recently established
between the French Republic and the Government of the Congo
Independent State will allow the telegraphic systems of the two
States to be connected by sinking a cable in Stanley Pool between
Brazzaville and Kinshassa. This work finished, the Congo State will
be connected with the telegraphic system of the globe.
FOOTNOTES:
[21] About 22 lbs.
[22] A kilometre is .621 of a mile.
[23] A metre is 39.37 inches.