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operation of the plantation. The Government agreed to assist the
company in the acquisition, by lease or otherwise, of easement and
rights of ways over privately owned land, upon payment of just
rental or other compensation to the owner(s) thereof though lands
set aside for the communal use of any tribe were excluded from the
scope of this Lease Agreement, unless an agreement was reached
between such tribe, the company and the Government, that the tribe
agreed to relinquish its rights.
Lands utilized together with utilities added, and all easements and
rights-of-way outside the confines of the areas granted under this
Indenture of Lease were exempt from all taxation as long as they
were used for the operation of the plantation.
The company agreed not to import unskilled foreign labour, unless
allowed by the Government whilst the latter promised to assist the
company in securing and maintaining an adequate labour supply.
The provision which was included that the company was to enforce
such rules and regulations in conformity with the laws of the
Republic as would protect the health and welfare and encourage the
education of the peoples residing within its concession area was a
novelty compared to the 1926 Planting Agreement as amended from
time to time. The exclusive right to establish and operate suitable
trading posts within the area leased was different from the
agreements with Firestone and can be attributed to the area in the
isolated interior of the Republic between Ganta and Saclepea (in
the then Central Province), selected by The Liberia Company. The
Tubman Government guaranteed the Liberia Company free, clear and
unencumbered title to the lands granted and agreed to defend and
protect such title for the benefit of the company.
In 1950 the company made a modest start with the planting of cocoa
and coffee and a year later management made known its intentions of
expanding the cocoa and coffee plantation to at least 25,000 acres
over the next seven years. Liberia is one of the few countries in
the world where coffee grows wild. In the 19th century it had been
made one of the country 1 s most important export products by
enterprising colonists (see Chapter 2),
Kru labourers, formerly employed on the (then Spanish) Island of
Fernando Poo, introduced cocoa to Liberia on their return during
the 1910's and 1920's. It was not the first time foreign
capitalists were interested in the cultivation of cocoa. In 1935
a Polish group had obtained a concession from President Edwin
Barclay. The concession covered 600 acres of land in the (then)
Central Province, and for a period of 99 years. The Polish
investors indeed started planting cocoa but little information
can be found on the outcome of this company's activities except
for the fact that it did not last for long (9).
Though the 1950 Agreement already provided for a concession area
of 150,000 acres with accompanying rights and privileges the
Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of the company,
Mr. Juan Trippe, asked for and obtained an additional five-year
exemption from taxation. In December 1951 an Amendment to the
Revised Statement of Understanding was agreed upon (by Trippe,
Trimble, Vice-President and General Manager of The Liberia
Company, and Gabriel L. Dennis, Liberian Secretary of State)