The_Open_Door_deel1

one stone on another or nailed a piece of wood to another
to start these guest houses. Please let. me have a report
and your opinion on these matters." (13)
What exactly the financial contributions of The Liberia Company
amounted to during this period (the 1950's) will probably remain
a secret for ever. As the company enjoyed exemption from tax
payments not a soul bothered to ask for financial statements or
other data. Clower et al. report a government's share in
distributed profits of $ 50,000 annually during the years 1959 and
1960 whereas in either year the Liberian Educational Foundation
distributed some $ 20,000 in Liberia (14)- This corresponds with a
yearly - distributed - net profit of some $ 200,000 at the end of
the fifties.
On the basis of figures available as from 1964 Cocopa, the
company's plantation, never showed a profit until 1973, It may
safely be assumed that prior to 1964 the plantation operations
were unprofitable too since it was decided to discontinue the
growing of coffee, and cocoa in 1965, whereas the rubber, the
planting of which was started in 1956, did not mature until 1963
- the average maturing period of a rubber tree being seven years.
Mainly thanks to income from investments in the Liberian Mining
Company and in the Monrovia Port Management Company the company
was during these years still able to declare and distribute
dividends from net income.
The Government received 25? of these net profits through its
participation in The Liberia Company. The income from investment
in the Monrovia Port Management Authority - which name later was
changed into the National Port Authority - ceased in 1975 while
the Liberian Mining Company definitely closed its gates in 1977.
The Cocopa-plantation became a profitable operation in 1973 as the
increased number of rubber trees planted in 1966 matured after
seven years. In 1978 the company had some 6,000 acres under
cultivation (1,000 acres of which were still immature) but it
planned to expand its acreage planted with rubber in order to meet
the deadline set by the agreement of 1967 with the Government to
have an area of 7,500 acres under cultivation by 1987. Therefore,
production is likely to increase in the future. The Government
revenue from the Cocopa-plantation depends on the company's net
income which in its turn is to a large extent determined by the
world prices for natural rubber and the company's ability to
control expenditures.
In conformity with the Revised Statement of Understanding, as
amended, 10$ of The Liberia Company's net income, via the Liberian
Educational Foundation, went to institutions of higher learning in
Liberia, the University of Liberia and Cuttington College, and to
various health projects. The Government of Liberia, however, does
not have a say in the destination of this amount as the
Foundation's Board of Directors (which is the same as the Board of
Directors of the Liberian Development Corporation) decides which
institution(s) or project(s) will benefit and to what amount.
These amounts were therefore excluded from Table 3 which shows
the Corporate Income Tax paid by the Liberian Development Cor-