1919.] DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC RESOURCES, 231 



which indicate it as a site of such a central institution. In the days 

 before the war, the whole British West Indies (British Guiana, 

 Trinidad and Tobago, Windward Islands, Leeward Islands and Jamaica) 

 exported agricultural products to the value of about ^611,762,000 of 

 which over one quarter of the whole came from Trinidad and Tobago. 

 More recent figures for all the colonies are not immediately available, 

 but the proportion is probably substantially the same now. Trinidad 

 and Tobago also produce on a commercial scale a much larger variety 

 of the chief M'est Indian products than any other West Indian Colony. 

 In 1918 the value of the chief products were: — 



Sugar and products 



Cacao ... 



Coconuts, copra, &c. 



Rubber 



Limes and products 



Grain, pulses, &c.... 



Fruit ... 



iei,547,08r, 



1,014,981 



224,099 



4,939 



9,541 



1,813 



98ft 



Miscellaneous, Coffee, spices, cotton, &c.... ... 935 



Forest products, timber, balata ... ... 1,017 



Live stock and skins ... ... ... 31,041 



^62,835,937 



Other advantages possessed by the colony for the prosecution of 

 research work are the existence of Botanic Gardens and Experiment 

 Stations, Stock Farms, River (Cacao) Estate, St. Augustine Estate (Sugar), 

 &c., all forming part of the equipment of the Department of A.griculture. 

 In these, with the additional assistance already referred to increased 

 research activity' could more easily be developed than by the establish- 

 ment of entirely new centres. 



The Colony is also the only one in the West Indies in which there is 

 already a trained Forest OflScer, who has under his care large areas of 

 Government Forest Reserves and Plantations. 



The geographical position of the colony is convenient, and it is free 

 from hurricanes and serious earthquakes. 



For these reasons the Committee recommends that a Central 

 Agricultural Research Institute for the West Indies is the most urgent 

 necessity, and that Trinidad offers the most favourable site. And in 

 view of the important results which would doubtless follow from 

 increased activity in scientific research, to so many agricultural 

 industries of importance to the whole of the British West Indies, that 

 a grant of j65,000 a year would be well spent. 



W. G. FREEMAN, 



Chairman. 



October 16, 1919. 



