A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. - 



Vol. XVIII. No. 457. 



BARBADOS, NOVEMBER 1, 1919. 



Priob Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Some Aspects of Labour Supply in the Tropics. 



^Considering the hundreds ot mllli n> of 

 people who live within the tropics, and the- 

 verj' small proportion of the area under 

 cultivation or development, it is curious that some 

 tropical countries should suffer from an . insuftlcient 

 supply of labour. British Guiana, British Honduras 

 and the Fiji Islands are typical examples of places 

 where the labour factor militates against deveh piuent. 

 Why should this be ? Why should these places be 

 .>u badly off, and other places like Barbados, Mauiitius 

 and Ceylon so well off, in respect of labour : 



To indicate the extraordinary differences in popu- 

 lation, it may be well to give a few figures. The 

 density per square mile in British Guiana, for 

 instance, is 3; in British Honduras it is 5: in Fiji 

 20. in Barbados, on the other hand, it is 1,030; 

 in Mauritius 510 ; and in Ceylon 160. These figurea 

 are only approximate, but they serve to illustrate the 

 differences that exist. 



That there is a correlation between the area 

 under cultivation in a colony and the number of the 

 population, is evident by considering the relative 

 ilegrees "f development in the case of the places 

 mentioned above. Indeed, if one considers the popula- 

 tion in terms of density per area under cultivation, 

 the above colonies do not differ nearly as much as they 

 might at first be expected to do. From calculations 

 we have made on this point, ib is found that approxi- 

 mately in the year 1917, British Guiana had an 

 average of I'X people per cultivated acre compared 

 with 2-5 people in the case of Barbados. 



If one goes into the matter thoughtfully, one 

 realizes that countries having a good labour supply 

 fulfill certain conditions of a very essential character. 

 In other w^rds, one finds a good labour supply — or what 

 amounts to the same thing— a dense population, cor- 

 rehit'.Ml or associated with certain inter-depe.ndent 

 factors. A thickly populated place is generally healthy, 

 fc-riile, well-developed, and possesses good communi- 

 cations. All these conditions are fulfilled i.i the case 

 of Barbados, Mauritius and Ceylon: they are not 



