Vol. X. No. 229. 



THE AGRICULTUIIAL NEWS. 



37 



CANADIAN TRADE IN THE WEST INDIES 

 AND BRITISH GUIANA. 



The Weekly Reports of the Department of Trade and 

 Commerce, Canada, have recently presented the results of 

 investigations in parts of the West Indies and British Guiana 

 as to the opportunities for further expansion of the provision 

 trade of Canada in those places. The reports received so far, 

 refer to Barbados, Grenada, Montserrat and Trinidad, as well 

 as to British Guiana, and the more important parts of them 

 will be presented in this article. 



B.\RB.\D0s. The Annual Report of the Comptroller of 

 Customs showed that during 1909 there was a falling off in 

 almost every item of import, when comparison was made with 

 the figures for the preceding year. There was no lessening, 

 however, of the imports of fish, which amounted to £6S,S27 

 in value, as compared with £66,827 and £4.5,469, for the 

 two previous years. It is not possible to say what proportion 

 of this was sent from Canada, for fish from Canada and 

 Newfoundland, when shipped through New York, is credited 

 in the returns to the United States. 



The share of Canada in the imports of lard and cotton 

 seed oil, fruit and vegetables, and tea and sugar, is small; 

 while it takes no part in the supply of beef, bacon and hams. 

 The decline in amount of importation, mentioned above, also 

 applies to hay, and was more noticeable in the imports from 

 Canada than from those of any other country. The quantity 

 of oats imported has been practically unaltered, however, 

 during the last few years. Considerable changes have 

 taken place in this trade, the largest share of which was in 

 the hands of Holland, in 1908, being valued at £17,325 out 

 of £24,314: in 1909 it fell to £7,135, during which- year an 

 amount, value £6,065, was received from the Argentine Repub- 

 lic. Another change took place during the tirst nine months 

 of 1910, so that Holland resumed its first place; the amount 

 received from Denmark, Holland and Great Britain was 

 1,551,779 »)., out of a total of 3,704,658 If).; but as the oats 

 credited to Great Britain actually came from Holland, the 

 latter country is now responsible for about half of the supply 

 of oats to Barbados. This is interesting, in view of the fact 

 that, a few years ago, the whole trade was in the hands of the 

 United States; its .share in the above total was 1,178,719 fc., 

 that of Canada being 948,287 B). 



Two of the commodities to share in the shrinkage were 

 flour and grain other than oats, of which an amount to the 

 value of £20,000 less was imported in 1909 than in 1908, 

 the share of Hour being £ 18,000. The statistics show that 

 the greatest lessening in imports has been in regard to the 

 amount of these commodities obtained from the United 

 States; it is £17,000. During the last few months of 1910, 

 the Argentine Republic .sent to Barbados 2,000 barrels of 

 flour of a medium to lower grade, which is said to answer the 

 requirements better, and to be cheaper than similar Hour from 

 the North; and the opinion is expressed that the former is 

 likely in the future to compete seriously with that from 

 Canada and the United States. 



*;ren.\da. Canada takes part in only just over 2 per 

 cent, of the trade of Grenada, according to Customs receipts; 

 its share is probably greater however, for shipments of flour 

 are largely credited to the United States. In this colony, 

 too, there was a decreased importation during 1909. 



As compared with most of the other imports, fish shows 

 a slight decrease, only. Nearly all the dried fish used in 

 Grenada comes from Canada, and the grtater part of it is 

 received through Barbados. A recommendation is made 

 that greater attention should be given to the direct shipment 

 of fi.sh to Grenada. 



Reference is made to the increase in population ia 

 Grenada, and to the way in which cacao has supplanted 

 ground provisions; the conclusion from this is that the trade 

 of Grenada is worthy of development from the Canadian side. 



M0NTSERR.\T. Here the conditions — as regards the rais- 

 ing of ground provisions — are opposite to those which oljtain 

 in Grenada. The increased extent to which such provisions 

 are being raised is lessening the demand for food stuffs, the 

 bulk of which is obtained from Canada. The figures for the 

 last three years, to 1909, show that there has been a gradual 

 increase in the amount of imports from Canada, the values 

 being: 1907 £2,753, 1908 £3,151, 1909 £3,456. The 

 import trade of Montserrat with the United States is small, 

 the only food stuffs being salted beef and pork, lard and 

 oleomargarine. 



TRINIDAD. The supply of Hour is almost exclusively 

 obtained from the United States, and the proportion from 

 Canada is increasing yearly in quantity, for as in the case of 

 Barbados, complaints are no longer made in regard to Cana- 

 dian flour. In the case of oats, the imports from Canada 

 have doubled, while those from Holland and Denmark 

 have decreased, though these still have a large share in 

 a field that was once occupied almost exclusively by Canada. 

 Canada has the largest share in the imports of peas and 

 beans; as is the case with rice, the amounts of these do not 

 increase with the growing population, because the supply of 

 local vegetables is becoming larger, on account of the opening 

 up of the country and the provision of easier means of 

 communication. 



The first place in the import trade of Trinidad with 

 Canada is occupied by fish, 6,259,984 lb. having been receiv- 

 ed from that country, out of a total amount of 7,513,804 lb. 

 As regards corn, none of this comes directly from Canada; 

 what little may be obtained from that country is forwarded 

 through the United States. It is a curious fact that a cer- 

 tain amount of Canadian meat reaches Trinidad through 

 England; there is need for making a special eflbrt to obtain 

 a much larger direct trade in this, and attention is drawn to 

 the necessity for the placing of such goods, as well as of others, 

 in strong, well-made, attractive packages. 



BRITISH GUi.^NA. The tables of imports show that the 

 importation of food stuffs into this colony is fairly steady. 

 As far as fish is concerned, smoked and tinned fish, and pick- 

 led mackerel, show a decrease, but there is an increase in the 

 case of dried cod and herrings, which chiefly come from Can- 

 ada. There is also a growing demand for Canadian butter; 

 while the importation of Canadian cheese is small, Ijut 

 regular. Holland again shows its supremacy in the matter 

 of supplying oats, the value of which for 1909 was $92,993; 

 in this year, Holland supplied two-thirds of the demand for 

 oats, while in the previous year the largest .share was held 

 by Canada, and in the one before by the United States. 



There has been a large increase in the imports of Hour 

 into British Guiana, partly on account of high prices, and 

 partly because of the low price in the colony. Attention is 

 drawn to a remark by the Comptroller of Customs, in his 

 report, to the efiect that when the prices of these are normal, 

 rice does not take the place of flour. The importation of 

 Canadian fish is stationary and there is an increasing demand 

 for tinned fish. The supply of grain from Canada is steady, 

 as far as is shown by the figures. Nearly all the trade in tea 

 and condensed milk is held by Great Britain, which has sup- 

 planted the United States in regard to the latter commodity. 

 A final matter of chief interest is that Canada possesses the 

 greater part of the trade in potatoes and ground provisions, 

 having obtained about two-thirds of the amount for the past 

 two vears. 



