YoL. XVI. No. 395. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



185 



1914. The decrease is not entirely due to dislocation 

 in trade on account of the war, but largely to the 

 cessation of mahogany operations in Yucatan, and to 

 the decline in chicle exports in [Mexico. The value 

 of the produce of the Colony shipped was only .")8 per 

 cent, of the exports, leaving the value of exports of 

 foreign origin 42 per cent. The United Kingdom 

 took 13 per cent, of the total export while 83 per cent, 

 went to the United .States. The chief articles exported 

 were sapodilla gum, mahogany, coco-nuts, and bananas, 

 the values being, respectively, >>1,231,65."), S47!),064, 

 .*145,317 and 8110,518. .Shipments of bananas and 

 plantains fell off considerably in lOlo. The decrease 

 in the export of mahogany, while attributable in some 

 measure to the lack of tonnage, was chiefly due to 

 dullness in the world's markets. Sales in England 

 were only little more than half of those of a normal 

 year and, as the stock carried over from 1914 was 

 heavy, imports into England in 1915 were very limited. 

 Labour conditions at the beginning of the year 

 were a source of considerable anxiety. In order to 

 alleviate the situation and at the same tnne to a.ssist 

 one of the most important agricultural undertakings 

 in the Colony, arrangements were made enabling the 

 Government to advance $(iO,()00 to the Honduras Trad- 

 ing Company to be spent on the development of ( "rown 

 lands at the back of Riversdale estate. The period of 

 the loan is for five years, interest is at the rate of 

 5 per cent, and during the continuance of the loan the 

 Company are to pay the Government a weekly sum 

 equal to 3A cents for every marketable bunch of bananas 

 sold or otherwise dispo.sed of during the preceding week. 



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West Indian Associated Chamber of Commerce. 



The official report of the first triennial meeting 

 of the Associated Chamber of ("oninicrce of the British 

 West Indies held in Trinidad in February and March 

 last has been received. The inaugural meeting was 

 held on February 26 when the proceedings were 

 formally opened by the < iovernor of Trinidad. Dele- 

 gates from the agricultural ,ind commercial societies 

 of Barbados, British (juiana, and of the Windward and 

 Leeward Islands were in attendance. Among the chief 

 resolutions passed was one urging the Home Govern- 

 ment to institute a Customs Tariff such as would enable 

 a substantial preference to be granted to goods produced 

 within the Empire with a view to increasing the pro- 

 duction and exchange, while the meeting also dealt 

 with cable communication, mail service, harbour im- 

 provements, pilotage, consular services, certificates of 

 origin, naturalization, the decimal system, and many 

 other matters of commercial interest. 



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Prohibiting the Slaughter of Immature Cattle. 



An Act has been passed in .St. Lucia to prohibit 

 the slaughtering of immature cattle and cattle in young. 

 Every person, whether a licensed butcher or not, the Act 

 reads, who slaughters any ox. steer or heifer which is not 

 mature, unless it is a calf slaughtered for veal: or slaugh- 

 ters any animal which is known to be in calf in lamb, 

 in kid or in pig, shall be guilty ot an offence punishable 

 on summary conviction and shall be liible to a penalty 



not exceeding £25. The defendant is liable to acquittal 

 if he can prove to the satisfaction of the court that the 

 animal was slaughtered in obedience to lawful authority, 

 or from a humanitarian motive such as the prevention 

 of suffering. 



The object of the Act is, presumably, to secure the 

 maximum production of meat and milk, and to increase 

 the number of breeding animals. It is ••>{ interest in this 

 connexion to note that the Committee of the Royal 

 .Society appointed in England early in theyear toconsider 

 the food supply question ofthat country recommended that 

 cattle slioidd be slaughtered when iunnature, namely 

 at seventeen months old instead of at two and a halt 

 years; such young beasts, it was pointed out, would be 

 a little poorer in fat, but that would be counter- 

 balanced by the enormous saving in feeding stutifs. 

 Even in the West Indies where the faod supply is not 

 in such an acute state as in Great Britain, feeding 

 .stuffs like Indian corn, which are suitable for human 

 consumption, should not be fed to live stock. There is 

 no objection, hoivever, to the utilization of cotton seed 

 meal for this purpose. 



.^ 



Mr. Joseph Ohamberlain and the West Indies. 



In continuation of an article in the February 

 number of U'nited Empire on the late Mr. Joseph 

 Chamberlain, Sir Daniel Morris, formerly Imperial 

 Commissionerof Agriculture for the West Indies, writes 

 in the April number of the above journal concerning 

 the special interest Mr. Chamberlain took in the 

 agricultural affairs of these islands. The responsibility 

 of establishing the Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 rested with Mr. Chamberlain, but his first maynum 

 opus, as regards the West Indies, was the abolition of 

 the foreign bounties on sugar, effected by the Brussels 

 Convention of 1902. The banana industry of Jamaica, 

 so far as its trade with the United Kingdom is concerned, 

 owes agreat deal if not everything to Mr.Chamberlain.for 

 it was the contract which he made with Sir Alfred Jones 

 that solved the problem of conveying across the Atlantic 

 large shiploads of fresh tropical fruit and landing it in 

 England in excellent condition. It is generally recog- 

 nized in the West Indies that Mr. Chamberlain wis 

 one of the best friends these islands have ever had. 

 -^^^fr-*-^ 



Science and Agriculture. 



A recent issue of Nature (May 3, 1917) contanis 

 several articles of interest to those concerned with the 

 advancement of tropical agriculture through the appli- 

 cation of science. One o( these articles deals with .soil 

 aeration in agriculture, and the conclusion is arrived at, 

 that becau.se of the very obviousness of soil aeration, 

 agricultural science has scarcely given the subject the 

 attention it deserves. Another note has for its title The 

 National Importance of Farm Vermin. This is obvious, 

 in view of the present shortage of food In another 

 article dealing with the British Science Guild, some 

 interesting remarks made by the President of the Board 

 of Education concerning the importance of science in 

 education are emlxjdied, while a letter contributed to 

 the same issue deals with science teaching and national 

 character. 



