April 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



385 



NOTES FROM BRITISH GUIANA. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 \Y/HILE to the outsider matters in balata circles are quiet, 

 '" the present is by no means a period of waiting. The 

 short rainy season is drawing to a close and in a couple of 

 months — possibly less — we shall have the long rainy season upon 

 us. Most companies, therefore, which intend serious business 

 this year, are getting ready to dispatch their expeditions, espe- 

 cially those whose grants are in the far interior. There is no rea- 

 son at present to anticipate other than a successful season. Up to 

 January 30 the exports have been 90.932 lbs. as against 11,839 

 lbs. exported to the same date last year. 



THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE— A GOOD 

 APPOINTMENT. 



An appointment has now been made to the Assistant Director- 

 ship of Agriculture, rendered vacant by the promotion of Mr. 

 F. A. Stockdale to the Directorship of Agriculture of Mauritius. 

 The appointment has been given to Mr. Keith Bancroft, B.A., 

 who is at present in the Colonial Service in the Federated Malay 

 States. The appointment is an exceedingly good one, because 

 Mr. Bancroft will not only be able to do much to assist rubber 

 cultivation, but, being a Barbadian, he will by no means be a 

 stranger to the West Indies. Coming from the Malay States, 

 where he has had an opportunity to study the Hevea from the 

 scientific as well as the practical standpoint, he should prove 

 of immense value to tlie owners of young Hevea plantations. 



THE FELLING OF BALATA TREES. 



A good deal of discussion has been created in the neighbor- 

 ing colony of Dutch Guiana on account of the Government hav- 

 ing given A. F. C. Curiel permission to experiment in the felling 

 method of bleeding balata. over an area of 8,640 hectares (21,600 

 acres). The Government's action is described as unconstitu- 

 tional, and complaint is to be made to The Hague. An echo 

 of tlie Surinam dispute has been heard in this colony. The "Daily 

 Chronicle," dealing with the Surinam dispute, and with an article 

 on the subject in the January number of The India Rubber 

 World, says: "Into the merits of the system we do not propose 

 to enter. The subject is largely in the domain of theory. We have 

 heard it stated by equally competent authorities that the tree yields 

 more latex when it is felled than when standing, and also that it 

 yields less. This is a thing that perhaps our authorities will be 

 able to tell us in the future — the not too distant future, we hope. 

 Nor do we propose now to enter into the very alluring figures that 

 have been placed before us regarding the value of the felling 

 method. Mr. Henry Daley, who was a prime mover in the busi- 

 ness, said that the cost of collection would be one-third of what it 

 is now, and the output would be three times as great; that the 

 balata licensees would be willing to pay a royalty of six cents per 

 pound of balata, and that 5,000 men would be provided with work 

 for 25 years, from which the Government would draw in royalties 

 $100,000 per annum, which would pay the guarantee of interest. 

 A very attractive prospect, but just why we should sacrifice our 

 balata trees for the purpose of providing company promoters 

 with a guarantee of interest on their capital, we do not know. 

 It is a somewhat curious thing that this proposal should have 

 come — not from the old estabHshed companies, but from those 

 that came into the colony on the crest of the rubber boom. 

 Looking back at the proposal at this period of time, we can see 

 that it is fortunate that the project came to nothing. It was 

 suggested that provision can be made that for every balata tree 

 felled, a rubber tree should be planted in its place. This is a 

 suggestion with merits, but supposing that such arrangements 

 had been made with the several companies which have since 

 failed, of what value to the colony would have been the rubber 

 trees they planted? Granted that Mr. Daley's figures were 

 correct, the question that calls for consideration is whether it 

 would have been worth while to sacrifice our balata resources for 



a railway — the necessity of which would to that extent have 

 diminished — and a very prospective rubber industry? On these 

 terms this act of vandalism would, we think, have been wholly 

 unjustified. We agree with The India Rubber World that the 

 only way to arrive at truth in this matter is by experiment. It is 

 urged that under existing conditions the trees die before they 

 give that amount of balata that they would if they were at once 

 felled. But to what extent that is the result — if it exists — of im- 

 proper bleeding we have no means of knowing. It is certainly 

 worth experimenting in the matter over a small area, but these 

 experiments should be conducted by the Government, and 

 should not be handed over to a private company, as apparently 

 is being done in Surinam, to operate over 8,640 hectares. We 

 shall watch the progress of events in Surinam with much in- 

 terest." 



Mr. Heno' Daley, who was the prime mover in the former 

 discussion, has replied to the Chronicle in the following terms : 

 "Of course, if the colony wishes to refuse to support 'this act 

 of vandalism,' the colony is the chief loser. It is certainly a 

 very nice and patriotic feeling but likely to be expensive. I find 

 generally though, that in the end business will override patriot- 

 ism and also vandalism. It will be the same here. The Gov- 

 ernment will have to modify their balata regulations — within a 

 short time — if they wish to derive revenues from the industry. 

 My arguments in favor of allowing balata licensees to bleed 

 trees as they think fit — with certain restrictions — are as fol- 

 lows: 1. — A considerably increased revenue could be secured, as 

 licensees could well afford to pay higher royalties. 2. — Grants 

 could be worked that are today impossible to work at a profit. 

 3. — Bleeders would earn more money; naturally, also the 

 licensees. 4. — If the Surinam Government has followed its 

 Venezuelan method of bleeding, they surely have fully considered 

 the position. From my knowledge of the Dutch they seldom 

 act on impulse. 5. — There is nothing to show today that trees 

 will stand re-bleeding with advantage and it certainly seems 

 improbable that a tree will survive a long number of years, if 

 bled every five. 6. — There is little doubt that the equivalent 

 amount of balata can be secured from a tree at one bleeding — 

 as from the same tree in 30 years — under the existing regula- 

 tions. 7. — The price of balata today is good and likely to remain 

 so for the time being. What will be its value in 10 or 30 years? 

 8. — The demand for balata, unless the price goes down, is not 

 likely to increase. Cables are not being laid nowadays, and low- 

 grade rubbers treated can and do replace balata. 9. — That if the 

 Government allowed the destroying of certain trees, it will 

 take more men than there are today available, 30 years to bleed 

 them, assuming there is only one balata tree to every 10 acres of 

 the colony's area. 10. — Trees destroyed could be replaced — on 

 plantations on the coast— by cocoanut or other trees, under some 

 scheme of Government control, paid for by the increased royalty, 

 which would yield in 20 or 30 years a very much finer revenue 

 than balata is ever likely to give." 



CATTLE raising PEOPOSED IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



Mr. C. L. Foot, an Englishman, with long experience in the 

 cattle raising business in the Argentine, has applied to the 

 British Guiana authorities for concessions of land, on which to 

 establish ranches. Owing to the scarcity of cattle in Argentina 

 he had determined on making a trial of British Guiana, which 

 he considered excellently adapted for that purpose. 



TWO MONTHS' BALATA EXPORTS. 



British Guiana statistics from January 1 to February 27, 1913, 

 show exports of 102,125 pounds, as compared with 23,483 pounds 

 in the corresponding period of 1912. 



Should be on every rubber man's desk — Crude Rubber and 

 Compounding Ingredients; Rubber Country of the Amazon; 

 Rubber Trade Directory of the World. 



