494 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 1, 1913. 



NOTES FROM BRITISH GUIANA. 



(By our Rciiular Correspondent.) 



ALTHOUGH the actual production of rubber is still con- 

 ducted only on a small scale in British Guiana, the plant- 

 ing of Para rubber trees is going on steadily. The latest report 

 by the Colonial Office shows that over eighteen hundred acres 

 are now under cultivation in the colony. Trees planted as re- 

 cently as 1907-8 and 1908-9 are now being tapped, and the re- 

 sults are said to be satisfactory as regards yield and quality. 

 Good progress is being made on the Hills Estate at Bartica in 

 the Massaruni district. Felling of trees, underbushing, planting 

 of rubber and sisal hemp are being continued. The growth of 

 the rubber trees is vigorous, and tapping will commence in a 

 week or two. 



The balata industry in the colony is in a much more healthy 

 state than it has been for some time past. Whereas in the first 

 four months of last year only 25,557 pounds of balata were ex- 

 ported, in the corresponding period of this year 221,652 pounds 

 have been shipped, and week by week the exports continue to 

 show increased growth. Last year's small figures were accounted 

 for by the serious drought through which the colony was then 

 passing. This year the rains have been plentiful in most districts, 

 and bleeding is a success. From one or two of the outlying locali- 

 ties, however, come reports of dry weather, numbers of laborers 

 having returned from grants in the Corentyne district, stating 

 that owing to a shortage of rainfall it had been found impossible 

 to bleed the bullet trees. 



At the present time it is illegal to recruit laborers in British 

 Guiana for work in a neighboring colony, and those engaged in 

 the collection of balata in Surinam (Dutch Guiana) have been 

 agitating for some time past to bring about a change in the con- 

 ditions. It is a well recognized fact that without the laborers 

 from British Guiana it will be impossible to work balata con- 

 cessions in Surinam, and in the past it has been a somewhat 

 difficult task to successfully secure the men from British Guiana 

 without in a measure infringing the laws of the colony. X^ow, 

 however, there is a ray of hope for those engaged in the industry 

 in Surinam, by the fact that in a recent minute to the British 

 Guiana legislature, the Governor, Sir Walter Egerton, advocated 

 the passing of a law which will make it legal to contract laborers 

 in this colony for work in the neighboring Dutch territory, after 

 the contractor has satisfied the government of his bona fide in- 

 tentions, and ability to comply with certain conditions which are 

 to be embodied in the law-. 



It is understood that the Dutch balata companies would be 

 willing to accept any reasonable conditions. In the course of an 

 article on this subject, the "Paramaribo Times" says: "Sir 

 Walter Egerton evidently holds a different opinion from his 

 predecessor, who would not listen to such a proposition, and is 

 unquestionably a very keen observer, and no doubt has been 

 prompted in his action by the enormous amount of money orders 

 and other money sent over yearly from Dutch Guiama by the 

 laborers to their families on the British side. It is a well known 

 and accepted fact that the majority of the houses built on the 

 Corentyne coast were built with the money that the men worked 

 for in Nickerie, and now that they propose to build a railway 

 from New -Amsterdam to Springlands it will mean a great deal 

 more trade and closer connection between the British shore and 

 the thriving and prosperous town of Nickerie. 



"If this law is passed, as we have no doubt it will be, a great 

 change will take place, which cannot but prove a boon to the 

 balata companies, as the curse of the whole balata business is the 

 absconding of the laborers, who as soon as they receive their 

 advances simply cross over to the British shore where they are 

 safe, while with this prospective law, the contracts entered into 

 in British Guiana to work in Dutch Guiana will be binding on 

 both colonies, and they could be held in either colony. Hence 

 the absconding disease would be completely eradicated. British 



Guiana has always got one hundred times more out of her rela- 

 tions with us than we with her. For instance, Nickerie is not 

 only populated with people from the British shore who get the 

 majority of their supplies from Demerara, but is an English- 

 speaking community, and it is therefore gratifying to see that at 

 last they are willing to do something to give us a little protection. 

 We know that in the past that powerful body known in British 

 Guiana as "the Water Street Mercliaiit" have objected to such a 

 law, but we think that if they will investigate conditions carefully 

 they will find that it will be materially to their advant- 

 age. The laborers only come over to Nickerie during the season 

 and take their money over to spend it on their families on the 

 British side." 



The same paper finds fault with the government of the Dutch 

 Colony, which it is felt ought to devise some economical plan to 

 increase the labor population by means of land grants, etc. 



There is a feeling among a number of those in British Guiana 

 interested in the balata industry, in favor of the abolition of the 

 existing law which prohibits the felling of the bullet trees. In 

 \'enezuela the felling method of collecting the milk is invariably 

 practised. This method, though at first used in British Guiana, 

 is now against the law here, as it also is in Dutch Guiana, and 

 the method of allowing the trees to stand is now adopted in both 

 these colonies, certain restrictions being placed upon bleeders 

 with the object of safeguarding the life of the tree. In the 

 opinion of the majority of balata experts here the felling method 

 is a very wasteful one, as the forests are thereby denuded of 

 valuable trees. As a contributor to the journal of the Royal 

 Society says, "there are no reliable data available as to the yields 

 obtained on the successive tappings made after the tree has first 

 been bled, the class of men employed as bleeders and the condi- 

 tion under which the work is carried on being such as to render 

 it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain such data. Yet the indis- 

 putable fact remains that tracts of Crown lands on which the 

 balata trees were first tapped a quarter of a century ago are still 

 being worked and continue to yield supplies of balata. 



"Beside the balata trees there are other trees in the forests of 

 British Guiana which produce latex in appreciable quantities. 

 The most important of these is the 'Swamp Mabua' or 'Mabwa' 

 of the .-^rawaks, also known to the Cari Indians as the 'Touch- 

 pong.' This species yields a rubber of good quality which has 

 been exported for many }-ears. It is usually classed on the 

 market as 'Orinoco Scrap' and frequently brings good prices. 

 Specimen biscuits of it prepared for the rubber exhibition held in 

 London in 1908 were exhibited there." 



The balata industry of the colony has lost one of its most 

 prominent members by the recent death of the Hon. George 

 Garnett. C. M. G.. head of the firm of Garnett & Company. 

 Limited, a firm which for many years has carried on a variety of 

 business. Mr. Garnett was one of the pioneers of the balata 

 industry here. He joined the firm in the early eighties, and 

 shortly after his advent he and his partners launched into the 

 lialata industry, with which the firm has been connected for many 

 years. A start was made in the collection of balata some thirty 

 odd years ago in Nickerie, Dutch Guiana. Subsequently grants 

 were obtained in Berbice. after which the firm's activities in this 

 direction were pursued in the Cuyuni, Essequibo. Demerara 

 river, and other districts. In Nickerie a very flourishing busi- 

 ness was done at first, two sloops being regularly engaged in 

 running there from Georgetown with provisions and other sup- 

 plies for those engaged in the work. L'ltimately, however, the 

 Dutch government imposed enormous obligations, which greatly 

 hampered the business, and eventually rendered it unprofitable. 

 In this colony, however, the firm's' activities in the lialata in- 

 dustry have continued successfully. 



Replete with information for rubber manufacturers: Mr 

 Pearson's "Cru<le Rubber and Compounding Ingredients." 



