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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[ March 1, 1914. 



RUBBER NOTES FROM BRITISH GUIANA. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



""PHE announcement has been made that the Government is 

 ■*• drafting a bill to give effect to some of the recommenda- 

 tions of the Balata Committee, which issued a comprehensive 

 report in 1912 offering certain suggestions for removing the dif- 

 ficulties created by the absconding of laborers after they had re- 

 ceived an advance in wages prior to their going into the hinter- 

 land. According to the announcement recently promulgated, the 

 Government proposes to go a great deal ahead of the recom- 

 mendations of the Balata Committee, which were disapproved of 

 by the Institute of Mines and Forests, the body most intimately 

 concerned. At the present time the institute registers and con- 

 tracts laborers for the forest industries. It appears that in the 

 bill that is being drafted by the Government both registering and 

 contracting are to be done by the Lands and Mines Department. 

 This will to all intents and purposes leave the institute without 

 an occupation, and means the practical extinction of that useful 

 organization, which was formed more than 20 years ago to deal 

 with the difficulties existing at that period between employer 

 and laborer in the gold industry. 



In order to understand the position more clearly and to esti- 

 mate the justice and wisdom, or otherwise, of the Government's 

 action, it is desirable to recall the origin of the Balata Commit- 

 tee. There has always been a certain amount of absconding go- 

 ing on in the balata industry, and there always will be so long as 

 the advance system prevails. The advance system is likely to 

 prevail for many years yet in the peculiar conditions under which 

 the balata industry is being conducted. The laborers have to 

 make long journeys into the interior, where they remain bleed- 

 ing the balata trees for many months in the year. Before they 

 go they obtain an advance upon their earnings, which they some- 

 times leave with their families, and which more often they use 

 for a final "'spree" before leaving for their self-imposed exile in 

 the interior. The system is an old one and time honored, and it 

 would not be easy to conduct the hinterland industries with- 

 out it. 



Nor was the system a very harmful one in the old days, when 

 the demand for labor was moderate, and the output of balata 

 was, like the number of companies engaged in the industry, com- 

 paratively small. But an echo of the great rubber boom of 1910 

 was heard in this colony. All sorts of companies, good, bad 

 and indifferent, were formed for exploiting the British Guiana 

 balata industrj'. The demand for laborers enormously increased. 

 The competition — it was a very unliealthy competition — took the 

 form of offering the balata bleeder better advances. The temp- 

 tation proved too great for him. He found that he could get 

 an advance of as much as $60, and instead of fulfilling his con- 

 tract he would register elsewhere in a different name, sign an- 

 other contract and secure another handsome advance. This trick 

 was performed with success sometimes repeatedly, and labor- 

 ers found it easier than working. When they were caught, as 

 they most frequently were, and taken before a magistrate charged 

 with breach of contract, they accepted their punishment philo- 

 sophically. It was found that four months' imprisonment with- 

 out the option of a fine had no terrors for these swindlers with 

 a sporting instinct ; and the Balata Committee was appointed to 

 deal with what was undoubtedly a most serious situation, and to 

 try and devise a remedy. 



That committee was appointed fully two years ago, and pre- 

 sented its report in July, 1912. It is now February, 1914, and no 

 action has been taken. In the interval the extraordinary diffi- 

 culties to deal with which the Balata Committee was appointed 

 have vanished. Many of the companies that were responsible 

 for the extravagant competition in advances have disappeared, 

 unable to bear the strain they themselves imposed. The com- 

 panies that remain have come together and the local managers 

 have agreed upon a scale of advances — already reported in the 



India Rubber World— that is fair and reasonable. The em- 

 ployers have themselves, by means of a little judicious combina- 

 tion, adjusted the situation which has again reverted to the nor- 

 mal. 



Under these circumstances it is permissible to doubt the wis- 

 dom of the Government in allowing the virtual extinction of the 

 Institute of Mines and Forests, a useful body, which has done 

 good work in the past and will undoubtedly do good work in the 

 future. The Balata Committee itself supplied the best defence 

 of the institute in quoting the words of the secretary, Mr. James 

 Winter, who, in the course of his evidence, said : "They inquire 

 into wage disputes, sue for the laborers, pay off laborers at a 

 commission of 1 per cent., selecting the laborers and seeing that 

 they go. arresting absconders, giving information to employers," 

 etc. The Balata Committee said: "We cannot conceive of any 

 Government department performing these functions." They are 

 very important functions and immensely useful to the employer. 

 If the institute's principal source of revenue is taken from it, 

 however, it is difficult to see how it can discharge these func- 

 tions. The local press disapproves of the Government's pro- 

 posals. It would appear that the policy proposed would be a 

 serious mistake. 



BALATA EXPORTS FROM BRITISH GUIANA, 



Georgetown advices state that the more favorable weather in 

 1913 led to increased exports of balata from British Guiana, as 

 compared with the previous year. The figures are: 1912, 639,729 

 pounds: 1913, 1,172,501 pounds — the bulk of which is reported 

 to have gone to the United Kingdom. 



NOTES FROM DUTCH GUIANA. 



By a Resident Correspondent. 



THE B.M.ATA PRODUCTION FOR 1913. 

 ■"PHE balata industry has made a tremendous advance during 

 ■'■ the year just closed, and yet it would appear that consider- 

 able further expansion is in sight. The number of new conces- 

 sions taken out during last year and which have been prospected 

 and proved rich in balata-producing trees predicts for the 1914 

 season an unprecedented crop. 



The weather during the middle of last year, however, cannot 

 be said to have been entirely satisfactory, from the fact that 

 when tapping was at its height a period of dry weather lasting 

 four or five weeks interfered considerably with the operations, 

 which had to be suspended. Had this not taken place the pro- 

 duction would have been nearly double the following figures. 

 We take these figures from the Customs Department. 



Pounds. 



Concession balata 2,449,957 



Private lands balata 51.720 



Total production for 1913 2,501,677 



Total production for 1912 1.600,611 



It is interesting to record that the quality of balata brought 

 into town during the year has been much better than on previous 

 occasions. The color and thinness of the sheets call forth com- 

 mendation from all quarters. This, no doubt, has much to do 

 with the present good prices, for buyers of the product had been 

 complaining of the quality of the article and better prices are paid 

 for good, clean, thin sheets. The collectors have practically re- 

 fused to take over from the bleeders balata of inferior appear- 

 ance, being unable to dispose of it, as local buyers refuse to ac- 

 cept quality that fails to come up to standard. 



It has been estimated that over 5,000 men were engaged in 

 actual bleeding operations during 1913, and this will also account 

 for the great numbers who flocked into town to spend the Christ- 

 mas holidays, when quite a bit of money changed hands. The 

 bush-men. with few exceptions, have had a good time, and the 



