3S6 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1914. 



I 



RUBBER NOTES FROM BRITISH GUIANA. 

 By Our Regular Correspondent. 



N my letter published in the January number of The India 

 RiBDER World I gave some account of the Governor's jour- 

 ney through the interior of the colony to the Brazilian boundary, 

 accompanied by a railway engineer, with a view to ascertaining 

 the prospects of a railway through the forest of this country 

 10 the savannah lands. In that letter, as in other letters, I 

 pointed out how vital to the continued prosperity of the balata 

 industry such a railway is. It is extremely satisfactory, therefore, 

 to be able to state that in preparation for the annual meeting 

 of the local legislature the Governor has issued as a White Paper 

 a copy of the despatch sent by him to the Secretary of State 

 for the Colonics definitely recommending such a railway and 

 asking the Imperial Government for a loan in order to encompass 

 the building of the line. 



It is designed that the road shall follow the F.ssequibo river 

 until a suitable opportunity occurs for bridging that wide expanse 

 of water, and to terminate at Takutu on the Ireng river, running 

 close to the head waters of the Rupununi river, where the larger 

 activities of the balata industry are concentrated. 



The Governor does not rely upon this industry to provide the 

 proposed railway with traffic, but he recognizes that it will con- 

 tribute generously to the total receipts required to make the 

 concern a paying one. He relies chiefly upon establishing a 

 flourishing cattle raising industry upon the savannah lands. 

 There is already the promising nucleus of such an industry on 

 these lands, but it does not grow because of the lack of means 

 of transport. Similarly it is hoped that agriculture will prove 

 a profitable means of livelihood. 



Professor Harrison, Director of Science and Agriculture, re- 

 porting upon several samples of soil submitted from those 

 savannahs, says that much of the land is suitable for agricul- 

 ture, and among the crops he mentions as likely to prove suc- 

 ccs.sful are Para and Ceara rubber, in the latter respect con- 

 firming the experiments of Mr. H. P. C. Melville, the Government 

 Commissioner in the district. 



But that the Governor is sensible of the value of the balata 

 industry is tcstilied by the following paragraph in his despatch 

 to the Secretary of State for the Colonics: "More than half of 

 the total production of balata in the colony comes from the 

 Rupununi district. In 1913 the production was 759,375 pounds, 

 out of a total of 1,316,755 pounds. The value of this product in 

 1912 was 3s. lOd. a pound. The price dropped in the middle 

 of 1913 to 2s. lOd. It is doubtful if the extraction can be prof- 

 itably continued without cheap transport to the interior. If 

 such transport is provided, as would be the case if this proposed 

 southern line is built, in lieu of the industry ceasing the annual 

 export would probably increase. I do not look upon the forest 

 balata industry as a continuously permanent one, but the present 

 trees of tappable age are not likely to be exhausted under ten 

 years from completing of the line, when young trees will take 

 their place." 



It may be worth while to state the main features of the scheme. 



It is estimated that the cost of the line, at $12,500 a mile, will 

 be $5,625,000; and, allowing $125,000 for improved facilities for 

 wheeled transport across the savannahs, $250,000 for immigra- 

 tion and settling immigrants on the southern lands, and a $250,000 

 area for a feeder railway from Potaro mouth to the Gold fields, 

 the total cost would amount to $6,250,000. This sum the Gov- 

 ernor is asking the Imperial Government to lend the colony. 

 It is not expected that the line will pay at first. Interest and 

 sinking fund on the loan are estimated at $300,000 a year and 

 running expenses at another $250,000, while the receipts for the 

 first few years are only estimated at $250,000, thus leaving for a 

 time an annual deficit of $300,000. The Governor, therefore, asks 

 that the line be constructed with "funds supplied by the Imperial 

 Government, coupled with an annual grant to meet deficit on 



working expenses until the increased traffic and receipts, or the 

 development of the country due to the construction of the line, 

 make it possible for the colony to assume rcsponsiliility." 



It is not anticipated that there will be much difficulty with 

 the Imperial Government. To fit the scheme into local conditions 

 will provide the most difficult obstacle to be surmounted, it is 

 felt. This colony enjoys a form of representative government. 

 In the Court of Policy, which passes the laws, eight unofficial 

 members, elected on a popular franchise, sit with eight official 

 members, with the Governor as president, and the Governor's 

 casting vote gives the Government a majority. In the Combind 

 Court, which deals with expenditure, revenue and taxation, how- 

 ever, the unofficial element is reinforced by six additional mem- 

 bers (elected on the same franchise) known as Financial Repre- 

 sentatives—thus giving them a majority. But the power of the 

 unofficial clement is limited. It can reduce expenditure, but it 

 may not initiate it. It may recommend new expenditure, which 

 the Government may accept or reject at its pleasure. 



In his despatch to the Secretary of State the Governor alludes 

 to the local difficulty. He says: "An initial objection that is 

 likely to be raised to the grant of an Imperial loan for railway 

 construction is that this colony possesses very complete local 

 control, by means of a very large elective majority in the Com- 

 liined Court, over both revenue and expenditure. It is an axiom 

 of the Imperial Treasury that without control over the finances 

 of a Dependency no advances can be made from Imperial funds. 

 This is a very reasonable rule, but I believe I am right in saying 

 that, altho the people cherish greatly their present constitution, 

 yet they would willingly, in order to secure the much-longed-for 

 railway to the interior, assent to such a reduction in the num- 

 bers of the elective section or increase to the official members 

 as to give the Home Government, through the Governor and his 

 officers, the same power and control over the administration and 

 finances as now e.xist in, say, Trinidad; if not indefinitely, at any 

 rate until the colony is in a position to assume full responsibility 

 for the financial obligations the construction and working of the 

 proposed railway must entail." 



While the Governor's proposal had been enthusiastically re- 

 ceived, the suggestion that the constitution shall be modified has 

 created much diiTerence of opinion. There are many who feel 

 that the railway at such a cost would not be worth having, 

 while others do not value the constitution so highly. 



THE RUBBER INDUSTRY— THE GOVERNOR'S OPTIMISM. 



In his annual address to the legislature the Governor gave 

 some interesting particulars about the rubber industry. He said: 

 "Mr. Bancroft, the newly appointed Assistant Director of Science 

 and .Agriculture, came fresh from the Malay Peninsula, which 

 has the most extensive rubber plantations in the world. He has 

 most successfully supervised the tapping on both government 

 and private lands of the few rubber trees of tappable age. The 

 results obtained under his supervision are quite equal to those 

 secured in Asia and conclusively prove what I have never 

 doubted— that Par.a rubber can be grown in British Guiana quite 

 as well as in Ceylon, the Malay States and Java. Unfortunately 

 the market value of rubber has greatly fallen during the past 

 year, and— what was never expected — plantation rubber, which 

 had previously sold at a premium over fine hard Para, has fallen 

 to a discount of from ten pence to one shilling (20 cents to 24 

 cents) below the price of the Amazon product. This depreciation 

 is thought by some to be due to prejudice, but is principally, in 

 all probability, the result of variation in quality of the product. 

 That plantation rubber, when standardized to quality, will sell 

 as readily as the jungle product can hardly be doubted, and 

 personally I still consider that rubber planting in this colony 

 should be a profitable occupation, situated as it is so much nearer 

 to the markets of the world than the plantations in Asia. One 

 cannot help regretting that the cultivation was not taken up 

 earlier and more extensively." 



