534 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



April 1, 1921 



BALATA IN BRITISH AND DUTCH GUIANA 



BALATA growers and gatlicrcrs in British Guiana are awaiting 

 with anxiety the report of the commission appointed by the 

 Governor to consider the balata industry and to recommend, if 

 need be, legislation that will promote its commercial success. 

 Stringent regulations have long been in force about how and 

 when the trees may be bk-d, but such government control has 

 not helped much either to increase the output or to enhance the 

 price. In fact, there is a general impression that the industry 

 has been over-regulated, and that in view of the reduced output 

 and the greater difficulty and cost of getting balata the bars 

 must be let down somewhat, or the industry may soon face a 

 real crisis. Regret is expressed, too, that the balata industry has 

 not had the benefit of the great research work which has been 

 carried on in connection with every phase of the rubber industry, 

 although realizing that considerable scientific study of balata, as 

 compared with rubber, has not been warranted because of the 

 minor commercial importance of balata. 



Some balata men even fear the extinction of the industry, at 

 least in the Guianas, as they remark that there are but few, if 

 any, uses for balata for which rubber may not be substituted. 

 They are not encouraged even by the relatively good prices of 

 3s. Tyid. a pound in 1919, compared with 2s. 6d. a few years ago, 

 for the cost of getting balata is increasing, with no relief in sight.. 

 Excess bleeding lias practically exhausted the easily available 

 supply, thus compelling the gatherers to go deeper into the forests 

 to get at good bullet trees, all of which adds to the expense. The 

 bushmen expect better pay than those working near the towns 

 or settlements, and labor is short at best. The Government is 

 none too sanguine about the outlook for balata, the chief forest 

 industry, and which has yielded a large part of the public rev- 

 enues. Officials fear that any considerable drop in the price will 

 mean the doom of balata as a territorial product. 



CONSOLIDATED RUBBEE & BALATA ESTATES, LIMITED 



At the recent annual meeting in London of the shareholders 

 of the Consolidated Rubber & Balata Estates, Limited, which has 

 large interests in British Guiana, the chairman reported that the 

 directors had decided to pass the 1920 dividend, as was done in 

 1919, and to carry forward the surplus of £9,010. The company, 

 it was stated, had been hit hard by the drought of the summer 

 of 1918 and the spring of 1919, higher labor costs, increased 

 freight rates, and a loss on exchange of i2,194. The company's 

 balata turnover for 1917 was 1,088,498 pounds; in 1918, 891,841; 

 and in 1919 but 621,268 pounds. From its Aruka plantation in 

 the northwest district the company got but 4,073 pounds of rub- 

 ber, the trees there as in all the low-lying plantations having 

 suffered severely from the "die back" disease. Experts in the 

 Lands Department frankly state it as their belief that British 

 Guiana is not a suitable country for the cultivation of rubber. 

 Some hope, however, is held out for fair results from the young 

 trees planted on the higher levels. 



A. F. White, since 1911 general manager at Demerara for the 

 Consolidated Rubber & Balata Estates, Limited, has resigned on 

 account of ill-health and gone back to England. His assistant, 

 Mr. Tout, succeeds him. 



BALATA IN DUTCH GUIANA 



Somewhat better conditions in the balata industry are said 

 to prevail in Dutch Guiana, although here, as in British Guiana, 

 growers and gatherers are troubled with several adverse cir- 

 cumstances. The cost of getting balata is steadily mounting, 

 owing largely to the fact that gatherers must go a longer way 

 into the hinterland to find trees worth bleeding. The cost of 

 transportation is getting higher, and this condition will get worse 

 when the Government carries out its expressed intention of dis- 

 mantling the railroad beyond a point located ISO kilometers from 

 Paramaribo because it is losing money. The labor shortage. 



higher taxation, and unfavorable exchange also give much ron- 

 ccrn. However, most growers are content to wait for higher 

 prices, and there is little talk of growing more marketable prod- 

 ucts, as in British Guiana. 



According to Government statistics, the 1920 crop of balata 

 was 287,747 kilograms. Of this amount the largest contribution 

 was made by the Balata Company Suriname (founded by Henry 

 Benjamins, styled the father of the balata industry in Dutch 

 Guiana) ; and, while the company suffered quite a setback in 

 1920, it is still hopeful for the coming year. In 1918 the com- 

 pany paid 20 per cent dividend, but in 1919 not only was the 

 dividend passed, but a loss of 42,000 florins was shown. A good 

 turnover is expected for 1920, however, from balata purchased 

 at low prices. 



A large operator who has done fairly well during the year 

 is A. F. C. Curicl, said to be financed by Middleton & Co., of 

 New York. C. Kersten & Co., a concern said to be well in- 

 trenched financially and whose headquarters are in Germany, has 

 also made a good showing for 1920, considering the many draw- 

 backs with which the industry has been handicapped. 



BRAZIL SUBSIDIZES THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



The Brazilian Ministry of -\gricultiire has been authorized to 

 grant to rubber factories established m Brazil within three years 

 from date, in which exclusively Brazilian rubber is employed, 

 guaranteed interest of 6 per cent per annum on a capital of not 

 less than 2.000:000$ or over 10.000:000$ for a period of three 

 years in addition to favors granted in 1912. These rubber fac- 

 tories will be exempt from duties, and a premium of 200:000$ 

 will be given to all those established within the three years stipu- 

 lated. 



The sum of 3.000 :000$ is to be disbursed for the transport of 

 agricultural laborers from Europe to any Brazilian state, the re- 

 ceiving state paying half the expenses. Furthermore, 370.000$ 

 are to be expended on the Brazilian representation at the rubber 

 exhibition which will take place this year in London. 



\n agreement will be entered into with rubber producing states 

 of the L^nion to reduce annually the export tax on rubber to a 

 parity of that charged from the Acre Territory. Rubber ma- 

 chinery for use in local factories will be allowed to enter the 

 country free of duty and last, but not least, an expert is to be sent 

 to study the cultivation of rubber in the East. 



The Brazilian budget for 1921 further provides that all ex- 

 emptions and reductions of customs duties be abolished except 

 for material contracted for by the government and machinery 

 and instruments for agriculture, mining and cattle raising in- 

 dustries. 



BRAZIL'S CENTENNIAL 



Considerable interest is being taken by the rubber industry in 

 the preparations being made for the celebration by Brazil on 

 September 7, 1922, of its hundred years' existence as a tiation. 

 Plans will soon be formulated for cooperation in the United 

 States with the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil in 

 raising a fund of $500,000 for a suitable memorial at Rio de 

 Janeiro to symbolize the friendship of the United States for its 

 esteemed sister republic, the greatest of all South American 

 countries, its population being greater than all Latin-America 

 combined ; with 5,000 miles of coast line and an area 200,000 

 square miles larger than the L'nited States, yet mostly unde- 

 veloped. With its government and many of its institutions pat- 

 terned after those of the United States and importing from this 

 country more than half of its necessities and luxuries, while 

 sending back half of its surplus products, Brazil has long enter- 

 tained for the United States a feeling of fellowship equalled by 

 few other nations. As one evidence of such regard is noted the 

 sending of the Brazilian fleet after our own into the North Sea 

 during the World War. 



