62 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November 1, 1911. 



DOES "SAPIUM' GEOWING PAYl 



In a recent contribution to "Timehri," the journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana, Mr. 

 Edgar Beckett raises the question, whether the Sapiiim Jeitmanii 

 yields rubber at a sufficiently early stage of growth to make 

 Sapium rubber growing a commercial undertaking. He asks 

 whether we have to wait for five or fifty years bofore a product 

 comparatively rich in rubber and poor in resin is obtained. 



According to Mr. Beckett, some of the wild Sapium trees in 

 British Guiana yield a rubber which can command a price, when 

 cleanly prepared, very little below that of fine hard Para. 



BLEEDING OR CUTTING DOWN BALATA TREES. 



The proposal recently ventilated that instead of balata trees 

 being partially bled and kept alive for future bleedings, they 

 should be cut down entirely and every ounce of balata ex- 

 tracted, occasioned much surprise in the colony. On calmer 

 consideration, however, many people began to think there was 

 a great deal in the suggestion. 



A prominent member of the British Guiana Balata Associa- 

 tion has expressed the opinion that from a business standpoint 

 the latter plan is much preferable. The question is one of 

 figures, the point being what will the yield be by cutting down 

 the tree and how much will it cost, as compared with the yield 

 and cost by periodical bleedings. On this subject he remarked : 



"It is understood that the balata tree on being cut down yields 

 30 lbs. to 40 lbs. of milk, whereas under the present system the 

 quantity obtained by a good bleeder is only some 5 lbs. By 

 periodical bleeding, therefore, it would take 30 years to get a 

 result obtainable immediately by cutting down the tree, and I 

 venture to say that there is hardly anyone in the colony who 

 will contradict the statement that at the end of 30 years 

 the trees will be dead. The cost of periodical bleedings must 

 necessarily be very much greater than the cost of cutting down 

 trees, and, the question comes to be whether is it better to bleed 

 entirely a tree at once or allow it to remain till it dies within 

 a period of 30 years? The answer is clear when I state 

 that balata is today fetching a high price and that no one can 

 say what will be the state of the balata market 30 years 

 hence. It must be borne in mind that the price of rubber will 

 probably drop in the next few years, owing to the large culti- 

 vation of that article now going on throughout the world, 

 and the drop in the price of that commodity will undoubtedly 

 affect the price of balata. It is obvious, too, that the system 

 of cutting down trees and thus providing employes with more 

 regular work would put employers in a better position to handle 

 labor." 



AMERICAN AND DUTCH CAPITAL IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



In reporting the satisfaction with which the despatch of the 

 British Colonial secretary with reference to a proposed increase 

 in the salary of the governor had been received in British 

 Guiana, a Renter's despatch from Georgetown adds : 



"Most of any hinterland development that has been carried 

 out is the work of American capitalists. They have the gold 

 and diamond industries — both capable of much, if sufficient 

 capital were introduced to carry them on properly — almost en- 

 tirely in their hands, and, whilst most of the rubber and balata 

 companies are British, there are large corporations that repre- 

 sent American and Dutch capital. The sugar industry (the^ 

 staple industry) is the only one carried on exclusively by people 

 in the Homeland ; but here again Great Britain is doing little 

 to encourage it, taking very little sugar, by far the bigger pro- 

 portion of the crop going to Canada. 



"That the natural resources of the Colony arc wonderful 

 cannot be doubted, but the contrast between 'what is" and 'what 

 might be' is most striking. In a district comprising thousands 

 of miles only a few hundred acres are cultivated. At these 

 patches rubber is growing in the most promising manner, and 



cofifee, cocoa, cocoanuts, fruit and ground provisions are produced 

 in abundance, and yet all around is bush. The great necessity 

 of the Colony for the development of its industries is railway 

 construction, and what every person in British Guiana is un- 

 doubtedly hoping is, that a new governor will be appointed of 

 such experience and proved capacity in constructive administra- 

 tion, as will enable him to bring into existence the railways 

 which alone can give the Colony that great rxcess of prosperity 

 for which all the natural material is at hand." 



BIG AMERICAN SYNDICATE 1 



An interesting rumor is quoted by the "Daily Argosy," of 

 Georgetown, to the effect that a big American syndicate con- 

 templates going in for the gold, timber and balata industries 

 of British Guiana. The syndicate, it is said, has a large amount 

 of capital, so is in a good position to carry on the industries for 

 all they are worth, which, in the opinion of many familiar with 

 the resources of the colony, is all that is required for highly 

 remunerative returns to be obtained. The lands to be applied 

 for are in the direction of the Venezuelan frontier. The name 

 of the syndicate has not been divulged yet, but its local repre- 

 sentative is said to be a well-known gentleman. 



BALATA BLAZE. 



A Benab belonging to the Consolidated Rubber and Balata 

 Estates, Ltd., and situated on one of the company's balata 

 grants on the Siparuni, has been burnt down, and 1,000 pounds 

 of balata destroyed. It has not been ascertained how the fire 

 originated, and this can only be conjectured. The balata had 

 been placed in the benab to dry and blazed furiously. 



AN INTERESTING LECTURE IN PROSPECT. 



At a recent meeting of the British Guiana Royal Agricultural 

 and I Commercial Society, the president stated that a promise 

 had been received from Dr. Cramer, of Surinam, to give a lantern 

 lecture on "Rubber Growing in the East and West." He added 

 that Dr. Cramer would come from Surinam for the special pur- 

 pose of delivering the lecture. 



TRANSPORT TO BALATA GRANTS. 



At a recent meeting of the Balata Association a sub-committee 

 was appointed to go into the matter of transport to the ba- 

 lata grants by means of roads. It was arranged to take steps to 

 get a flying survey of the district from the Potaro point south. 



THIRTY-SIX YEARS OLD AND STILL AT IT. 



Very few pieces of mechanism that began work 36 years ago 

 are still doing duty, but there is one at least, and that is a piece 

 of aerial cable suspended under one of the elevated railway 

 structures in Brooklyn. It was in use for a good many years 



A Piece of Cable 36 Years Old. 



on the Brooklyn Bridge, and then was transferred to its pres- 

 ent position. Altogether it has been doing duty for 36 years 

 and is still intact and serviceable. We herewith show a cut 

 of a small section of it. It was made by the Kerite Insulated 

 Wire and Cable Co., New York, of which fact they certainly 

 have no reason to be ashamed. 



