February 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



217 



NOTES FROM BRITISH GUIANA. 



{By Our S fecial Correspondent.) 



THE CHANCES FOR CAPITALISTS. 



THE elections to the local legislature are now at an end and 

 they have resulted in considerable changes. The claim that 

 was made from several plantations that capital and population 

 are needed for the development of this colony, and that capital 

 is not likely to be attracted here by a legislature composed of 

 the people's representatives, who are chiefly lawyers, seems to 

 have had due effect upon the electors, for they have returned 

 members representing capitalists operating in the colony, chiefly 

 those concerned in the sugar industry, but among those returned 

 are some members who have an intimate knowledge of the rub- 

 ber and balata industries and their problems. The legislature, 

 as at present constituted, promises to look after the interests 

 of capital, and it is probable that a mistake such as that which 

 led to an export duty being imposed on balata will not be 

 repeated. 



CAPITALISTS AND R.MLWAY CONSTRUCTION . 



Colonel J. W. Link, who was instrumental in floating the Con- 

 solidated Rubber & Balata Estates, Limited, and the Amster- 

 dam Balata Co., and who endeavored to secure a concession 

 for the building of a frontier railway four years ago, has re- 

 turned to the colony. He reports his intention of proceeding 

 with his railway project and contemplates a through line from 

 Georgetown to Manaos, thus tapping not only the balata districts 

 in this colony, but the rich rubber areas of the upper Amazon 

 also. His last advice was turned down because the government 

 of the day considered the demands made were excessive. That 

 administration has now closed and the colony is awaiting the 

 arrival of a governor, who will come here at a larger salary and 

 who, it is anticipated, will be an officer experienced in the diffi- 

 cult task of developing backward colonies which are rich in 

 resources. 



THE GOVERNMENT AND THE BALATA INDUSTRY. 



At a recent meeting of the Balata Association an interesting 

 suggestion was made by Mr. Edward Edwards (representing Ed 

 Maurer) to the effect that the present export tax on balata should 

 be abolished and a royalty of six cents charged, the money col- 

 lected from this source being allotted to the work of establish- 

 ing wireless communication and constructing roads for the benefit 

 of the balata industry. It was urged that six cents would be a 

 heavy royalty, but it was decided to communicate the proposal 

 to the government, suggesting that a royalty of five cents should 

 be imposed. The request is not an unreasonable one, because in 

 spite of the considerable sum realized by the government from 

 the balata industry in royalty, export duty and license fees, it 

 does practically nothing for it in return. 



In this connection an interesting letter has appeared in the 

 local press, stating that no company or individual would object 

 to pay a royalty of five cents (no export duty) provided that 

 two-thirds of the royalty should be spent in opening up the 

 country by means of communication (either by telephone, tele- 

 graph or wireless) and by roads. 



"Let the Government borrow £100,000 for tliis purpose ; there 

 would be no difficulty in finding the money. Taking the produc- 

 tion of balata at one million pounds per annum, the royalty 

 would, at five cents, be approximately ilCSOO; two-thirds of 

 which, viz., £7,000, would pay 4 per cent, interest on the loan, 

 £2,(X)0 per annum to be set aside for repayment of the capital, 

 leaving £1,CK)0 per annum plus the charges for messages (wireless 

 or other), for upkeep of stations and roads. Such a scheme will 

 not benefit the balata industry alone, but the whole colony." 



RUBBER PL.\NTERS TO COMBINE. 

 The same writer urges rubber planters to join the Balata 

 Association, asking what guarantee they have that when their 



plantations come into bearing an export tax will not be put upon 

 rubber. It is understood that steps are to be taken to include the 

 representatives of all forestal industries in the association. 

 Whether this will too greatly broaden the scope of the associa- 

 tion's activities is a matter that nnist be left to its executive 

 officers to decide. 



STATISTICS OF THE BALATA INDUSTRY. 

 Some interesting statistics are given in the administration report 

 of the Commissioner of Lands and Mines, which has just been 

 published. The value of tlie balata industry to the colony's 

 revenue is demonstrated by the fact that the amount paid in 

 royalty increased from $5,853.16 to $26,818.48, while receipts will 

 reach an even larger total in this financial year, since all balata 

 won now pays an export duty of two cents on every pound. The 

 commissioner points out that the balata industry now pays a rent 

 of $20 per annum on each collecting license of approximately 50 

 square miles ; 2 cents per pound in royalty on all balata collected ; 

 and an export tax of 2 cents per pound on all Ijalata exported. 



Coolie Hut on Sugar Estate, B. G. 



Rubber, of course, has not yet begun to return considerable sums 

 to the revenue. Indeed, only 1,156 pounds were exported in 

 1910-11 against 6,369 pounds in 1909-10, and yielded a return of 

 only $23.12 to the revenue. 



EXPORTS OF RUBBER AND BALATA. 

 Balata exports to November 23 totaled 921,752 pounds, 

 against 1,105,833 pounds to the same date last year. Rubber 

 exports have totaled 3,580 pounds against 1,534 pounds. 



MR. E. EDWARDS .\ND THE LABOR PROBLEM. 



Mr. E. Edwards, when acting secretary to the British Guiana 

 Balata Association, sent a letter to the government concerning 

 the labor problem, which the government has just answered, and 

 which has now been published. A government commissioner has 

 been appointed to deal with the issues raised by Mr. Edwards, 

 who sets forth the problem in a concise and interesting fashion. 

 He points out that at the present time laborers for the balata 

 industry require under the regulations to be registered not more 

 than six months for particular grants, and under particular fore- 

 men, whereas the contracts entered into are for terms of nine 

 and twelve months. The registration period, therefore, is incon- 

 venient and troublesome because bleeders often think they are 

 not bound to be re-registered for the unexpired term of their 

 contract. The system of registering for specific grants has also 

 been found inconvenient, "as through accident or other mis- 

 fortune, such as false reports by prospecting parties, which unfor- 

 tunately, do not render the guilty person liable to prosecution, it 

 is often impossible to put the men on the grants mentioned in 

 the contract. Other grants may be open for work and the men 

 often refuse to go there." 



Dealing with the punishment of men who break their contracts 

 Mr. Edwards says : "It has been proved that bleeders once they 



