170 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1, 1914. 



NOTES FROM BRITISH GUIANA. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 THE WAR AND Till Dl FRY: HARD HIT. 



""THE balata season is now practically at an end. The labor- 

 1 ers are returning from the hinterland lor the Christmas 

 holiday and bleeding operations have been suspended. The 

 season has, on the whole, been a fairly good one, from a 

 producing point oi view, bul from a selling point would have 

 been more successful had not the war broken out and upset 

 the market. Producers are now overcoming their anxiety 

 with regard to exporting, and during the past two months 

 fairly heavy shipments have been made. The government 

 not having seen its way clear to provide a guarants scheme 

 against losses, producers have resolved to pay war risks on 

 exports. With hundreds of laborers coming down from the 

 grants to receive their earnings for the season, companies 

 have had to convert their balata into cash. The margin of 

 profit being small, the market unsettled and the cost of pro- 

 duction increased by the necessary payment of war risks, 

 tin season, from which so much was expected, will probably 

 prove not to have been so very profitable. This is doubly 

 unfortunate, for after several years of drought the present 

 season, during which weather conditions have been more 

 favorable, was looked to to recoup the losses that producers 

 have sustained during recent years. The result is that the 

 balata industry still lacks that element of stability which 

 would cause it to be regarded as one of the colony's indus- 

 trial props. It has during the past five or six years passed 

 through a very trying period. The rubber boom, with its 

 inflated prices and the consequent exorbitant demands by 

 labor, did it no good service, and the years of drought that 

 followed aggravated the mischief. Now. when the oppor- 

 tunity for recovery presented itself, war has broken out and 

 demoralized the market. 



The war will have another depressing effect, namely, that it 

 postpones for an indefinite period the hinterland railway 

 project, the improvement of hinterland communications be- 

 ing a very important factor in the successful prosecution of 

 the industry. Nevertheless, these things act only as a set- 

 back. Speaking at the quarterly meeting of the Chamber of 

 Commerce the other day, the president, A. P. Sherlock, deal- 

 ing with the effect of the war upon the industrial situation, 

 said that the council had approached the government asking 

 that assistance be given the gold, diamond and balata indus- 

 tries by advancing money to enable them to be carried on as 

 formerly. That was at the time when it was difficult to make 

 the usual financial arrangements. The government did not 

 consider the situation sufficiently critical and, as regards the 

 gold industry, he believed that there was no difficulty in that, 

 although the diamond and balata industries were suffering 

 severely at the moment. The balata industry, he was sorry 

 to say, had been seriously affected by the war, but he could 

 not help thinking that this condition was only temporary, 

 because there must be an enormous waste, to make up for 

 which a corresponding demand for balata must soon arise. 

 arise. 



The balata export to September 23 was 883.392 pounds. 

 as compared with 829,157 pounds to the same period last year. 

 These figures may be expected to show an improvement be- 

 fore the end of the year, but there is reason to believe that 

 if the war had not caused nervousness the exports this year 

 would have readied record figures. 



'I \PPING EXPERIMENTS— SATISFACTORY RESULTS. 

 At a meeting of the Board of Agriculture, held recently, 

 Professor J. B. Harrison, Director of Science and Agricul- 

 ture, supplied figures in connection with the results of recent 

 experiments. He announced that from November, 1913, to 

 July, 1914, 983 pounds of wet Para rubber had been obtained 



at the North Western station from 279 trees. This was 

 equivalent to about 700 pounds dry rubber, giving a return 

 of over 2 pounds per tree, being a very satisfactory yield for rub- 

 ber trees tapped for the first time. He also reported that the 

 rubber trees the Hoard had planted at Christianburg, on the 

 Demerara river, had made verj good progress during the last two 

 years. At one time it appeared that the experiments would be a 

 failure, but they now promised to be a success. These trees were 

 I 1 to 5J/2 years old, and he would like the consent of the 



Board to tap the perimental purposes. It was decided 



that these trees should be tapped. The agricultural expert 

 of the "Daily Chronicle," commenting upon these returns, 

 says: "It is gratifying to note that the results of the tapping 

 of the Hevea Brasiliensis trees growing on the experimental 

 at the North Western station were particularly en- 

 couraging. A return of 700 pounds of rubber from 279 trees 

 at the first tapping is a distinct success and bears out the 

 contention which has been expressed in these notes for the 

 last ten years and more, that there is every reason to believe 

 that rubber can he grown successfully in British Guiana. Had 

 the Board of Agriculture been more active we should have 

 known this in time to have shared in the great rubber boom. 

 However, better late than never." 



PANAMA RUBBER EXPORTS. 



Exports of crude rubber from the Republic of Panama to the 

 United States for 1912 represented $46,600 and for 1913, $19,016. 

 The bulk of the shipments was from the consular district of 

 Panama City, from which the rubber exports for the two years 

 named amounted to $43,800 and $17,313. 



Balata, shown separately, figures as $20,592 and $108,920 for 

 the years 1912 and 1913. 



HONDURAS RUBBER EXPORTS. 



The rubber exports of the Republic of Honduras for the fiscal 

 year ended July 31, 1913, represented $35,630, of which amount 

 shipments to the United States were $33,797. This amount was 

 less than one half that of the preceding annual period. 



GUATEMALAN RUBBER EXPORTS. 



Guatemalan exports of rubber amounted in 1913 to 200.006 

 pounds, value $100,323. Of this sum the United States' share 

 was $39,960, or about half that of 1912. 



ECUADOR'S RUBBER SHIPMENTS. 



The value of Ecuador's rubber shipments is shown as follows 

 by Coiwil General Frederic W. Goding, of Guayaquil: 



Pounds Value 



1912 $698,965 



1913 427,732 178.754 



NICARAGUA'S RUBBER EXPORTS TO UNITED STATES. 



Consul Harold D. Gum, of Corinto, reports exports of rubber 

 from that point as follows: 1911, $320,335; 1912, $182,272; 1913, 

 $100,523. From the San Juan del Sur district they were : 1912, 

 $119,919; 1913. $112,056. 



The above-named points combined deal with 86 per cent, of 

 the total exports. 



Total exports of rubber from Nicaragua to the United 

 States represented a value in September last of $14,864, 

 against similar exports for September, 1913, of $2,936. Dur- 

 ing August, $12,693 worth of rubber was exported from Nicar- 

 agua to this country, against $4,016 worth in the preceding 

 August. 



EXPORTS OF BALATA FROM VENEZUELA. 



Exports of balata from Venezuela to the United States for 

 the months of August and September, 1913 and 1914. are re- 

 ported by the American Minister at Caracas as follows: 



Pounds Value 



August, 1914 1.188,000 $44,001 



August, 1913 2,354,000 95,722 



September, 1914 1.936.000 53,268 



September, 1913 132,000 5,211 



