COLOMBIA —HOND URAS 151 



a canning plant, possibly at Barranquilla, which forms a con- 

 venient port for such a purpose, and the Government has offered 

 a subsidy of £10,000 to the first packing house esablished either 

 on the Pacific or Atlantic side, the packing house to have a 

 capacity of 50,000 head of cattle per year. There are about 

 2,400,000 cattle in the country. According to the latest esti- 

 mate, Colombia should be able to export at least 80,000 head of 

 cattle during the year. 



The few small consignments of beef that have come to the 

 English market from the Central American Republic of Colom- 

 bia have, of course, been a stray supply attracted by the unfail- 

 ing magnet of high prices. It would seem, however, that there 

 are other calls on this supply than the distant European market, 

 as for some time the supply department of the Panama Canal 

 has been bringing cattle from Colombia to aid in meeting the 

 demand for fresh beef in the commissary stores in the Canal 

 Zone. More than 1000 cattle a month have been slaughtered 

 at Cristobal, Canal Zone, and this will extend, as the meat is 

 said to be cheaper than that brought in cold storage from New 

 York, from which port the supply department is receiving about 

 100,000 lbs. a month. Freight shortage has made this supply 

 difficult. Meanwhile land has been cleared in the Canal Zone 

 for pasturing imported cattle not in fit condition to be 

 slaughtered for beef ; it comprises some 10,000 acres near the 

 Atlantic end of the isthmus, 1500 acres at Empire, 3000 acres at 

 Culebra, and 2300 acres at Corozal, where a Government farm 

 is maintained. 



HONDURAS. 



Honduras has an area of 46,250 square miles, and is situated 

 north of the Isthmus of Panama. On the north of it is the 

 Carribean Sea, on the south Nicaragua, and on the west Guate- 

 mala and San Salvador. The fifteenth degree of north latitude 

 runs through it. There are about half a million head of cattle 

 in the country. 



The Government is endeavouring to encourage stock raising 

 by disseminating infonnation regarding improved methods. 

 Stockmen from the United States are carefully inquiring about 

 and investigating the cattle resources of the count^v^ Ship- 

 ments of live cattle are commencing from the port of Ceiba on 

 the North Coast, and a refrigerating plant is about to be in- 

 stalled near Puerto Cortes. Improved stock are being intro- 

 duced, and an export of 50,000 head annually is looked for in 



