Notes on the Society's Work in 1897-1918. Ixxiii. 



however, have to be omitted as having been very adversely affected by the 

 scarcity of shipping. The periods taken for comparison are 1895-1898 

 and 1913 to 1916, and the records are : — 



Average Annuai Exports. 



Increase 



1895-1898. 1913-1916. %£a£? 



Balata, pounds ... 361,100 1,338,400 +2706 



Timber, cubic feet ... 273,400 225,400 - 175 



Lumber, feet ... 42,450 339,600 + 7000 



Shingles, thousands ... 1,607 2, "255 -f 403 



Charcoal, bags ... 58,000 60,400 + 41 



Gums, lbs. ... ... 2,730 1,060 - 61-2 



The balata industry has very materially increased, due largely to the 

 energy and great organising power of the present head of the Consoli- 

 dated Rubber and Balata Company- ; taken together the wocd-cutting 

 industries — timber and lumber — have stagnated, or even somewhat de- 

 creased, but any decrease may be due to war-conditions ; the demand for 

 shingles shows a fairly satisfactory although not great, increase the 

 openings for this product being somewhat restricted ; the charcoal-burning 

 industry is and has been in a state of stagnation ; whilst the collection of 

 gums appears to tend towards disappearance. 



The Commissioner of Lands and Mines, his Forestry .Officer, or 

 Mr. J. Mullin is in a far better position to deal with the progress and 

 probable future of these industries, and with the reasons for their increase, 

 relative stagnation or decrease, than I can be, and I hope that one of them 

 may favour us with an exhaustive paper on the forestal industries during 

 the period of my present Presidency of this Society. 



Mineral Resources. 

 The active interest in the mineral resources of the colony which 

 the Society had shown in the early nineties had largely waned prior to 

 1897. Then the Institute of Mines and Forests was at its zenith and was 

 doing really good work for the colony. But the alluvial gold-industry, 

 the export of gold won by which had attained its maximum in 1893, — 

 137,629 ounces of gold valued at £511,360 — was already showing signs 

 of decrease, the export having fallen to 126,100 ounces in 1896 and to 

 124,300 ounces in 1897. The export of raw gold with some fluctuations 

 steadily decreased until that for 1913 was 99, 194 ounces only. Of late 

 the output of raw gold has been very adversely affected by war-conditions 

 being 63,803 ounces in 1914, 53,907 ounces in 1915 and 36,245 ounces 

 in 1916, whilst in 1917 only 29,015 ounces were exported. 



During the period under review a few quartz-mining ventures have 

 been carried on, the principal ones being the Peters mine on the Puruni 

 River and the Barima mine in the North West District. The latter mine 



