THE MINOR INDUSTRIES. 
By Epaar BEcKeEtr. 
Somehow the very name seems provocative of ridicule ; there is an air very 
often, of contemptuous reference to such products as cacao, limes, covo- 
nuts and rubber. Again, those engaged in the growing or starting of these 
products seem to speak of them with an apologetic manner, as if they were to 
be taken not with that seriousness which 1s associated with the cultivation of 
the sugar cane. 
This is explained, possibly, by the fact that, for so large a number of years, 
practically only one crop has been really cultivated in the colony—namely 
sugar. So that gradually it has come to pass that other crops have been 
looked upon as not worthy of serious consideration, mere abortive attempts 
only fit to be classed as weak efforts of inexperienced would-be planters. And 
vet if it were only realised that these products, though they may not pretend 
to viv with importance with that of sugar, cai be made to form very valuable 
subsidiary indusirics to the staple crop, we think thet one step in the right 
direction will have been taken. Unfortunately in the past for various 
reasons, chiet of which we might mention the question of a labour supply, the 
cultivation cn a commercial scale of these minor products, or as we would 
preter to style them, subsidiary industries, have had tu meet with strong pre- 
judice, not from proprietors but their local employees, who, rightly or wrongly 
have seen in these industries not aids, but menaces, either to their employers’ 
purses or to the local supply of labour. Nevertheless not a score oi years | 
ago this feeling of prejudice was strong against the Rice Industry and many 
a sugar planter in the days now happily gone-by, viewed with utter diamay,\ 
and even attempted tv discourage, the growing of rice by their East Indians. | 
True there were wan; notable exceptions, out as a whole the Industry was | 
considered a dangerous menace to the well-being of our staple industry and | 
incidentally to those actively engaged in promoting its weltare. But to-day | 
a new order of things has arisen. Land and even leave of absence, is willingly ‘ 
and freely given to the East Indian labourers to pursue this occupation by a 
mutual and sensible agreement. With what result may we ask? Turning 
to those admirably-prepared leaflets issued by the Permanent Exhibitions 
Committee we find that in 1902-3 about 5 tons, in value of avout £69, were 
exported from British Guiana, while in 1909-10 it had leaped to an export 
of 5,489 tons valued at no less than £64,609. Rice then has forged ahead 
until to-day this, at any rate, may be classedas an industry that is distinctly 
subsidiary, 7.¢.,a support, not a hindrance to the staple crop, and theretore 
to the colony in general. 
The other industries, in the past, have lagged dismally. Nor have we far to 
seek for a reason for this. 
It is always found as a universal fact that the majority will follow the line 
of least resistance, and the line of least resistance in this case has been decidedly 
the sugar cane. First and foremost it is 2n annual crvup, it furnishes a quick 
