The Colony’s Foreign Trade 265 
Setting aside sugar and gold, the industries connected with which have 
declined during the decade, the letter most conspicuously, the balata 
industry, measured by the value of its exports, as also by the amount of 
labour-force it sets into play, is the most important of local industrial 
enterprises. So far as is known, it is only in the Guianas that balata gum 
is found in quantities sufficient to maintain an appreciable trade. In this 
respect it occupies a peculiarly favourable position, not so enviable an one as, 
say, Chilian nitrate, it is true, but still valuable enough. Superadded to this 
Hae vantage, it is said that for certain requirements ‘there is no substitute 
- the ‘produet of mimusops globosa. The industry has of recent years 
unter into an interesting stage of its existence, and, thanks to 
the beneficent invasion of outside capital, though its attendant change 
of management is not irreproachable in regard to efficiency, a re- 
markable development, incited by the high prices offering in the 
consuming markets, has taken place. Exports are swelling visibly. 
An output of 548,800lbs., m 1902-03, was represented last year 
by one of 1,101,593lbs., ea an official valuation of $673,350, the 
high watermark of 1,162,528lbs. having been reached in the year 
immediately preceding. This means, among other things else, that there 
was an increasing demand on the labour supply, of which there is no 
superabundance. There are now some 9,000 men employed in the balata 
fields of the colony, these embracing an area of upwards of 80,000 square 
miles. There is no manual labour better paid than that now being 
employed in winning balata. The men are paid by results, than which 
method there can be none better, one should suppose, to ensure satisfac- 
tion on all sides. Yet maximum efficiency has not been attained, not 
a little to the concern of the capitalists interested in the enterprise, who, 
having an irreducible minimum of expense to meet, are anxious that as much 
gum should be gathered as possible. The larger the amount collected the 
better it is for employer and employed alike, but as yet this fact has 
not been borne in upon the junior partners in the business, though the 
senior partners, the capitalists, have endeavoured to impress it upon them. 
To this end they have gone so far indeed as to offer a bonus to those who 
supply over and above a given amount of the article. While some men 
bring down in a season as many as 2,000lbs., some are not able to procure 
even 500lbs., which seems to point to the fact that the energy and skill 
displayed by the workers are very unequal in volume. Much capital 
has been sunk into the balata industry ; and as offering some gauge in 
this respect it may be mentioned that the outgoings for the past half of 
this year of the largest company engaged in it have reached a sum of 
£60,000, being £109,000 for 1911. The adventure is profitable enough 
under normal conditions ; but as it is not yet without its hazards, be they 
the whimsicalities of the weather, the acts of God, or the eccentricities 
of the genius of the bleeders, it seems that a return of 7 per cent. on the 
capital invested is not particularly handsome. Yet there is much hope 
that when there is an adjustment of the balance of power between 
employers and employed, and when the directing agencies are freed of 
certain restrictions imposed ostensibly in the interests of the Crown, the 
