M 
XX.-LAGOS RUBBER INDUSTRY. 
I[K.B., 1899, pp. 29-35:] - 
In the Kew pian for 1895 (pp. PH na Lo. on an account. 
is given of the important commerce w had resulted in 
Lagos from the Ta paelan of rubber from PR Ire tree (Kickxia 
africana). It is, AE er, to be feared hes this slant of wealth 
to the Colony will be short-lived, owing to the reckless way 
in ‘bi ie the Phong trees had been asianet by the rubber. 
collec } 
reports given in the following correspondence depict a 
state ot things which, unless arrested by some remedial measures, 
can only lead to the extinction of the industry. These reports are 
highly creditable to the eae young Africans, Messrs. Leigh and 
awodu, by whom they we e drawn up. As stated in the Kew 
Bulletin. (1893, p. 365) they ie had the advantage of raining in 
the Botanical Department of Jamaica and subsequently at 
The Ire tree, or, as it is locally called, ae a female Ire - is 
Kickria africana. an Apocynaceous tree. The “male Ire 
appears to. be Holarrhena africana, as XoocihaesguA Im 
Kew Bulletin for 1895-(p. 245) it is described by an oversight A 
eiee It yields rubber oil apparently of little Copt merpial 
ps Ficus referred to in ihe reports is probably Ficus Vogelii, 
discussed in the Kew Bulletin for 1888 (pp. 253-261) [p. 141] 
and 1890 (pp. pss 2 [p. 150], the saps of fe: from 
which appears ave met with little su It s first 
indicated asa DW p rubber in the Kew Rant for 1878, E ks 
Govanion McCALLUM TO MR. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Government Hou 
P Lag gos, 24 June, 1897. . 
SIR, 
despatch * Interior," dated 9th February, 1897, E enu 
5 and o Biadh Denton referred to the wholesale destruction of 
rubber in the Hinterland, and the consequent injury to a 
n 
^ 
ha 
that the destruction is very widespread, porie to the Ekiti- 
arapo Confederacy as well to Ibadah and Je l also 
enclose return for the last six bith from the Acting Collector . 
of Customs, showing that there is a falling off in export of rubber 
amounting to 33 per cent. compared with 1896. A 
3. This falling off is serious, for—ceteris paribus—it means a 
rresponding diminution. of Meet and therefore of revenue. 
H 
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