Nov. 1906.] 423 Miscellaneous. 



Eucommia.—See " T.A." Dec. 1899, p. 371. 



Barthelat, G. J. Leslatiferes de l'Eucommia iilmoides. Journ. de Bot. XIV., 

 1900, p. 55. 



Guttapercha from a Chinese tree. KewBull. 1901, 89. 



Euphorbia.— Almeidina (juice of E. Tirucalli). Angola Trade Report 1898. 



Sudu Sudn (E. neriifolia for sweetmeats). Str. Bull. 1, 1902, p. 389. 



Excoecaria — E. Agallocha. Ind. Merc. 24/7/00, 511. 



HINDOO COOLIE LABOUR IN BRITISH GUIANA. 

 The sugar industry of British Guiana, on the mainland of South America, 

 and of the British Island of Trinidad, are dependent, to a very great extent, upon 

 the supply of coolie labour brought to them from the British East Indies. These 

 labourers have been brought in under ten-year contracts, one clause of which is 

 that they shall be returned to their own country at the expiration of their 

 indenture. This has led many of these immigrants to return to their old homes, 

 although they would know that life would be much harder with them in the East 

 Indies than in the West. A free passage home, however, has always had its 

 attractions, and it is only now, after fifty years of experience, that in British 

 Guiana they are about to tax the immigrant for a part of his transportation money 

 if he desires to return home. The present provision ii that the men shall pay 

 one-half and the women one-third of the cost. 



The return charge is said to be already having a good effect and a material 

 diminution in the application for return passage is announced. The Demerara 

 Argosy is urging that the coolies should pay their entire passage money if they 

 wish to return, and that in this way the labour supply of the colony could be better 

 maintained than now. 



Incidental to this, we might say that the British colony of Mauritius, in the 

 Indian Ocean, that produces about 200,000 tons of sugar, thus making it the largest 

 sugar-producing British colony, is also dependent very largely upon this same 

 coolie labour. The distance from Hindostan, however, is so much less to Mauritius 

 that there is no serious difficulty there in getting an adequate supply of labour. — 

 Louisiana Planter. 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN AMERICA. 



An important report upon the need of elementary training for the great 

 productive industries has been presented to the Massachusetts legislature by a 

 special commission, headed by President Carroll D. Wright as chairman. Agri- 

 culture is included among these industries, and definite provision is made for it 

 in the general scheme by which the public school system is to be enriched and 

 expanded along industrial and vocational lines. 



The commission has been engaged for some time in an investigation of the 

 relation of the public schools to the various industries of the State, the preparation 

 which the schools afford for the life work of the pupils, and the economic aspects 

 of the question. It finds that the productive industries, including agriculture, 

 manufactures, and building depend mainly upon chance for recruiting their 

 service. These industries are only touched educationally in their most advanced 

 and scientific forms. No instruction whatever is furnished at public expense in 

 the theory and practice of these occupations, and while agriculture is recognised 

 by the State in its aid to the agricultural college, there is no preparatory work 

 leading up to it in the same way that the high schools lead up to the other 

 colleges. The same is true to a large extent of the schools of technology. The 



