Balata and the Balata Industry. 183 
When the grant is let it is surveyed by a Crown Sur- 
veyor, a line is cut round it, and its boundaries are 
fixed, and branded paals inserted. All grants have a 
facade on a river or creek, and here the grantee is 
required to keep a board on which is legibly painted his 
name, the length of the facade, the depth and compass 
bearings of the sidelines, and the date of the license. 
An annual rent of 30 cents per acre is charged durin 
the occupancy, and a fee of 10 cents per acre for sur 
veying, while the fees for advertising, registering, ana 
stamping the license amount to $63. There is also a 
small charge for travelling of the surveyor. These fees 
are paid when the grant is taken over by the lessee. 
The charges are the same for both kinds of grants. 
The aboriginal Indians are allowed to cut timber not 
exceeding \2 inches squared, — a privilege that is greatly 
abused, and to take any substance off the uncut Crown 
lands, except minerals. On the other hand, all other 
people are prohibited from taking — such is clearly to 
a layman the intention of the ordinance — anything 
whatever from the same lands. With regard to balata 
(and possibly by the same interpretation some other 
products) the law at present is not clear. A conviction 
for collecting balata on Crown lands was a year ago 
reversed on appeal — balata not being specifically men- 
tioned among the prohibited substances. An ordinance 
to amend this defect was immediately introduced to 
the Court of Policy, but it has not yet been passed. 
It is only in Berbice that balata colle6ting is 
carried on as an open and recognised business. There 
wood-cutting grants consist more or less of bullet-tree, 
and, in the absence of demand for the wood, are 
