9 JANUARY 1897, Page 14

A NEW FIBRE.—A CORRECTION.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."'

Sin,—In the very interesting article on "A New Fibre" in. the Spectator of January 2nd there is a statement which needs correction,—" Demerara alone has half a million of them,"— coolies. The last census returns of British Guiana—which includes Berbice and Essequibo as well as Demerara—give the population of the entire Colony as 278,382, and the number of coolies as 105,463.-1 am, Sir, Stc., [The word "alone" was not in our article, but, of course, even as it was, the coolie numbers were overstated.—Ed.. Spectator.]