34 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



January 30, 1904. 



see the imhistT-y developed. Mr. Symington's syndicate 

 had done everything possible to educate the people to 

 handle fruit, and altho\igh it would take .some time, they 

 had every hope of eventual success. He thought that 

 the .syndicate should get all possible support from the 

 Chamber of Commerce and tlie Agricultural Society. 

 In the initial steps it was inadvisable for Mr. Syming- 

 ton to reject any fruit sent in, and the consequence 

 was that it had often been found that a good deal of it 

 was unmarketable. The loss to the .syndicate was 

 about £2,200, which he (Mr. Rust) considered had 

 been spent on tlie education of the i)C(>i)le of Trinidad. 



In supporting the motion, Mr. Tripp pointed out 

 what the fruit trade hail done for Jamaica. Ten or 

 fifteen years ago J.imaica was almost in a state of 

 bankruptcy.but the fruit industry was regarded asliaving 

 practically saved that colony. Tlie sugar industry ha<l 

 gone down, as it might in Trinidad ; and if it <lid so, 

 there was, he understood, only one industry that could 

 take its place, namely, the fruit industry. He concluded 

 by saying that the West India Committee ha<l 

 taken great interest in the matter and had passed a 

 resolution that in the new mail contract the Govern- 

 ment should insist on cool storage and facilities for 

 conveying fruit being provided on both the ocean and 

 intercolonial steamers. 



A discussion tnllowed whicli showed that the 

 general feeling was that there were great possibilities 

 for a fruit industry, provided it could be assisted 

 through the initial stages. There was a great deal of 

 fruit, formerly allowed to rot on the ground, that coulil 

 now be utilized; but the people required to be educated 

 as to the right kind of fruit to grow and how to ship it. 

 It was impossible in the present position of affairs to 

 exercise that rigid discrimination in .selecting the fruit, 

 that was necessary to ensure only sound fruit being 

 shipped, as the growers had to be encouraged in every 

 jxissible way. To put the industry on a satisfactory 

 basis it needed the hearty co-operation of all concerned. 

 In the resvdt, the resolution proposed by Mr. Rust was 

 unanimously carried. 



We entirely .sympathize with the effoi-ts now 

 being made to encourage a fruit trade between Tiinidad 

 and the United Kingdom by means of the Koyal 

 Mail or other steamers. It is probable, however, that 

 at present there is not enough first class fruit 

 (bananas and oranges) produced within easy distance 

 of the railway and shipping ports to sustain a really 

 large trade in these commodities. The first step 

 would be to establish regular plantations as near as 

 possible to the railway and shipping ports and so 



ensure not only that the fruit is being grown in large 

 quantities, but also th.-it it is capable of being delivered 

 at ;i moderate cost on board the steamers at Port-of- 

 Spain \\ithiii, say, twenty-four hours after it is gathered 

 from the trees. Again, it should be considered whether, 

 when the )il.intations are fully established, a steamer 

 once a fortnight will be sufficient to deal with the crop, 

 as it steadily arrives at the shipping stage. In order 

 to utilize all the fruit as it approaches maturity there 

 should, in our opinion, be weekly, and not fortnightly, 

 steamei-.s, otherwi.se the growers may be left with 

 a comparatively large portion of their produce without 

 the means of siiipping it. Further, it is realized 

 that the existing Alail steamers are not suitable for 

 carrying large quantities of perishable fruit. The 

 })iesent efforts of the Royal Mail Compau}- are tentative 

 only and carried on with the'view of nursing the trade 

 in its early stages. The necessary storage room with 

 cooling .-ipparatus for a regular trade in fruit can only 

 be provided by steamers specially built for the jturposc. 

 It is understood that the Company- is prepared, under 

 certain conditions, to furnish such steamers : but the 

 first of these conditions is an assurance that sufficient 

 fruit is available at such times and under such 

 circumstances, that it will pay the Company to incur 

 the very consiilerable capital outlay in supplying 

 commodious and fast-steaming fruit ships to meet the 

 rei[uirements not only of Trinidad, but of British 

 Guiana, Grenada. St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica, 

 all of which might easily become large fruit-exporting 

 centres. With regard to the shipment of fruit in crates 

 from Barbados, this we hope ti.> discuss later. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Sugar Industry in Jamaica. 



The current number of the Bulblii) of the 

 Deptd'fiiiini of Ay ri cult arc, Ja inn leu, (Part 12, 

 December 1902) contains a summary of the proceedings 

 at the Conference of sugar planters held in that island 

 on November 11 last. 



In reg.ud to the preference offered to \\'est Indian 

 sug.irs by the (!<nernment of the Dominion of Canada, 

 Sir Daniel Miirris is rejiorted as follows : — 



Duriiij,' Ills recent visit to the United States, he was 

 told by those interested in West liulian .sugar that the 

 preference oB'ei-ed by Canada to the West Indies was not 

 available under all ciieunistanoes. Quoting from a letter 

 received on the .subject hy the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, 

 Sir Daniel .stated that, previous to the abolition of European 



