•5 b 



THE AGIUCULTUIUL NEW; 



.Mauih ^, lyl'J.. 



-executive ofticers whose .liin- it skould be lo develop . .j;^^:n occupies i !;u|^r^'»^'" "' ^^'est Indian 

 thtm. Thete functions are thosu concerned with arfairs, so attention inavyti^rtMjL- tuiiitd to this. At the 

 research or investigation.-^ of a .more or less abstract prtent moment the su^ar industry of these islands is 



•character, upon which fuuire developments wilj largely extraordinarily prospRro^ on account of the abnormally 

 depend. -..Agricultnre implies the practical applicsition high prices'being p v^^.in conseiiuence of the distuibanct; 

 of n.an^f the sciences, it mig'it almost be said of all of^-dinary coiiuiU'ia^al conditions by the war. '''*'•" 

 of the sciences, but it is iiqper^tly xealize'l how lit*te state of things cari hardly last long, so that, a subs 

 is tnown in some fields, i^^;^f1p much abstract work ., tial fall in price ni'" ■"" ' ' ' " ■' ' ' 



renwrns to be done before '*'mfe^thoJs of practical appliilYperiod of time. •: 



-cation can be offered to the planter. lu the tropibs ' will be of interest. 'i^^^t^S^''^''^ 

 this ie particularly the case, for even i^e limited . 



.amouiit ofworkinthe way of agricultural investiga- 

 tion which has already been done has been conducted 

 for the most parfin temperate regions, and it is 

 extremely i-.nsafe in many eases to attempt to apply 

 •deductions drawn under conditions of agriculture -in 

 temperate countries to the conditions obtaining in the 

 tropics. 



It is not our purpose to enlarge now upon this 



matter of the duty of governments to encourage 



research, it is sufficient to state it; but, at the same 



time. It is essential to say that this function, in order to 



be erticieut. must be exercised on a very wide basis: to be 

 •efiective. research, such as is contemplated, must have a 



vt-rvwide outlook both as regards its problems and the 



tinwgiventotb*-ir solution: when this is thecase the solu- 

 tions themsijlves are likely to hav^e wide application. This 



being so, the function of research is properly exercised 



in iwiine-NUon with the administration of large countries 

 -or grou^, for example in the United States it con- 

 stitutes une of the cares of the Federal tjioverniuent. 



In the case of these West Indian islands it may 



properly be urged that it shouH-cbnstitute the care and 



duty of the Im|)erial (Jlovernment, and this argument 



This 



tan- 



ooked fipr within a. measurable 



S--m^raI_sui-yc!V of sugar prospects 



will be of interest, -ii^ 



The world's constimplion of sugar had risen from 



about 12,:iO(),000 tons in 19():i-4 to about IS.iiOO.OOO 



tons in 191.S- 14, an increase ofsoijie fi.'JO.OOO tons a 



year during the ten years prior to the war. in this 



period the production of cane sugar increased from 



about (i,:56o,000 tons in l»0:i-+ to about lO.OOO.OOO 



tons in 19i:M4, an increase of some 370,000 ton.s a 



year. During this period the production of beet 



sugar increased from some (i,(l()0,()0() tons to about 



8,1)00,000 tons, an annual increase of 200,000 tons. The 



production of cane sugar was increasing at a greater 



rate than that of beet sugar. If, however, regard is 



had to the production of cane sugar during the six 



years from 1010-11 to 191(>-17, during which time the 



rate of increase has been very uniform, it is found that 



the annual increase in the pioduction of cane sugar 



amounts to some 7-iO,00() tons: thi.s figure, doubtless, 



better represents the activity current in cane-sugar 



producing countries. The effect of this greatly increased 



production of cane sugar upon the price of the 



commodity depends upon the rate at whii-h the world s 



consumption of sugar increases, and also upon the 



extent to which the production of beet sugar 



may recover the ground lost by the distnrbance.s 



resulting from the war. It is thought that the gene- 

 1 ■ 1- .- • .!_ J«ii. .... . ,1- I.,....;.-.. .,1' 



may be strengthened by the consideration that the ^^, indication is that ;the .ate of production of sugar 

 outcome otal)«tra.:t agricultural research should Hud gg„cj.^i|y jg ^.n^. ^/to the rate ot consnmpUon, and 

 application, not merely in the colony in which the ^^^^ ^.^^ stimuhis ..f high prices, and the possibili- 



in\ e.stigation might happen to be carried on, but may 

 conceivably bo world-wide^ and be of service to colonies 

 far renio\ed. 



These (|ue.stions are of liindamental importance, 

 and re>|iiire closer consideration than can be given to 

 them in the space of this short', artifle they may well 

 be dealt with on other occjisions. 



We may now turn to tome other asp' cts ul the 



ties of developments in new countries, together with the 

 restriction of conjumption due to high prices,, point to 

 keen competition, with the consequent lowering of 

 prices, and that this will t.ako place at no distant datti. 



In order to meet competition, it will be essential 

 for those concerned with the West Indian sugar 

 industry to use every effort to make their production, 

 both in field and factory, as efficient as po.ssible. This 

 means unceasing attention to all agricultural problems. 



question of the outlook as regards the preservation ^ well as to those'processcs of manufacture which at 



to these islahds of some of the ihdiistries of* which the moment aro reeciving unwonted attention, 



they are already in' posserisioH, but which may be 



threWene-lby the pressure .,f the development of As regards m;>t)iufactu re, it will be necessary 6o 



similar industries elsewhere. • " f-ring the recovery of sugar from the cane up to a poinb 



