338 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



SovrswiVM 1, 1S19. 



aU fulfilled in bhe <'rts« of thr- othfr t.hrei- .'lolouies 

 toeutioned. 



1'hp rii-fd r>f winr) tneau8 oi ouunmuacatiuii 

 is the great drart'bnek to most >uideveloped coun- 

 tries. Communications are the conncetine: link be- 

 tween labour and invested capital. In the first 

 instance, of course, the conscruction of communications 

 Deeds both; but once mad-,-, and given rich natural 

 resources, these comrnuincations serve to attract far 

 more capital and labour thar; were reiiuiiftd in their 

 construction. 



A great asset to any country, is a vigorous and 

 prolific indigenous population. The Eastern tropics 

 and parts of Africa possess this asset. It is lament- 

 ably absent in the West-. Intact, development' #ork 

 in the entire continent of Am. rica has been almost 

 entirely dependent upon labour ini roduced from other 

 parts of the world ;it souie vime or othei'. British 

 <iuiana is a very striking example of this fact. The prob- 

 lem of that country's development would be very much 

 :aiinplified if it had a prolific indigenous population. 



Lack of vigour is often due to prevalence of disease. 

 Yerv little has been said so far eonceiuing the 

 health factor. Yet it ia, ofcour.se, a most essential one 

 to consider. Infantile mortality, malaria atid other 

 diseases are largely responsible tor ^luw increases in 

 the populations of certain countries, or mihcr of 



•certain areas in those countries. Moreover, tropical 

 diseases like malaria, venereal, and hook-"orin, when 

 they do not actually cause mortality, always o.xert 

 a most lowering effect, and reduce efficiency. Thu 

 vigour of the labourer of Barbados is undoubtedly due 

 in part, to the absence of malaria in that colony. One 

 of the problems of an efficient labour supply- is the 



■elimination, or at any rate the reduction, of disease. 



It has been shown that a healthy climate, good 

 ■communications, and the investment of capital will tend 

 to attract labour. This will not occur, howi^ver, unless 

 the scale of wages offered is high enough to form a 

 sufticient inducement; nor will ]ab<piir be attrnctHcl 

 unless there is somi; guarantee of continuous euiploy- 

 tnent under decent conditions ol living. Cuba has 

 succeeded in obtaining outside labour entireh by 

 offering high wages, and employment by eontnict A 

 move in the right direction was tlu; establishment 

 recently of a labour bureau in British tJuiana. 



A successful method of increasing the hibour 

 aupjlly is through land settlement. Land settlc- 

 tneiit lead.-< to th'- foimation of permanent com- 



munities composed of familie/3. Increase in popu- 

 l.ation is thereby stimu ated. In somt' pliices 

 where big central sugar factories have been established, 

 the estates have bteu cut up into s-.r..".'.! hjlJir.gj. On 

 them the labourers grow their own caue and sell to the 

 factory. The labourer therefore is his own maHter. Yet 

 he works tin- the good of the factory just .is much as 

 if he were an employee. This system, under proi)er 

 supervision, such as it gets in Trinidad, is an excellent 

 one, and a very sound solution of the labour supplj' 

 problem under certain conditions. 



. ^ ,. The must obvious solution to the problem of au 

 inadequate labour supply is organized immigration-— 

 indentured labour. This matter, however, has political 

 aspects, and is not .as simple as it at first appears 

 to be. The supply of indentured labour from 

 India i;o the West Indies has been stopped. In 

 the past it has proved successful, and on it 

 British Guiana has depended for its development. 

 Whether it will be resumetl. or whether other sources 

 of labour will be tapjjed, are questions that have bi'en 

 engaging the attention of the authorities for .some 

 time. Certain things are clear, however. Provided 

 countries awaiting development: have resources, capital, 

 commiinications. and a bearable climate, they will 

 attract labour, alway.s provided the scale of wages ia 

 reasonably high in proportion to the cost and comforb 

 of liv'insj. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



GRANULATED WHITE BEET SUGAR AND 



WHITE PLANTATION OANE 



SUGAR 



Attinlian was drawn in the Agrkulturai News, 

 January 11, IIU!), to i>,frtaiii diflBculties stated to have been 

 experienced by some British coul'ectioners in the u.se of 

 cane .siigar in [ilnci: of bed nugir. Th t article referred to 

 oonoluded by rein.arking that lucro declamation or the 

 assertion of the nu'dt of out kind of sugar as contrasted 

 with another will not suffice : the matter sLould bo thoroughly 

 and carefully invest'gated. 



in the /nh->-)i,ttiiiiiai Sii^^ar Jaiiriial, May 1!)19, an 

 in>truclive article on the snbjec^t appear-s from the pen of 

 f)r. If. C. IVinsen Geei-lig.s, the well known sugar expert. 

 This article throws uiucb liiiht on the dilftrence e.xisting 

 between the two f.ugar!>, and suggests remedies whereby 

 whit'- plantation cane sugar ni.iy be rendered .suitable for 

 use in the very ?arae w.iy .is the German and Austrian 

 beot sugars were used before tiio war. 



In discui'.iing the difference between washed bcaft 

 sugars and WHshed cane sugars, i>r. l^tinsen Geerligs 

 refers to the wt-ll- known fact, that almost the sole 

 coDSlituent of tlie two sugars, n>mc]y .«ucriiRe, i.s ^ he 

 idenlioal rliemical body both in nime and n beet sugar. 

 Thi' diflfirencf iDUst be found lu the very small amount of 



