308 



rHE AGRICULTUBAL NEWS. 



October 5, 1918. 



SUGAR FACTORY CONTROL. 



In an article in the August issue of the International 

 Sugar Journal, Mr. Frank Coxon, writing under the hcadirig, 

 'Sugar Factory Control, a neglected duty of the home adrain- 

 istiations', points out that sigar factory reports and control 

 sheets, when sent to the Head (Office of the various concerns, 

 seldom receive the critical consideration which they deserve, 

 and are seldom used to make the necessary comparisons for 

 appreciating the correct position of the reporting factories as 

 regards the excellence or the defects of their work. This 

 he thinks is partly due to the multiplicity of the matters com- 

 monly dealt with in the sheets, and partly to the lack of 

 detailed technical knowledge on the part of those to whom 

 they are submitted. He suggests that these difficulties 

 might be minimized, and the information made readily 

 accessible even to those having but slight technical training, 

 if steps were taken to abstract from the lengthy main 

 reports of the factories, the principal figures on which the 

 working of a factory may be judged. He mentions some 

 of the salient items. 



He further suggests that the information contained in 

 these abstracts will find more ready application in the 

 managing offices if comparisons are continuously made 

 between the figures so recorded for any company's factory, 

 and the similar figures collated in respect of various other 

 factories, so as to enable comparisons to be made at once, 

 and with the minimum of effort. 



Instances ate given of such abstracted reports, and of 

 the comparisons which may be readily drawn from them 

 •without abstruse calculation of any marked technical 

 knowledge. 



We need hardly remind our readers that this method of 

 working has been made free use of in the case of the pioneer 

 central sugar factories at Antigua and St. Kitts, abstracts 

 from the working-sheets of which, and deductions drawn there- 

 from, have frequently appeared in the publications of this 

 Deparimeni, the Directors o£ these factories holding that it is 

 to the general advaniige of the West Indian sugar industry as 

 a whole thus to circulate knowledge. It may be added that 

 this advantage might be widened, if the Directors of other 

 concerns were to adopt a similar policy, and to put forward 

 the main features of their factory control sheets for 

 the information of their colleagues. 



It may be unneces.sary to refer to the very full and valuable 

 information along these lines which is regularly furnished by 

 the great sugar-producing countries, such as Java, Hawaii, 

 and otl ers. These instances afford precedents which might 

 well be followed to a greater extent than at present by our 

 British West Indian factory owners. 



rice-factory in Georgetown. In the Report of the West 

 Indian Royal Commission issued towards the end of 1897, 

 was the following: — 



'Rice to the value of £180,000 was imported in 1895-6 

 for consumption in the Colony. Rice of excellent quality is 

 already grown in British Guiana, and every effort should be 

 made to produce locally all that is wanted of this article.' 



Whilst in the Dr. Morris's Subsidiary Report was the 

 following: — 



'There can be no doubt as to the decided opinion which 

 prevails that rice growing is a most promising industry on 

 the coast lands of British Guiana. The cultivation so far 

 has been undertaken on comparatively small areas by coolies, 

 and with very crude appliances for threshing and husking the 

 grain. Recently a loan has been sanctioned by the Govern- 

 ment for erecting and working one or more rice factories 

 where the rice could be milled and prepared at a small cost 

 for local consumption. The present cost of husking rice by 

 hand-pounding in mortars is estimated at 3.f. 6r/. per bag. 

 At well-equipped mills this could be done at a cost of about 

 l.f. 6</. per bag. It is confidently anticipated that as soon 

 as mills are established a great impetus will be given to rice 

 growing all over the colony.' 



The progress of the rice industry since 1884 is shown in 

 the following statement: — 



RICE CULTIVATION IN BRITISH 

 GUIANA. 



In continuation of observations in the last issue of 

 this Journal with reference to the Presidential Address 

 of Professor Harrison, C.M.»;., M.A., to the Royal Agri- 

 cultural and Commercial .Society, British (Juiana, the 

 following particulars regarding the progress of the rice 

 ndustry of that Colony since \HM are appended: — 



Among the i:i08t striking, if not the most striking, of 

 the agricultural developments in the We.st Indian Province 

 during the twenty-one years which have elajised since lt'97 

 has been the verj- extensive rice industry of British Guinna. 

 In 1 897 one of the most important steps ever Uken with 

 regard to that industry was completed by the erection, by 

 the aid of a Government loan, of the pioneer large-scale 



<JUIN<)1'KKNTAL I'F.RIODS. 



Periods. 



No. of acres, 

 British, reaped. 



1884-88 (about) 2,500 

 1889-93 ., 2,-500 

 1894-98 „ 7.490 



ism 0,500 



1899-1903 „ 15,020 



1904-8 „ 29,500 



1909-13 „ .37,750 



1914, 1915 



and 1916 (3 



years only) 50,270 



1917 VS,o80 



The statement verifies in * most striking manner the 

 views of the Royal Commission and of their able colleague 

 and adviser. Sir Daniel -Morris; 32,000,000 lb. imported in 

 1896; 32,000,000 exported in 1917. 



The area under rice cultivation in 1896-7 was about 

 6,.500 British acres, yielding paddy equal to about 4,000 tons 

 of cleaned rice, in value about £48,000 or $230,000, whilst 

 in 1917 not less than 63,580 acres were reaped, yielding 

 paddy equal to about 45,000 tons of commercial rice, having 

 a value in normal times of at least £,540,000 or f 2,600,000 



The yields of rice in the colony vary very greatly; for 

 instance, on eropoldered lands with satisfactory facilities for 

 irrigation and drainage, the crops may be from 20 to 28 

 bags (of 140-150 lb.) of paddy, the average yields on these 

 lands being 25 bags per acre; on non-empoldered lands with 

 fair irrigation, the yields ire from 16 to 20 bags of paddy per 

 acre, whilst on poor and unsuitable lands with defective 

 irrigation, or with no means of irrigation, and dependent 

 solely on the rainfall, the yields are only from 8 to 14 bags 

 per acre. Over the whole colony the average yields are from 

 18 to 23 bags per acre per crop, the yields being governed by 

 the characteristics of the seasons. 



In some distiicts, more especially in North- East Esse- 

 quebo, where fa;ilities for irrigation and drainage are excep- 

 tionally favourable, two crops per iinnuin are usually reaped. 

 On the best empoldered lands the two crops yield a total of 



