March i, 1884.J 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



677 



$ojlt;6spondenc0. 



To the Editor of the Ceylon Observe?-. 

 CULTIVATION AND LABOUK IN FIJI. 



Fiji, 7th January 1884. 



Deae Sie, — Since writing to you last I have made a 

 short tour to Viti Levu, haring a look at the coffee and 

 sugar, both on the Xavua and Rewa rivers. The former 

 cultivation has made but littie progress since I last visited 

 the Navua, 4 years ago. The latter has made great strides 

 on both rivers and seems very flourishing. Under their 

 proper headings, I will say what I think of both industries. 



Coffee. — In Taviuui. Our crops will again be short, owing 

 principally to exceedingly wet weather throughout the year. 

 The rainfall, particulars of which later on, was 183 inches 

 during the year hero, I am referring to an estate 1,000 ft. 

 above sea 'level, situatetl on the north end of the island. 

 Leaf-disease also paid us a visit, but did not do so much 

 damage as on the previous occasion. My and my neigh- 

 bours' colfee is also just now sufiVring from ' black leaf , ' 

 so, taken altogether, our prospects for this season are not 

 very promising. In yoiu: issue of October 30th last, I see 

 A. E. AV. has been having a rap at me, re ' black leaf,' 

 leaf-disease, labour, and crops. He clearly makes out 

 to his own satisfaction, that his estate is so admir- 

 tfbly situated, that it possesses au immunity from 

 black leaf, leaf-disease, and also gives such crops as to enable 

 him to write, *' I should not wish to see the trees bear 

 more heavily ihan they do." I am glad, for A. K. Ws 

 sake, he is so easily satisfied, and I sincerely trust his 

 trees will bear so heavily, as to enable him to retire 

 soon. Of course others may differ from A. R. W., and 

 I am cne of them. Although I have not seen his estate 

 sutferiug from black leaf, I have seen it with leaf-disease 

 and veri/ hudhj, let me add. As for crops, I 'm afraid, A.K.W. 

 does not yet know what a good crop is like : wait till he 

 gets 10 cvvt. or even 7 cwt. or 8 cwt. on his trees before 

 he writes about not wishing them to bear more heavily 

 than they do. 



On the Navua. ^No extension worth speaking of h;'.s 

 been made to the two estates on this river. The coffee 

 looks vigorous, but has not much crop on. I noticed signs 

 of the black leaf on both plantations, but nothing to signify 

 much. The season there seems to have been as unfavour- 

 able as ours was here, the rainfall being excessive. A 

 good dry coming season would make these places bear 

 well. I should say. I did not hear of anyone else going 

 in for coffee cultivation. There 's a coffee estate far up 

 the Eewa River, but I had uot time to visit it. 



Suf/ai: — On the Kavua. — What used to be grass and "vico" 

 land, i c, wild cane or reed land, four years ago when I 

 was last there, is now nearly one large expanse of fine 

 cane, growing and looking well, with no disease. Exten- 

 sious are still the order of the day, and in a short time a 

 large acreage will be planted up. The work is well done, 

 and good substantial buildings are and have been erected ; 

 one mill has been built and ought to be crushing by this 

 time, another is coming out, and there 's some talk of a 

 third being put up shortly. 



Oq the Eewa. — Greater strides have taken place here 

 than on the Navua, owing to the large mill erected by 

 the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. This Company is 

 said to have spent some £300,000 already, so this will 

 give you an idea of what their establishment is hke. A 

 former Ceylon planter was sub-manager of the mill when 

 I was up there, and, as I stayed with him, I had every 

 opportunity of seeing everything, and fortunately it was 

 their busiest time, working night and day, so I saw all 

 that was to be seen in and around the mill. It is a great 

 undertaking and well worth visiting. The managers' billets 

 there are no sinecures, I can tell you. Their work during 

 the season is very arduous and they occupy very respons- 

 ible positions. The expected outturn this season was 5,.50U 

 tons sugar. This will be greatly augmented next season, 

 as they are just iloubling their crushing power, which 

 will then make their mill one of the, if not the, largest 

 cane mill in the world. The mill employs a great number 

 of whites and blacks, about 1,000 altogether. Owing to 

 there being a resthouse close by, where the whites can 

 buy liquor, rows often take place amongst the labourers 

 and cause a deal of trouble. A white employee was 

 liivudttul the Uaj I was (hei«, fii^mv FijiaBs were arrestiy 



and, I hear, have since. acknowledged having committed the 

 crime. The Navua proprietors are very lucky in this re- 

 spect. There 's no place on that river where white em- 

 ployees can procure liquor, consequently, there are but 

 few disturbances and the men work regularly. A large 

 extent of country has been planted up in the Eewa with 

 cane. The Company themselves have purchased a large 

 acreage and are planting on their own account, and the 

 planters are also under contracts to supply the mill with 

 eane, at the rate of 10s a ton delivered into the Com- 

 pany's punts. A lot of the planters told me they ;;were get- 

 ting from 'iO up to 60 tons off some of their fields. The 

 latter returu was off two or three good fields and must 

 not be taken as an average over the estate. The aver- 

 age, as far as I could ascertain, over the whole river was 

 a little less than 30 tons, about 28 tons per acre. This is 

 without manure. All the planters seem to be dissatisfied 

 with the IDs per ton. AVhat they say is this: "When 

 we entered into contracts, laboiu: was very much cheaper 

 and more plentifid than it is now, and we had a fair 

 mar-gin left for profit ; now, even if we get good crops, 

 labom- is so scarce and dear, that it is almost impossible 

 to make any profit at all," so they want the Company 

 to pay them more. Whether the Company will do so 

 remains to be seen, but I shouM say they will turn round 

 and say : " No, a bargain 's a bargain, wait till you have 

 completed yoiu- contracts and then we '11 enter into the 

 question of an increase in the price per ton of cane." 

 There 's no doubt that at the present price the Company 

 will make money hand over fist, but it is at the planters' 

 loss, and how long will the latter be able to carry on. 

 The question which will arise will be : "Will it bo better 

 to pay the planters a little more and get them to go on 

 planting and supplying the mill with cane, or, shall we 

 let them rip, and plant cane for ourselves on our or their 

 land if we have to buy it !" The same Company intended 

 erecting a mill on the Ba, another part of Viti Levu, but 

 owing to a dispute about the land this is in abeyance. 

 In Taviuni. — The cane looks well and is giving fair re- 

 turns. Jlr. Hedges' mill at Vuna is crushing away and 

 turning out very good sugar. A large e.vlent of tramway 

 is being laid down in the estate to facilitate the trans- 

 port of the cane. Up to the present the difliculty ex- 

 experienced in getting the cane down has been 

 great, and crushing has been retarded in consequence. 

 Mr. H. has resumed the management of the property. 

 Other parts. — A mil! has just been completed on one of the 

 Windward Islands, and I hear a Company has been formed 

 to put up a large one in Vanua Levu and another Com- 

 pany, a smaller one, on the Navu. 



Tea. — I have been manufacturing small quantities here, 

 and the tea seems to be liked. There's a local demand 

 for it, and all we can make goes at present to supply 

 that demand. I should much like to get hold of a book or 

 pamphlet containing information, of cheap machinery, 

 viz., rollers and drying-off apparatus capable of turning 

 out small quantities of tea. Do you know of any cheap 

 and suitable machinery capable of rolling, and making, 

 say 2O0 n> dry tea a day, without going in for expensive 

 Siroccos, etc. ? We have no disease amongst the tea as 

 yet that I know of. 



Weather for the last year has been horrible. The year 

 not only set in very rainy, but it continued raining more 

 or lessthroughout the year, destroying our coffee blossoms. 

 The rainfall, as I mentioni-d before, was 183 against 110 the 

 previous year, and greatly exceeded the one before that again. 

 North Taviuni. — Eainfall and temperature for 1883. Elev- 

 ation 1 ,000 feet above the sea : — Temperatm-e. 



Month. Rainfall. 6a.ni, Noon. 



January ... 28'17 73 81 



February ... 2875 73 79 



March ... 21 -89 74 82 



April ... 5-33 71 83 



May ... 4-95 m 80 



June ... 13-66 69 78 



July ... 12-86 70 79 



August ... 9-50 69 78 



September ... 4-36 71 83 



October ... 16'06 70 82 



November ... 16-70 72 85 



December ... 20-88 74 84 



183-H Av. 71 Av. 81 



