Vol. \I\. Xn. 336. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 





SUGAR AND THE WAR. 



Some 3troiig points were broughl out by Mr. E. I.'. 



ad re< ently in London before i hi 



\i-t-. on i he subject o Greal Britain sugar 



supplies. The speaker bi y a brief account of 



ipp] nfiuenced bj previous 



continental hostilities, and he I in outline how the 



beet indusl ry oj Europe aros as the outcome of the 



Napoleonic troubles. Following thi> line of thought, the 



■ I the Brussels Co rid its effect upon 



colonial sugar. 



Immediately before the outbreak of the presenl war, 

 7"i [><-i Great Britain's continental imports, or over 



60 per cent, of her total sugar impoi , an Qting in value 



to £15,000,000, came lastyear from Gerj j md Austria. 



quent on the outbreak of hostilities the supplies were 

 so seriously reduced as to result in ri e of prices to an 



extravagant and unjustifiable height by 1 10 per cent. It 



ilp idj been described in the Agricultural News how 



t In- British Government dealt with the situation, and it is 



unnecessary to say anything further in this abstract on this 



part of the subject. But in regard to what practically 



amounted to the 'commandeering' of colonial sugar, we 



casi mablj refei to Mr. Davson's pertinent remai ks. 



To "commandeering" the crops of the Colonial pro- 



. the Government has established the theory that 



producers oi a commodity in the colonies arc liable to 



have their commodity taken over by the Mother Country 



in tiin i This is no bad. theory, but it . seems to 



• that to ensure such sources of supply in 



time of war, we must not neglect them in time of peace.' 



Consideration was given next to the Royal Commission, 

 appointed in 1905, to enquire into the conditions affecting the 

 importation of food and raw material into the United 

 Kingdom in time of war. The deliberations of this Commis- 

 sion were restricted principally to the question of wheal ami 

 cotton. As regards the former, the divided nature of the 

 sources of supply were rightlj considered a point of strength. 

 But in the ease of cotton, 60 per cent, had been coming from 

 one country alone, namely America. The existence of this 

 monopoly of supply was condemned by the Commission. 

 This condemnation is interesting, sin. i at the outbreak of war 

 Great Britain was dependent on CO per cent, of her sugar 

 Supply f rom what, as far as this war is concerned, we may 



call a single foreign source. 



The principal argument expounded in the paper is of 



course the increased production of 3ugai within the Empire. 



Considerable attention is given to tii efforts that have been 



i ;il to - : i i beet industry in England. The lack of 



success -'i i ir has been due, it is believed, to the inability of 



thus,- conce I to start on a sufficiently large scale, 



and to do this, would need considerable Government 



support. Tn the ease of ugai jrown in the Tropics, the 



hing to remember is tha I relopments would 



merely constitute an exten and not fresh initiation as 



in the case of home-grown beet. It is well to bear in 



mind as w.ll though this and the previous point were nol 



,t out in Mr. Davson's paper -that a British home 



industry would lie valuable as creating in England 



and Ireland a g p of people understanding technicalities of 



sugar production in general. 



The spea eded next to tr\ y the various tropi 



>i coun i . Ech are capable of producing more sugar, and 

 Mention was '-ailed to East and well us South 



Africa, Mauritius, and the West [ndies. As pointed out 

 dready in thi Neivs, British East Africa 



imports practically ill it- own sugar. This is a discouraging 



lopmenl of 

 he tropical coloni a apply foi hi homi • - 



Everj thing eon.-- . . ing the proposed I nts 



centres, of coui te, round , a of texal ion. Mr. 1 1 



made a strong point < in ei iiaging 



il cane i ted thai triff alter should 



be allowed to increase the price, but onlj to waive the duty 

 for tin- present on what i- a very small pera n - I Great 

 Britain's supplie I thai as the pi grew 



there would be a continual decrease of re one could 



hope that there would In- a continual increase in wealth, so 

 t hat < In-at Britain would not suffer. 



The reading of the paper was followed bj i I -I liy 



discussions, which spa r dealing with 



here. 1 1 tin wt, we d oduce the foil ■ 



ing me sage senl to the meeting: 'Hope audience will realize 

 that British cane sugaris not mere raw material, but the fin- 

 ished product of the highest agricultural and industrial skill.' 



ST. VINCENT ARROWROOT. 



\ copj has been received of the report and it 'cent ,,f 

 accounts oi the Committee oi Management of the St. Vincent 

 Arrowroot Growers' and E porter Association for the year 

 1914. This contains an i mt of the efforts made to im- 

 prove the position of St. Vincent arrow i on the English 



and Canadian markets. During the earlj pan of the year, 

 a committee, constituted of representatives of leading brokers 

 in London, was appointed with power to grade all 

 ation arrowrool and fix minimum prices, the tandard being 

 Grade E, whose minimum it was hoped might be 



at '■'•]'/. per lb. On account of the low" level oi prices result- 

 ing from a flooded market, it was decided later in th 

 not to increase production in the 191 t 15 crop. It was also 

 then decided to regulate shipments, l>\ - ■ asportation 



of the crop over ten months of the year, each i ship- 



ping not more than one-tenth of his crop per month. It will 

 be commonly known by now that the Association has for some 

 time experienced the difficulty of dealing with the produce of 

 small growers who arc not members. With a view to eliminat- 

 ing this difficulty, affecting not onlj the Association but 

 also the general prosperity of the industry, it is hoped to 

 establish a company to liny up the arrowroot of the non- 



mbers of the Association. The scheme is at present under 



consideration. 



St. Vincent arrowroot has for many years justly main- 

 tained world-wide reputation. Its position, however, has of 

 late been threatened by the appearance on the market of 

 other forms of starch, which arc sold to serve purposes which 



were originally monopolized bj arrowroot. The Association 

 has faced this competition with much vigour and ingenuity, 

 by means of various forms of -ale and advertisement. In 

 the first place, an agreement with wholesale packers in 



( 'anada has been made for the sale of the S lied '\" w\ t i' 



packets of arrowroot. In connexion with this scheme con 

 siderable sums of money have been appropriated for print 

 ing advertising booklets, and furnishing coloured pai 



with labels of an artistic design. A similar effort has 

 been made in the United Kingdom. As well as this. the. 



\ .i Lit ion an. in _ Ji in excellenl li plaj of St. Vincent 

 arrowroot at the Tropical Products Exhibition held in London 

 last July, li is understood that Mr. C. J.Simmon Chair- 

 man of the Managing Committee), while recentlj in London 

 made a careful investigation into the arrnwro.it market 

 conditions, and it is stated that he has devised a new plat 

 which will lie submitted in due course, wherebj it is hoped 

 that the position of St. Vincent in th oot ti ide w il! In-. 



bly benefited, 



