"Vol. XIII. Xo. 308. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XEWS. 



57 



The trade in German West Africa, according to 

 Tl<e Board of Trade Journal for January 8, 1914, 

 (from which most of these facts have been obtained) 

 surt'ered greatly by reason of the general shortage of 

 ready money. It will be remembered that a Govern- 

 ment agricultural bank has recently been started in 

 ■German West Africa: this will help the larger farmers 

 to extend opei-atioiis, especially in respect lo irrigation 

 schemes, and it will also provide an opportunity for 

 enabling the small owners to finance themselves by 

 means of co-operative societies. During the year under 

 review, e.xperiments have been made in the exportation 

 of frozen meat and butter, but not much headway is 

 re]iorted to have been made. 



The trade of German East Africa has been good. 

 The export trade was satisfactory on account of the 

 good crops and prevailing prices. Growers of sisal 

 hemp have had a very prosperous year, and it has 

 become more and more evident that this variety of 

 hem]i can be grown ])rofitably in (ierman East Africa. 



Lastly in regard to Samoa Islands, the copra 

 yield was similar to last years in amount, but the pro- 

 duction of cacao was larger. Labour conditions were 

 somewhat better but, as The Board of Trade -/"iir- 

 Tial points out, the development of the German 

 colonies is closely bound up with the solution of the 

 labour question, inasmuch as there is not yet suttlcient 

 native labour to meet existing re^iuirements. 



Importation of Sugar into Great Britain, 1913. 



The Chamber of Commerc Journal ('I'rade 

 Keview for January 1914) points out that in 1912 the 

 imports of raw sugar into Great ISritain consisted of 

 cane sugar to the extent of about 70 per cent.: but 

 during 1913 the proportion fell to .ibout 50 per cent. 

 'A notable feature has been the sudden expansion of 

 the demand for raw cane sugar from eastern markets. 

 This was accentuated by the failure of the crop in 

 Formosa, necessitating imports from Java by Japan, 

 but there appears to be no doubt that the capacity of 

 those markets to absorb cane sugar is steadily increasing 

 and creates a new situation which it may be necessary 

 to reckon with in the future. During the year not a 

 single cargo of Java sugar has been imported into 

 Great Britain, and the failure of this important source 

 of supply has added to the already sufficiently great 

 difficulties of the refining trade 



It will be remembered that on September 1, I9l:S, 

 Great Britain withdrew from the sugar convention. 

 f In chronicling the end of this participation the 

 <l'hamher if Commerce Journal points out: 'it should 

 be noted that, while the average price of 88 per cent, 

 beet for the period of ten years priur to the conclusion 

 of the convention in 1902 was lOx. \d. per cwt. f. o. b. 

 Hamburg, the average price during the last twelve 

 months of the convention, which expired on September 

 1, 1913 was only "s. 8|r?. per cwt. This fact appears 

 to afford strong supporD of the position maintained by 

 the Chamber that the abandonment of the artificial 

 economic conditions existing prior to the convention 

 has not increased the cost to the consumer: and that 



the periods of high values which have taken place 

 since the convention came into force and which are 

 incident to every article of produce, have been 

 oocasioned entirely by crop failures.' 



Trinidad and Agricultural Banks. 



At a recent meeting of the Savanah Grande 

 District Agricultural Society, the acting Director of 

 Agriculture <Mr. Freeman) spoke at some length on 

 the subject of the establishment of co-operative crediti 

 societies in Trinidad. After referring to the brightj 

 prospects which lie before the movement in St. Vincent) 

 (which has been frequently referred to in this journal) 

 the acting Director discussed progress which had been 

 made in Western Europe and in India. It was 

 suggested that the St. X'incent scheme should be 

 carefully studied in relation to social conditions obtain- 

 ing in Trinidad, and it was pointed out that what the 

 Government wanted to know was what are the difficul- 

 ties which have for so long prevented a scheme from 

 w-orking in Trinidad. 



His Kxceliency the (Jovernor, in the course of his 

 address, expressed the opinion that he thought a crediti 

 scheme was not a Government question, but one for the 

 people of the island; it was a scheme for the people 

 themselves to work out and to make their own special 

 property. In continuation. His Excellency intimated 

 that, provided the people could produce sufficient; 

 evidence to show that a practicable scheme was work- 

 able, the Government would be quite willing to assist; 

 in .1 practical manner. 



The report from which the above information 

 has been abstracted appeared in the Trinidad 

 Mirror (January lo, 1914). A further article on 

 the subject appeared in the same paper for January 

 17. From this, it would appear that the Agri- 

 cultural Society is getting into close contact with 

 the District Agricultural Societies, and in the 

 course of the next few months it may be expected 

 that a definite scheme will be placed before the 

 (.Joverniuenc. As pointed out in the last issue of 

 Aijricidtxiral News, the action which has now been 

 taken in the form of personal contact between officials 

 and the people is the quickest and undoubtedly the 

 most likely way of attempting to put co-operative 

 credic on a satisfactory footing in Trinidad. 



Lime Cultivation in the West Indies. 



In reviewing the Imperial Department's Pamphleti 

 bearing the above title, the Gardener's Chronkii 

 (January 10, 1914) refers to the useful activities in 

 promoting the welfare of the islands by the regular 

 publication of the West India/n Bulletin and the 

 Afjriculturid Neivs. The Lime Pamphlet under 

 consideration is reviewed at considerable length, and 

 is regarded as containing not only much practical 

 matter, bun also information that should prove inoer- 

 esting to the general reader. 



