Vol. XIII. No. 327 



THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



35-3 



Annual Reports, but tht- time ha.s come when the 

 work should be taken up on a larger and more inten- 

 sive scale with the support of the actual producers, who 

 should evince a definite desire to improve the 

 conditions of their colonies, b}- showing how to make 

 the utmost of such facilities as they po.ssess. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



PRODUCTION OF SUGAR IN INDIA. 



In connexion with the supply of sugar during the 

 uc.xt few years, and in view of the importance of the 

 question fi-om a West Indian standpoint, the following 

 notice of the position of the Sugar Industry in India, 

 taken from The Board of Trade Journal, October 1, 

 1914, will be of interest:^- 



The ])ro(luLtif)n of wliite sugiir in India lias been 

 a matter of .serious .study both by tlie Government of India 

 and the Ijocid f loveniinents, and as a result of the meeting 

 of the Board of Agriculture held at Pusa in 1911, progre.ss 

 has been made on the following line.s: — 



A sugar engineer has been appointed, and ha.s been 

 attached to the Agrieultural Department in the United 

 Provinces. He has set up a 100-ton factory at Pilibliit, 

 which has had a .satisfactory year's working, and he has given 

 technical advice regaiding the erection of two central 

 factories for the Gorakhpui' district: he has also advised on 

 several projects for the starting of similar schemes in other 

 districts of the I iiited Provinces. Farms have been opened 

 at Nawabganj and Shahjehanpur in the United Provinces, 

 and one in the Tirhoot Division of Bihar, for the introduc- 

 tion, survey, and testing of new canes. In Burma a sugar- 

 cane experiment station has been ojjened in the area com- 

 manded by the Mon canal. In the Kanu'up district of 

 As.sam im{)ortant work has been done in locating and survey- 

 ing .several blocks of 10,000 acres suitable for sugar-cane, 

 and on a portion of this area a preliminary experiment is 

 being undertaken by the Local Government in the growth 

 of cane with the aid of steam tackle, with the object of 

 encouraging enterprise on a large scale. A block of 4,632 

 acres of land in the Central Provinces has been leased to 

 a t'awnpore gentleman with a view to the formation of 

 a company, and a cane-breeding station for the production 

 of new canes has been started at Goindiatore. The first year's 

 work resulted in over 2,000 new seedling canes being selected. 



In Bihar eight central factories have in recent years 

 been erected, with a crushing capacity of some 24,000 tons 

 of cane a day. The erection of two or more factories is in 

 contemplation. At Bubnowly, in the Gorakhptu- district of 

 the United Provinces, on the borders of Bihar, a central 

 factory has been .^et tip with a capacity of from 400 to 

 600 tons. The production of sugar in Bihar is paying, and 

 an extension of the industry is likely, conditions in this tract 

 being favourable to the development of the central factory 

 .system. The sugar-cane crop of India in 1913 gave a yield 

 of nearly 2,600,000 tons, to which the production of j)alm 

 sugar, estimated at 480,000 tons should be added; the 

 tone sugar crop compri.ses about a qiiarter of the world's 

 Ciine crop of 9, -500,000 tons 



CANE SUGAR'S OPPORTUNITY. 



One ett'ect of the [n-esent war, which nuist greatlj' affect 

 the West Indies, is the partial paralysis of the beet sugar 

 industry on the Clontinent of Europe. According to the 

 International Sinjar Journal , September 1914, it is a forgone 

 conclusion that this year's beet campaign in Europe will be 

 very restricted. In Belgium there can be none. The part 

 of France, where the beet sugar industry chiefly flouri.shes, 

 is the theatre of war; so that France will hardly have any 

 sugar available for export. In Germany and Austria, though 

 most of this year's ci-op may not be destroyed by an invading 

 army, yet considering the huge drain their army drafts must 

 make upon available labour, it is likely that they too will only 

 be able to fill their home markets; and even if there be a sur- 

 plus it would be difficult to place it on the world's markets 

 without great risk of capture. It may be noted, however, 

 that Dr. Prin.sen Geerligs, in the Louisiana Planter 

 (September 26) writes from Holland to the effect that 

 Germany may have a large surplus which, if not export- 

 ed, is likely to deteriorate owing to the difficulties of 

 storage due to the scarcity of bags consequent on army 

 requirements, and the prohibition of the importation into 

 Germany of jute. 



Consid(;ring that the abovementioned countries, 

 according to the International Sugar Journal, accounted 

 for 1,366,947 tons of the total of 2,1.36,190 tons 

 sugar imported into the United Kingdom in 1913, it is 

 evident that the other beet-sugar exporting countries of 

 Europe can hardly make up the deficiency. WTiether 

 Holland will di.spose of her surplus to Germany is still a mat- 

 ter of conjecture, while verj- little of Italian sugar comes to 

 England even if there is much to come. Russia alone is left, 

 and her output, even supjiosing that the war conditions allow 

 of the full harvesting and manufacture of her beet crop, 

 cannot go very far in filling up the deficiency, apart from 

 the difliculties of being able to ship her prodnce from the 

 Black 8ea. It is clear then that the United Kingdom will 

 have to depend during the war on the world's supply of 

 cane sugar. That the Government is aware of this fact is 

 shown by the steps they have taken. They have purchased 

 100,000 tons of Mauritius white sugar; they have arranged 

 that Briti-sh Guiana shall supply them between now and 

 Christmas with 60,000 tons; and it is stated that they have 

 also purchased 250,000 tons of -lava and 60,000 tons of 

 .lamaica sugar. Further, a Eoyal Commission on Sugar 

 Supplies has been appointed, whose task is to find out the 

 best means of keeping up the stock of sugar during the war. 



Now this paralysis of the beet sugar industry on the 

 Continent nmst evidently prove the best opportiHiity of 

 strengthening the position of cane sugar in the markets of 

 the world that has occuired for many a year. Even if 

 the continental producers are able to resume their output 

 in 191-5, it will be no easy task for all of them to regain the 

 British market. And the more protracted their enforced 

 inability, the harder will be the task. It is therefore proba- 

 ble that a new arrangement of the sources of sugar supply 

 will follow the war. The nature of this re-arrangement ^vill 

 depend largely on those who make the most of this oppor- 

 tunity. Another factor in the re-arrangement of sources* of 

 sugar supply acting for the benefit of the cane-growing 

 tropical colonies, may he 'Imperial Co-operation'. The gifts 

 of cane sugar to the Imperial Government by several of the 

 West Indian colonies and by Mauritius may help to foster 

 this sentiment to their lasting benefit. 



