ToL. IV. No. 73. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



29 



WEST INDIAN PRODUCTS. 



Drugs and Spices in the London Market. 



The following report, dated December 8, 1904, on 

 the position of drugs and spices on the London market, 

 has been furnished by Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S. : — ■ 



The dullness of tlie drug sales that has prevailed so long 

 appears to have become chronic, and there seems at present 

 very little prospect of any change for the better. Indeed, 

 with the Christmas season close upon us, we can scarcely 

 •expect much attention to be given to drugs until trade 

 .settles down again into its normal channels after the holidays. 

 For the moment, at the approach of Christmas, more business 

 would naturally be e.\i)ected in the spice trade, but at these 

 sales nothing worthy of comment has occurred. In short, 

 the Mincing Lane trade generally during the month has been 

 very inactive ; the chief point of interest indeed was the 

 rise in the price of sugar which has entirel}' taken possession 

 ■of the minds, not only of those immediately connected with 

 the trade, but also of the consumer generally. For the 

 moment sugar is the all-absorbing topic which, when the 

 British taxpayer has had his grumble, will subside and the 

 ■extra h-J- P^i' Ih- whicli is now being charged in the retail 

 trade, will be paid as cheerfidly as the lower figure has 

 been hitherto. Considering the spice trade first, we record 

 the following figures connected with it. 



The month of November opened with the sale on the 

 2nd. with the ofiering of about 200 packages of Jamaica and 

 about 700 packages of Cochin and Calicut. Of the former, 

 61 parcels of .Jamaica were sold at prices from 29s. to 

 3L«. Gd. per cwt. for common to good common ; and the 

 whole of the other offerings were bought in. A week later, 

 the supplies offered were very small, no .Jamaica being 

 amongst them, and 17 bags oidy of Cochin meeting with 

 purchasers at '20s. for small and medium washed-rough. 

 On the 16th. a quiet tone still prevailed and still no 

 Jamaica was offered ; privately it was stated that fine 

 i]ualities were scarce, notwithstanding that there were large 

 stocks, which consisted chiefly of middling qualities com- 

 manding prices from 31s. Qd. to 32s. Of 690 bags of 

 Cochin offered 150 sold, including fair brown Calicut, 2\s. ; 

 ;ind wormy washed, 1 7s. ; good native cut being bought in 

 at 40s. On the 23rd., again no Jamaica was offered, but 

 a small quantit}' of unassorted cut Cochin sold at IGs. On 

 the 30th., being of course the last sale of the month, out of 

 1-56 barrels of Jamaica offered, 86 were disposed of at the 

 following rates : — Fair bright, 37s. ; fair common, 30s. ; and 

 common, 27s. to 29s. The small quantities of Cochin and 

 Calicut offered did not meet with purchasers. 



SAESAPAEILLA. 



At the drug auction on November 10, 19 bales of 

 grey Jamaica were offered and sold for Is. 2(7. per lb. 

 without consideration of quality; 11 packages of native 

 Jamaica were shown, but no public sale was effected; 9d. 

 per ffi). was the price asked for fair medium native red, and 

 lO-J-ci was obtained for 8 bales of coarse lean and chumpy 

 Lima Jamaica. On the 2-l:th. grey Jamaica sold at about Id. 

 per ft), cheaper; 24 bales of Lima .Jamaica were offered and 10 

 were sold, for medium coarse and part chumpy lOld. being 

 realized; 7 Ijales of native Jamaica were also offered, but 

 were bought in at S'7. to Shd. iov ordinary dull red. At the 

 same sale ll'i. per lb. was realized for one seron of Honduras. 



AREOWKOOT. 



On November 4, at the since auction, 4(1 barrels of good 

 manufacturing St. Vincent were disposed of at l\d. per lb. 

 On the 16th., a very large number of packages of St. Vincent 

 were offered only 10 of which, 'Rex' brand, sold at 3d., while 

 at the same auction 8 kegs of Bermuda were disposed of at 

 Is. od. per lb. On the 23rd., fair manufacturing realized lid. 

 per ft), and sold to the extent of 20 barrels, while at the last 

 auction, on the 30tli., all the offerings were bought in. 



KOLA NUTS. 



Throughout the month kola nuts have maintained 

 a steady price. In the middle of the month West Indian 

 were quoted at 'id. to 3hd., and at the same sale some extra 

 bold, bright washed sold at 4i</., some rather darker in 

 colour at 4(7., and some slightly mouldy 3d. per Bb. On the 

 23rd., some small lots of West Indian were sold at the same 

 rates as those quoted above, viz., 3d. to 3i(/., and 6 packages 

 of small to liold bright West Indian were disposed of at 3^f?., 

 and dullish at 3(7. to 3\d. Two bags of good small West 

 African from St. Thome were also sold at 3d. per B). 



PIMENTO, NUTMEGS, MACE, ETC. 



Of pimento there was a good supply throughout 

 the month and only a quiet demand, prices being 

 fairly steady at 2|(?. to 2hd. for fair ; 2g(7. for greyish, and 

 2}(7. for ordinary mixed. On the last day of the month 

 a slightly firmer tone prevailed, the quantity disposed of 

 being 270 bags. 



Nutmegs and mace had both a quiet steady sale through 

 the month, the former commanding somewhat lower rates than 

 in the previous month. At the last auction about 500 

 packages of West Indian were sold at from about i'7. to 1<7. 

 per tt). less than previous rates, owing to the condition being 

 wormy, and a large proportion consisting of long nuts. 



At the commencement of the month there was only 

 a steady demand for mace, at the sale on the 16th., however, 

 a good sufiply of West Indian was disposed of at fair prices, 

 including Is. 9(7. for fine pale. On the 30th., the following 

 were the quotations for 70 packages of \Vent Indian: good 

 liold pale, Is. 6(7. ; fair. Is. 3d. to Is. id. ; ordinary, Is. 2d., 

 and }]ld. to Is. 1(/. for pickings. 



Of other piroducts of West Indian origin, 3 cases of 

 distilled lime oil were offered and sold at Is. 3(7. per lb. and 

 2 tins of good quality papaw juice from Slontserrat were 

 bought in at 10s. per lb., 5s. being refused. 



CARRIACOU LAND SETTLEME3NT SCHEME. 



The following note on the Land Settlement Scheme 

 at Carriacou appeared in the Board of Trade Journal 

 of December 22, 1904:— 



Adverting to the notice published in the Board of Trad.i; 

 Jdurtial of January 29, 1903, respecting a scheme for the 

 establishment of peasant proprietors in Carriacou, the report 

 on Grenada for the year 1903 states that so far, at all events, 

 it may be claimed that the scheme has been a complete 

 success, and with it a new era has opened for Carriacou. On 

 October 1, 1904, an Ordinance came into operation which 

 constitutes Carriacou and the adjacent islets (the largest of 

 which, Petit ilartinicjue, has a thriving community of about 

 900 souls) a district of the colon}', and vests its local 

 administration in a Resident Commissioner. The first holder 

 of this office, Mr. G. AVhitfield Smith, besides possessing 

 considerable practical experience in the West Indies, has the 

 advantage of special training in the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, of which he was for some years the Travelling 

 Superintendent. 



