354 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



No\KMm:n 25, 1905. 



In consequence, shippers entleavonred to send 

 as many bunches as they could by the 'Tagus' and 

 'Trent' and now also by the 'Orinoco,' because they 

 were fitted with cold-storage chambers. If, however, 

 owing to the fact that the Royal Mail Company was 

 directly interested in the new fruit industry at Trinidad, 

 the steamers came to Barbados with their cool 

 chambers more or less filled, the result woidd be that 

 Barbados fruit would be shut out, and if placed in 

 ordinary holds the fruit would spoil. The growers had 

 per.severingly worked up iho industry for three years, 

 they selected and packed the fruit with great care, and 

 they were certain that, with suitable transport 

 acconHno<lation, it would prove a paying one. Failing 

 nn assurance from the Chairman that the company 

 would set apart a definite amount of space for Barbados 

 bananas, they desired to know whether the British 

 West Indian Fruit Co., Ltd., would be prepared to 

 buy the bananas locally, and at what price. 



In replying, Mr. Uwen Philipps expressed his 

 pleasure at meeting so repre.sentative a gathering ot 

 banana griiweis. He said that the matters that ha<l 

 been laid before him wo\dd receive the consideration 

 that such weighty representations deserved. The 

 space available on the mail steamers for carrying- 

 bananas was limited. It was, theretbre, the company's 

 intention, while utilizing some of the space for fruit 

 from Trinidad and some of the other islands, to aflurd 

 Barbados as large a share as possible. 



With regai'd to the rumour mentioned by 

 Mr. Clarke that the transatlantic passenger steamers 

 might cease to call at Barbados?, Mr. Philipps assured 

 the deputation that such a matter had never been 

 under consideration. The British West Indian Fruit 

 Co., Ltd., which was a subsidiary company of the 

 Roj'al JIail Steam ]\xcket (_"o., did not intend to limiL 

 its operations to Trinidad, and it would be prepared to 

 consider proposals for handling the fi'uit from Barbados. 

 He thought the most satisfactory way would be for 

 the company to lay before the deputation definite 

 proposals, for communication to the growers, who could 

 then consider the suggestions and see whether 

 arrangements could be ari'ived at satisfactory to 

 both parties. 



The Royal Mail Co. was prepared at once to fit 

 Hall's cold-storage system on the remaining mail 

 steamers and on three of the new cargo boats within 

 about six months or less. In each of the latter they 

 would provide from 1,000 to l,.50O tons of refrigerated 

 space. He repeated his pi-omise to reserve a fair 

 amount of acconmiodation on the pi'esent mail 



steamers for Barbados fruit, but what the exact 

 amount of space woidd be, he could not state until he 

 ha<l had an opportunity ol going fully into the matter. 



In reply to a vote of thanks for his courtesy in 

 discussing with the deputation the points put forward, 

 Jlr. Philipps said it had given him much plcasiu'e to 

 meet th(^ deputation, as it was important that every 

 advantage should be taken of opportunities for 

 discussing and removing difficulties. The banana 

 industr}' at Barbados, he was convinced, was one that 

 could be carried on profitably. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



Fiji. 



The following information in regard to the sugar 

 industry in Fiji is extracted from an article in the 

 I lUimuilional Sikjcv Journal: — 



Great improvciuents have been effected in the Fiji mills, 

 and most of them have been rebuilt several times over to 

 keep their machinery up-to-date, and tlie whole generally in 

 the line of progre.ss. The addition of two extra roller.s to 

 the tlu'ee in use in the first mills, and the substitution of the 

 nine -roller mill for the latter, effected an approximate saving 

 of 20 [ler cent, in juice extraction. More recently still, 

 twelve roller mills have been installed, and improved chop- 

 [ling and slu-edding apparatus and hot water maceration have 

 also cut off substantial losses. 



If the methods of growing in vogue in the Fiji sugar 

 lields were as advanced as those of milling, the industry 

 would be an infinitely more lucrative one. As it is, the 

 acreage productions and the net profit per acre are but 

 a fraction of those obtained in Hawaii, in spite of the fact 

 that the planters of the latter islands )iay three and four 

 times as much for labour no more ofticient than that 

 employed liy the Fijian planter. With far more surface 

 water to draw from, and with coal nmch cheaper for pumping, 

 should that be necessary, irrigation in Fiji, as compared 

 with Hawaii, is but little practised. Nor has .scientific 

 fertilization in Fiji been brought to the point it should 

 have. Hence it is that her planters have had, so far, to 

 content themselves with a maximum acreage production 

 barely in excess of ."> tons, the value of which, saj-, 

 £50, is .£10 less than the average sum exiiended on each 

 acre of one of the big Hawaiian plantations for fertilization 

 and irrigation alone. How well this latter expenditure is 

 justified is shown by the fact that the average acreage 

 IH'oduction of the plantation in question is 10] tons, with 

 a maxinnuii production of 16 tons to the acre on the best 

 land. 



In Fiji the custom of ' ratooning ' (leaving the field to 

 a volunteer growth from the old root) for a luunlier of 

 successive seasons — a procedure also in vogue in Queens- 

 land — is not in line with the best Hawaiian practice. There, 

 if a ' ratoon ' field is not deenicd capable of producing 

 30 tons of cane (the equivalent of .3 or 4 tons of sugar) to 

 the acre, it is torn up, and ' plant ' set out. This is more 

 e.xijensive of course, but it has been ju>tified by its success. 



