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1*HE TROPK9LL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April i, 1885. 



through the batteries. The juice is boiled in these pans 

 at an intense heat, and the evaporation being great the 

 density of the liquor is increased. In fact, each season 

 some improvement is made in machinery, and competition 

 is becoming so keen that each labour-saving idea represents 

 a monetary interest to the fortunate inventor or adapter. 



Last season it took about 1.620 gallons of juice to make 

 a ton of sugar in the Mackay district, although it has 

 been said that 1,500 gallons has yielded that amount ; but 

 this, to say the least, is a very questionable statement. 

 In Demerara, where there is both the highest cultivation 

 and the most perfect appliances, the average is 1,600 gallons 

 to a ton of sugar. The weight of cane required this season 

 to make a gallon of juice, is from 1,800 lb. to 1,900 lb. 



Mr. Ling Roth, late secretary to the Planters' Associ- 

 ation of Mackay, gives the following comparative table of 

 yields per acre in various sugar-producing countries: — 



From this it will be sun that Queensland cane holds 

 very good place among that of other sugar-growing countries. 

 From .1 uly 1 to December 81, 1883, the export of sugar 

 from Queensland was 16,435 tons. 



About five miles distant from Mackay, on the Nebo 

 road, is the Te Kowai estate, one of the pnineer plant- 

 ation of the district, and portion of the property of the 

 Melbourne and Mackay Sugar Company. This company 

 owns the following estates in the Mackay district besides 

 the one mentioned :— The Palms, about 1,700 acres in area ; 

 Alexandra, about 2,500 acres in area; Peri, about 1,400 

 acres ill area; Branscombe, about 1,430 acres in area; and 

 Nebia, about 1,030 acres in area. These two latter estates 

 are worked as one. Of course these areas do not represent 

 the cane land under cultivation, but only the total extent 

 of land in each estate. At the time of my visit to Te 

 Kowai the mill had just commenced crushing, and the 

 cane drays were bringing in the prod ace. All was bustle. 

 Here, a group of kanakas spreading out the nicgass or 

 carrying it to the furnaces for fuel ; there, a string of 

 boys and " marys " carrying bundles of cane to the mill, 

 where the huge rollers made the cane crackle and crunch 

 like the sound of a discbarge of fireworks. Kanakas, stripped 

 to the waist and in the midst of a cloud of vapour were 

 stirring up the boiling juice in the batteries with long 

 bandied pans. "White men were busy testing the density 

 of the juice, and engaged in all the necessary skilled 

 work of a large sugar-mill in the crushing season. The 

 area of the Te Kowai plantation is 1,574 acres, of which 

 1,059 acres are under cane this year. In addition to the 

 mill there is a rum distillery. Hum distilleries, from what 

 I have seen of them, appear to distil anything that comes 

 in their way. The material they get to work on is the 

 refuse molasses out of which no more sugar can be ob- 

 tained, added to this are. the sweepings generally. Last 

 year the output from the mill was 760 tons of sugar; 

 but it was a very bad season, principally by reason of the 

 want of labour to keep the weeds under. The crop this 

 year, however, looks better. There are 200 kanakas ami 

 about 50 white men employed on the plantation. The 

 kanakas, of course, receive the regulation wage of £6 a 

 year, with rations, clothing, housing, &c. This refers to 

 what are called by their brethren " new chums." P,e-engaged 

 kanakas get about 10s. a week with rations. Then as to 

 white labour, ordinary hands — labourers — receive 20s. a 

 week, ploughmen 25s. a week ; mill bands, such as engineers, 

 from £10 to £13 a month, with double rations, ordinary 

 rations beiug given in every case. Sugar-boilers receive 

 £10, blacksmiths £S, and cooks the same per month. The 

 cost of a white man's rations per week is estimated at 

 10s., and that of the kanakas about half the sum, not 

 including in either case the interest on outlay in houses, &c. 



"The Palms," which was established in 1881, is one 



of the estates of the Melbourne and Mackay Sugar Com- 

 pany. It comprises about;i,700 acres of land, of which area 

 about 1,500 acres are this year under cane. This represents 

 a little larger area than was under crop last year. " The 

 Palms" is noticeable principally for its excellent plant of 

 machinery. Some idea of the amount of money invested 

 in sugar plantations may be gained from the fact that 

 this plant alone at " The Palms," and that not including 

 the. building, which itself cost about £9,000, is valued at 

 about £24,000. The machinery generally is from the house 

 of Mirrless, Tait, and Watson, of filasgow. The principle 

 is that of steam concentration, nothing whatever being 

 boiled over the fires. Previous to the erection of the new 

 plant, the common lime process was used, and half of last 

 year that known as leery, Erhman, and Bernhardt's was 

 worked. Under this latter process, it is calculated that 

 about 90 per cent of the whole product can be turned out 

 in " whites," although this is done at a certain loss in 

 quantity. Nearly the whole of the competition in the 

 Mackay district is in the production of white sugars, rations 

 *eing quite a. secondary consideration. To work the plant 

 there are four boilers, each of 100 horse power. The boiler 

 bouse is separated from the main building, the steam 

 generated being carried across in pipes. The main building. 

 which is a very substantial framework covered with galvan- 

 ised iron, is about 179 feet in length by about 84 in width. 

 The machinery has that bright cleanly appearance which 

 shows care and attention, and is so disposed in the build- 

 ing that tin- engineer has under his eye all the plant 

 directly connected with bis department, and the same is 

 the case with regard to the sugar boilers. There are six 

 centrifugal mills, each making 1,200 revolutions in the 

 minute. An average day's work at this mill would be repre- 

 sented by an output of about 15 tons of sugar, though, 

 as a matter of fact, 20 tons a day have at exceptional 

 times been put through. In connection with the plant- 

 ation there are a number of outbuildings, such as the re- 

 sidence of the manager, Mr. K. E. Donaldson, the houses 

 of the white and coloured labourers, a stable for 72 horses, 

 with two outstatious for 15 horses each, blacksmith's shop, 

 and so on. There are 150 kanakas, and a number of Malays 

 and Sinhalese, making the total of coloured labour employed 

 on the plantation 1S.5 ; but the full staff of black labour 

 should lie 240. Then there is a regular staff of about 70 

 whites engaged as sugar-boilers, engiueers, &c. The wages 

 paid to the whites on this plantation amount to about 

 £:)70 a month, and those to the coloured men £250 a month. 

 Rations are provided in each case, in addition. From the 

 above figures it will be seen that the large sum of £4,410 

 is annually paid in wages to white men consequent—so 

 the planters put it — upon the labour represented by the 

 £3,000 paid in wages for kanakas, &c, without whom, it 

 is said, it would be impossible to carry on. This sum of 

 £7.4 10 is strictly payable to wages, but in addition there 

 are other expenses which may be calculated at quite another 

 thousand pounds per annum, so that altogether about 

 £9,000 represents the annual expenditure of the plantation, 

 not calculating interest on capital, and outlay in connectou 

 with the business, but not strictly chargeable to the mill 

 or plantation and so on. Then, with reference to white 

 versus black labour, he remarked: — •• I maintain that at 

 canework a kanaka will use the knife all the day through 

 where q white man could not do so." 



'1 1 ( Pleystowe plantation, the property of a Melbourne 

 syndicate, is distant about 11 miles from Mackay, on the 

 southern side of the Pioneer river. It comprises an area 

 of about 5,000 acres, of which 700 acres are at present 

 under cane, and 200 acres of cane will be purchased for 

 the mill from neighbours. It is one of the oldest estates 

 in the district, and certainly one of the most beautiful. 



The. Manager, Mr. Steadman, said: — "We employ 15:! 

 kanakas and 40 white men. The average on the plantations 

 in this district is about one white man to four kanakas. 

 "About 15 months ago two shiploads of white immigrants 

 came to Mackay, and as they did not go off very well 

 the immigration agent asked some of us to take a few, 

 ami several of use did so. We took them at 15s. per week 

 a-head, with rations and lodging, of course. My experience 

 of them was that they could not stand the work. It was 

 both the climate and the kind of work. There were some 

 nun who had been in the country three or four years, 

 who were getting 25s. a week doing work for us. and 



