Vol. V. No. 108. 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



179 



Sugar Production in Java. 



The Secretary of State fur the Colonies has 



foi'warded to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture 



the following papers on the subject of sugar production 



in Java, which are published for general information : — 



The Colonial Office — to the Foreign Office. 



Downing Street, March 31, 1906. 

 Sir, — I am directed by the Earl of Elgin to acknowledge 

 the receipt of your letter of the 20th. instant (9,061) enclosing 

 a copy of a memorandum by Mr. Seymour Bell, communi- 

 cated by Hi.s Maje.sty's Consul-General at New York, on 

 Cuban sugar. 



Lord Elgin's attention has been drawn to Mr. Bell's 

 observations at the end of his memorandum, as to the 

 exceptionally successful competition of Java sugar in the 

 United States, while he is also aware that the imports of 

 Java sugar into this country have increased from 22,463 tons 

 in 1903 to 93,4.53 tons in 1904, and to 118,899 tons in 1905, 

 and his Lordship would be glad of any information which 

 may be obtainable through His Majesty's Consuls in Java as 

 to the sugar manufacture in that island, the quality of cane 

 planted, the cost of production and manufacture, etc., which 

 may account for its apparent superiority, and which might be 

 •of use to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture in the 

 West Indies, and to the Governments of the British sugar- 

 producing colonies. 



I am, etc., 



(Sgd.) C. P. LUCAS. 



Memorandum by Mr. S. Bell, British Commercial Agent, 

 British Consulate, Neiv York. 



New York, March 5, 1906. 



The New York Daily Tribune of to day's date quotes an 

 article in a recent issue of the Cuba Revieio and Bulletin, 

 written by Messrs. Willett and Gra}', of New York, sugar 

 statisticians, which shows the benefits which have accrued to 

 the Cuban sugar growers through the reciprocity treaty with 

 the United States. It is estimated that the Cuban sugar 

 crop for 1906 will reach 1,400,000 tons. 



The article of Messrs. Willett and Gray, in part, 

 iollows : — 



'A crisis seems to await Cuba in its sugar interests 

 within the ne.xt three or four years. The prosperity which 

 came from the reciprocity treaty with the United States is 

 not likely to last much beyond that time. Steadily and more 

 rapidly events are moving toward this end. To retain the 

 market of the United States for its entire product, Cuba must 

 soon give away its entire advantage under the reciprocity 

 treaty. The annual increase in the production of sugar 

 which pays less duty than Cuban in the United States will 

 cau.se this result. 



'Already, during the year 1905, Cuba came into such 

 close contact with sugars of foreign countries which pay full 

 Dingley rates of duty in the United States that, in order to 

 compete and sell the entire production of her island, she was 

 compelled to undersell the beet-root sugar markets of Europe 

 to the extent of 13c. per 100 &., which 13c. came out of the 

 34c. per 100 lb. allowed her by the Pieciprocity Bill. 



' Only by this concession she reduced the imports of 

 European beet sugar into the United States to less than 

 25,000 tons in 1905. The consumption of all sugar in 

 the United States in 1905, which paid the full duty rates, 

 ■was only 438,383 tons, against 645,733 tons in 1904. 

 The consumption of foreign sugar paying full duties in 1906 

 should be further reduced to 223,295 tons, according to the 



estimate of crops for the year which receive advantages under 

 our tariff.^ At the present rate of increase of such crops, the 

 year 1908 should show an end of importation of foreign sugar 

 paying the full duty rates. What will happen then? 

 Consumption rises only at the rate of about 5 per cent, per 

 annum, while sugar production of favoured interests rises at 

 a much faster rate. The country paying the highest rate of 

 duty will be the first to feel the effects of over-production of 

 favoured sugars. The Cuban reciprocity treaty ends on 

 December 27, 1908, and, whether renewed or not, Cuba will 

 begin to be shut out of the United States market for some 

 portion at least of her crop, by the increased production of 

 non duty-paying sugars of Porto Rico, Hawaii, domestic cane 

 and domestic beet sugars, and the lesser paying duties of the 

 Philippine Islands. Under special favouritism the crops of 

 Porto Kico have increased in eight years from 54,000 tons in 

 1898, to 210,000 tons in 1906. Hawaiian crops, under 

 reciprocity in 1876 to 1,900, and free trade since, have 

 increased ^from 10,000 tons in 1876, to 391,062 tons in 1902, 

 and to 370,000 tons in 1906. Domestic beet sugar crops 

 have increased from 12,018 tons in 1893, to 285,000 tons 

 in 1906. The Philippine Islands crops, which were reduced 

 to 55,000 tons in 1901 by the plague of rinderpest, which 

 destroyed the caribou or cattle used for field work, a tem- 

 porary afiliction not requiring special legislation for all time 

 to remedy, will produce 125,000 tons of sugar in 1906. 



'The production in 1906 of all these sugar industries 

 protected from competition to the extent of their production, 

 leaves but 223,295 tons of foreign full-duty-paying sugar 

 required for the consumption of the United States in 1906, 

 allowing about 5 per cent, normal average increase of 

 consumption over 1905. In confirmation of the steady and 

 more rapid trend of the encroachment of competition between 

 the present protected sugar interests, we call attention to the 

 decrease in the amounts of full-duty-paying foreign sugars 

 which have gone into consumption in the United States in 

 recent years. In 1899 we used 632,920 tons of European 

 beet sugar against 24,005 tons in 1905; in 1902 we used 

 258,418 tons of West India sugar, other than Cuba and Porto 

 Rico, against 96,141 tons in 1905. In 1901 we used 141,998 

 tons of Brazil sugar against 21,333 tons in 1905. In 1900 

 we used 351,952 tons of Java sugar, against 397,905 tons in 

 1904, and 353,916 tons in 1905. Java has thus far held its 

 own against competition better than any other full-duty- 

 paying country, but it can hope to do so only a little longer.' 



(Sgd.) E. SEYMOUR BELL, 



British Commercial Agent. 



The Foreign Office— to the Colonial Office. 



Foreign Office, 



April 5, 1906. 

 Sir,— I am directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to 

 acknowledge the receipt of your letter 9,706/1906 of the 31st. 

 ultimo, asking to be supplied with a report on the condition of 

 the sugar industry in Java. A certain amount of information 

 on the subject will be found in the Consular Report on Java 

 for the year 1904, a copy of which is enclosed, herewith,* 

 but His Majesty's Consul at Batavia will be instructed to 

 send home a report with the full details required by the Earl 

 of Elgin. 



I am, etc., 



(Sgd.) E. GORST. 



* The extract forwarded has already appeared in the 

 Agricultural News, Vol. IV, p. 227. [Ed. A.N.] 



