266 



value of other industrities, the cultivation of sugar must be the saple 

 industry of this colony. Although it had in recent years fallen upon 

 troublous times he still entertained great hopes that a revival of the 

 industry would take place. He thought they had some reason to be- 

 lieve that that would be the result of the recent legislation which had 

 taken place in Great Britain — the passing of the Brussels Sugar Con- 

 vention Bill— which should go far towards helping in the revival of 

 the sugar industry. He trusted that that revival would soon take 

 place, because as he had said before, he looked to the sugar industry as 

 the principal industry of this colony. He did not think that it was 

 necessary or desirable that he should make any lengthy remarks on 

 the subject considering that they had a great deal to do, and that the\ 

 would hear addresses from those who would be more qualified to speak 

 on the subject than he was. He would therefore conclude by asking 

 Sir Daniel Morris to favour them with his address. 



Sir Daniel Morris said it was only right that he should mention 

 that he appeared before them that day at the invitation of the Board 

 of Agriculture. "When he arrived in the colony he was approached 

 with a request that he should speak on one or two subjects of imme- 

 diate interest to Jamaica, and amongst the subjects suggested was that 

 of the sugar industry, consequent upon the abolition of what were 

 called the continental bounties. He migiit mention that since he had 

 been in the West Indies in connection with his present work he had 

 been closely interested, and had taken an active p irt in endeavouring to 

 improve the prospects of sugar growing. His connection with the 

 sugar industry while he was in Jamaica was not a very close one owing 

 to the fact that the whole of his time was taken up with the conside- 

 ration of other subjects, and m^t because he was wanting in sympathy 

 with the sugar industry. He did not appear before them as wishiug 

 to lay down a definite policy or suggest to them anything more than 

 that it was desirable that they should carefully review the position of 

 the sugar industry in order to find out whetht r it was possible to im- 

 jjrove or extend that industr}^ in such a w^ay that it might be of bene- 

 fit to the general community. With regard to the sugar industry 

 in Jamaica a large mass of valuable information was collected by the 

 Sugar Planters' Association and placed b fore the Royal Commissioners 

 who visited the West Indies in 1897, to enquire into the sugar in- 

 ■ dustry Those who desired to obtain authentic information in regard 

 to the industry, W' uld do well to consult those statistics or refer people 

 who might wish to know something about the industry in this Island 

 to them. Later on Mr. Francis Watts, who was the Government and 

 Agricultural Chemist in Jamaica for a short time, wrote a valuable 

 memorandum on the position of the sugar industry in Jamaica Sine • 

 then he w;is glad to state that Mr. Cousins, the present Chemist, had 

 taken up the subject with great energy and he had brought out seve- 

 ral interesting facts which were desirable for them to place on record 

 for the information of capitalists at home or the people in the Inland 

 who dofird to know how an improvement in the sugar industry here 

 could be attained. 



It was stated before the Hoyal Commission that the capital in- 

 vested in sugar in 1S97 was something over one million sterling. 



It was also stated that the number of working estates at that time 



