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It was most the popular cultivation in the West Indies, and if 

 arrangements could be made whereby cane-farming could be 

 encouraged some of the difficulties connected with labour might dis- 

 appear It was much in favour of Jamaica that there was practically 

 no cane disease here. As they probably knew cane disease appeared in 

 Barbados and Antigua, and there was at one time great danger of the 

 industries being destroyed. He had made enquiries here and those 

 qualified to speak on the subject were of the opini 'U that the canes in 

 Jamaica might be regarded as thoroughly healthy and free fr.jm di- 

 sease. Another important point to be c >nsidered was the high quality 

 of Jamaican rum as compared with rum from other parts of the world. 

 That gave the Jamaican planter a position to which no other planter in 

 the West Indies could attain. 



To immediately improve the sugar industry, the first thing that was 

 necessary everywhere in Jamaica was a system of effective crushing 

 mills He believed that on most estates the extraction was too low to 

 be remunerative. He would repeat that whatever they did with their 

 sugar — whether it was muscovado or any other variety — they must 

 have better mills. 



Another matter was the possibility of producing a grocery sugar 

 similar to the Demerara crystals ; next came the possibility of esta- 

 blishing central factories. This question had already been fully dis- 

 cussed here. Proposals had been put forward to start a central fac- 

 tory in the Plantain Grarden River district. He thought a factory 

 there might be successful if it were large enough. It might also be 

 possible to start a successful factory in the neighbourhood of the clay 

 soils af St Catherine that were not suitable for bananas ; and possibly 

 in Vere and the sea- side estates in St. James. A central factory to be 

 successful in any of the districts referred to must be on a large scale. 

 The rum would not be of very good quality. This was well known; 

 but the profit w.'uld be in the larger quantity of sugar produced. If 

 capital were available and the sugar industry were placed on such a 

 footing as to allow of the establishment of central factories, there was 

 little doubt that it would be a successful undertaking. 



The last point he would bring forward was the possible improve- 

 ment of the yield of the canes. Mr. Cousins was of opinion that at 

 present seedling canes from Barbados and Demerara would justify a 

 claim to at least 20 per cent superiority over the canes now grown in 

 Jamaica. In introducing new canes and the sorts that were suited for 

 each district, Mr. Cousins was of opini' n that they might obtain 20 

 per cent, more sugar from the new canes than they did at present. 



With regard to Barbados, Antigua aid St Kitts the seedling canes 

 that had been raised and tested ttiere certainly showed a superiority 

 over the older canes. In British Guiana at the present moment 

 there were 10,000 acres of land in seedling canes and in the reports 

 published by Professor Harrison he gave the results of the trials of 

 these canes. On one estate in Demerara — the Diamond estate 

 — there were 400 acres of land cultivated with seedling cane. No. B. 208. 

 The leading estates were so convinced of the value of this cane that 

 they had gone in for its cultivation on a large scale. The "208" Bar^? 

 bados cane at Diamond estate had yielded one-third more sugar than 



