4 T BIN IB AD AND TOBAGO BULLETIN. \XIX. I. 



An advantage of the block system is that it allows of much better 

 organisation for cutting and transporting the canes than is possible with 

 our small scattered areas, as portable tram lines are laid down to connect- 

 the blocks with the factory. 



PAYMENT ON PEICE OF SUGAE. 



Another method of payments practised in the ^Yest Indies, Mauritius, 

 etc., is the market price during that crop, of so manj- pounds of sugar per 

 100 lb. of cane. According to the richness of the canes this varies from 

 4^ to 7 lb. of sugar per 100 lb. 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE SLIDING SCALE. 

 A modification of this, which formed the basis of the scale recom- 

 mended by the Board of Agriculture after careful and prolonged 

 consideration in 1916 was on equal division of the proceeds between 

 buyer and seller based on the F.O.B. price of grey crystals in Port-of- 

 Spain. The scale allowed for the varying capacities of different factories, 

 and would of course require to be drawn up each year. A first payment 

 could be made on delivery of the canes, and the balance after the crop 

 had been sold and the average F.O.B. price ascertained and also the 

 number of tons of cane taken to make a ton of sugar. It was also 

 recommended that there should be a minimum price to safeguard the 

 farmer and a maximum price in the interest of the estate, so that in 

 the event of a bad year the estate could afford to pay the minimum price 

 from extra profits made in the good years. There may be no necessity for 

 minimum or maximum prices now. For a full rej^ort see Bull. Dept. 

 Agr. XV. 1916. 73-85. The scale was not adopted, but the estates as 

 you know made a first payment, and a deferred payment or " bonus " at' 

 the end of the crop. 



POSITION THIS YEAR. 

 This 3'ear the position has become more complicated. A fall in the 

 price of sugar was generally expected, but on the contrary it has risen 

 enormously. Some of the largest estates sold their Avhole crop in 

 advance for a price which has turned out to be very much lower than 

 what other estates, which did not sell in advance, are now getting. 

 Some estates can this year afford to pay very much higher jDrices for 

 canes than others. This however is probably only a temporary phase 

 and we may expect a return to more uniform prices, whether high or low*. 



The Department of Agriculture grows sonre 1,200 to 1,500 tons of cane 

 a year in its experiment and other plots, and having them to dispose of is 

 in the position of a cane farmer. For the last three years we have sold 

 after advertising for tenders, on the basis of a division of proceeds. Last 

 year we got altogether S'6.42 per ton. This year, selling to an estate which 

 is securing the benefit of the high price of sugar, we are getting $12 as a 

 first payment, and a further sum of one-half the profits, estimated at the 

 time the contract was made at |2.96 per ton, but which will be more by 

 the end of the year owing to the subsequent rise in the price of sugar. 

 This is a type of contract which is eminently fair, and having shared 

 in the years of prosperity we shall be quite content to share in the 

 years of adversity. 



