SUGAR PRODUCTION IN MOZAMBIQUE. 21,3 



Manual Labour :— During Crop time— /.c.. from about May 

 until December— an average "of: — 70 Skilled labourers per day, 

 2,000 Labourers per day (Natives). 



During Off-cro]^, aii average of:— 2.S Skilled labourers per 

 day, 1,200 Labourers ])er day (Natives). 



Factory. 



The Factory was originally built and started as a pioneer 

 concern in 1892. It was the first sugar Factory in tropical 

 Africa. 



The whole of the buildings were constructed of native tim- 

 ber cut in the forest and sawn into 8" square logs : the main 

 building had a span of about 30 feet and was 30 feet high to the 

 apex of the roof; it was pulled down only this year and replaced 

 by a line steel building. 



The capacity of the original Factory in 1892 was 60 tons 

 of sugar per week. Ten years later, in 1902, the outpul; for 

 one week had increased to 220 tons, and this year the Factory 

 is capable of making 350 to 400 tons of dry sugar in one week. 



The cane is unloaded from small trucks on to an endless 

 Carrier, composed of narrow boards attached to two chains, 

 Vvhich pass round a revolving drum at either end. This Carrier, 

 travelling at the rate of about 24 feet per minute, delivers the 

 cane into a pair of crushing" rollers, w^hich prepare it for the 

 Mills. 



These mills are a set of nine rollers in sets of three rollers, 

 between which the cane is successively passed ; between each set 

 of Mills is a short carrier, of the same type as the cane carrier, 

 but made of steel entirely, which carries the mat of partly 

 crushed cane from one mill to the other; from the third ]\Iill the 

 megasse is carried by similar means to the Boilers for fuel. 



The Boilers consist of one Water Tube Babcock & Wilcox 

 Boiler — in which the water is inside the tubes and the heat out- 

 side — and six multi-tubular Boilers — in which the water is out- 

 side the tt^bes. These supply steam to the whole Factory at 

 100 lbs. per square inch. 



There are two steel chimneys 120 feet high for natural 

 draught. 



The Juice from the Mills is pumped through vessels in 

 which it is heated by the waste steam to boiling point ; from 

 these it passes to a large number of settling tanks after being 

 treated with the usual reagents; the cleared juice, now of the 

 appearance of Sherry, is passed through a Triple Effect Evapor- 

 ator, and two-thirds of the water is evaporated under Vacuum, 

 the syrup resulting from this evaporation is pumped to receiving 

 tanks, from which it is periodically drawn into the A'^acuum 

 Pans as required. 



These Pans are of various sizes, and consist of large ca.st 

 iron cylindrical vessels with conical bottoms and tops; inside are 

 series of cop]:)er coils through which steam is circulated ; the tops 



