14 WEST INDIES - CO-OPERATIOX AND ASSOCIATION 



factory has made steady growth and in 1919 the original contractors may 

 reasonabh' expect the distribution amongst them of shares which represent 

 one half of the factory. 



But besides benefiting the estate owners of Antigua, the central factory 

 has been of advantage to the peasantry. Both Gunthorpes Central Factory 

 and Bendals Factory entered into an agreement to purchase peasants' canes, 

 and to facilitate the growing of canes and other crops ; the government of 

 Antigua reser^^ed for peasants and rented on easy terms a considerable 

 acreage of land. 



Thus the Antigua factory besides being a financial success is an object 

 lesson of considerable educational value. Above all it is a concrete argument 

 in favour of the extension of the British sugar industry within the empire. 



From the point of view of financial and economic importance the An- 

 tigua factory just referred to stands alone. But there have been during 

 the past few years co-operative movements which seem to indicate more 

 forcibly the co-operative feeling in the presidency. Such a movement was 

 that started in 1913 to form an Onion Growers' Association. For years An- 

 tigua had been producing small quantities of onions of a verv^ satisfactory 

 kind and it was felt that the island possessed opportunities for development 

 in this direction. Such opportunities lay chiefly in the possibihty to sup- 

 ply the New York and Canadian markets before the Bermuda and other 

 crops came in, and to estabhsh an intercolonial trade with the more thickly 

 populated islands, like Barbados, in the West Indies. 



In 1913, an association was formally established. A central grading and 

 packing house was arranged for, and it was agreed that the onion crops of " 

 members should be marketed on a co-operative basis through the association, 

 a first payment of i c. per lb. being paid on delivery, followed by a distri- 

 bution of the surplus profits. Agents were appointed in the different 

 markets and a system of cable advices introduced. It was made known 

 that the association's mark on each crate was a guarantee that the pro- 

 duce was sound, properly graded and packed. During the season 1913-14 

 the total weight of onions purchased by the association was 42,799 lbs. ; in 

 1914-15 it rose [to 186,198 lbs. or nearly four times the amount for the 

 previous 3^ear. Total payment amounted to £588 or 1.5 c. per lb. The 

 association has now established a firm connection in New York and in 

 the intercolonial markets, and Antigua onions are becoming known, and 

 justly so, as high class and uniform produce. It may be added as a 

 fact of agricultural interest that in Antigua large quantities of onions are 

 grown as a catch crop with sugar cane. Where this is done the cost of 

 production is greatly reduced. 



The success of the Onion Growers' Association has no doubt been 

 partly responsible for those further co-operative movements in Antigua 

 during the present year in connection with the formation of Cotton and of 

 lyime-Growers' Associations, respectivel^^ The Cotton Growers' Association 

 which has now been formed, realh' originated in a resolution at the recent 

 West Indian Cotton Conference held in St. Kitts during March 1916. The 

 association includes in its membership all the principal cotton growers in 



