98 SUGAR 



reaped all the year round. It takes nearly two years 

 in this dry climate for the canes to mature. There 

 are many good factories, but the machinery is not 

 powerful enough yet to get a large yield from the canes. 

 The production of canes per acre is large, and 3 tons 

 of sugar per acre represents at present about the 

 average yield. In 1894 Peru produced 74,000 tons of 

 sugar ; in 1904, 156,000 tons ; in 1914, 262,000 tons. 

 Previous to 1894 the industry suffered greatly from the 

 European bounty-fed competition, and from war and 

 revolution. Labour is sufficient ; all that is necessary 

 for good progress is political rest and some encourage- 

 ment to the investment of fresh capital in the industry. 



Argentina has a heavily protected home market, and 

 is not likely to become an exporter owing to high cost 

 of production. 



British India is supposed to produce the official figure 

 stated in the list, but production is so primitive and 

 .scattered that it must be difficult to arrive at any definite 

 estimate. It is satisfactory to read, in a recent official 

 report, that " steady efforts are being made by the 

 Agricultural Departments to improve the cultivation 

 and the processes of extracting cane juice and of sugar 

 manufacture." India, in spite of her large home pro- 

 duction, is a considerable importer from Mauritius, 

 Java, and even Europe. 



Java is a superb instance of success, the result of 

 individual energy and intelligence stimulated only by 

 science and organization. But the island has one 

 advantage which is not always to be found in the tropics, 

 plentiful, good and cheap labour. They have always made 

 the finest raw sugar in the world, but now they have 

 added to this a considerable production of white sugar, 

 for which they find a constantly increasing demand in 

 British India where it competes with our old sugar colony 



