THE CANE INDUSTRY : 



Louisiana and in the beetroot districts of the North 

 had to be considered, and it was decided that the 

 preference must be confined to the produce of existing 

 factories, mostly in native hands, and thus the hope 

 for the investment of capital in the new venture was 

 for the moment checked. But now, American capital- 

 ists have acquired large tracts of land for the purpose 

 of sugar production on an extensive scale. 



Dr. Prinsen Geerligs says : "As regards the prospect 

 of the cane-sugar industry in the Philippine Islands, 

 all forebodings point to gigantic progress in the near 

 future." 



In Australia a good deal of sugar is produced in 

 Queensland and a little in New South Wales. The 

 refusal to allow coloured labour to work in the tropical 

 parts of Queensland is a serious drawback to any 

 extension in that direction. In the present sugar- 

 growing districts, where white labour is possible, it is 

 found to be expensive and in other ways difficult. 

 There has been a good deal of Government control, 

 which adds sometimes to the difficulties of the industry. 

 The cost of production is high, and therefore requires 

 liberal preferential treatment to enable producers to 

 make both ends meet. Central factories are now 

 universal, but the cane planting leaves much to be 

 desired. The industry began in a small way in 1864, 

 and by 1883-4, 152 factories produced 36,000 tons 

 of sugar. In 1910-11, 54 factories produced 207,000 

 tons. The production is about 2 tons to the acre. 



New South Wales produces an average of about 

 20,000 tons. The total production of Australia in 

 1914-15 was 246,408 tons. 



Our old sugar-producing colony of Mauritius has 

 had many struggles. They made splendid sugar in the 

 old days, only beaten by Java for quality. They do 



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