175 



cipated that in 1880 sugar will be exported to the 

 value of £60,000. These figures show the increasing 

 importance of the sugar industry in Fiji. The total 

 area of land in the group suitable for growing sugar 

 cane is approximately estimated at 1,000 square miles. 

 These cane growing lands are situated in all the prin- 

 cipal islands ; in the interior of both the large islands as 

 well as near the coast and the flats on the banks of the 

 rivers. In most instances they consist of rich alluvial 

 soil, in the cultivation of which the plough could be 

 used. In the beginning of J 878 a block of about 

 650 acres of fine cane land, bounded on one side by a 

 navigable river, was sold at auction by Government, 

 for £1 10s. an acre. 



W 7 hen capital has been attracted to the colony, and 

 these cane lands fully occupied and planted with canes, 

 and proper works put up for crushing the cane and 

 making sugar, it may be anticipated that about 

 200,000 tons of sugar will annually be made in Fiji. 

 The value of this sugar, together with that of molasses 

 and rum, will amount to over tive millions sterling. 



Virgin or plant canes grow and ripen in from 12 to 

 15 months, and the ratoons can be cut annually. In 

 two instances the growers of the canes have mills on 

 their plantations, and manufacture their own sugar. 

 In all other cases the canes are grown by the planters 

 and sold to the sugar manufacturer at given prices 

 per ton of cane. These prices vary according to the 

 density of the juice : — 7s. per ton at 7 n Baume, 8s. M. 

 at 8°; 10s. at 9°; 12s. at 10°; 14s. at 11°; and 16s. 

 at 12°. There being few sugar mills the planters are 

 glad to get their canes crushed at any season of the 

 year, often when the density of the juice is at its 

 lowest ; even in summer or autumn, the worst seasons of 

 the year for cutting the canes. The ratoons of these 



