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from the group is grown by the Fijians for their taxes. 

 When grown on an extensive scale it still yields a 

 small profit, but the profit is so little that plantations 

 of less than 200 acres scarcely do more than pay 

 labourers' wages. It is otherwise with the Fijians 

 who have the produce for their work. The cotton 

 plantations were mostly small, from 20 acres to over 

 200 acres in a few instances. These small plan- 

 tations flourished when cotton sold at about 3s. per lb. 

 in the home market, but when the prices fell, after 

 peace was established in the United States, these 

 small cotton estates had to be abandoned. Were the 

 manufacture of cotton cloth to commence on a liberal 

 scale in either New Zealand or Australia, cotton 

 growing would, most likely, be revived in Fiji. Its 

 cultivation, unlike that of the sugar cane, which 

 requires the investment of a large amount of capital 

 for machinery, and coffee, from which no return is 

 obtained within three years, can be commenced on a 

 small amount of money, and receipts obtained within 

 a year. Therefore, while not so remunerative a crop 

 as either sugar or coffee, its cultivation has great 

 attractions for small capitalists. These hope to make 

 it a stepping-stone which will enable them to enter 

 on the cultivation of another product that will yield 

 a better reward, but which requires a greater amount 

 of capital to begin with than the growing of cotton. 



" Sea Island Cotton " is grown by most of the cotton 

 planters. This variety is doubly valuable on account 

 of its seeds, which are worth 8/. per ton on the spot. 

 The variety known as Kidney Cotton is mostly cul- 

 tivated by the natives. This variety, as a plant, 

 is not only hardier than the Sea Island variety, but 



