SUGAR-PRODUCTION IN BRITISH WEST JNDIES 59 

 CHAPTER XV 



SUGAR-PRODUCTION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES 



I AM now going to take you to the British West Indies, 

 to have a peep at the cane-sugar industry of the 

 numerous and beautiful islands which are included 

 under that general name for an important part of our 

 Empire. Broadly speaking, all these islands produce 

 sugar, but those playing the most active and prominent 

 part in the industry are Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica, 

 St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts, and Nevis. 



From Georgetown, we can get up amongst these 

 islands in two days, by a Royal Mail steamer. A 

 service of boats, specially built and splendidly equipped 

 for pleasure cruises in tropical seas, gives us the choice 

 of making the round tour of a number of the islands 

 in about a week, spending a short time ashore at each ; 

 or of stopping a few days, until a sister-ship calls on 

 her round, at any we want to explore more thoroughly. 

 It will serve our purpose better to adopt the latter 

 alternative, and in order that you may see as much 

 as possible, in a limited time, of phases of the sugar 

 industry with which you are not already familiar, I 

 am electing to take you to Barbados and Antigua. 



On the way up to Barbados, I want to claim your 

 attention for a very brief interval, the while I give 

 you a broad outline of the present-day aspect of the 

 sugar industry in the British West Indian islands as a 

 whole. 



These islands have played a very active and highly 

 important part in the regeneration of the cane-sugar 

 industry. To-day, both private enterprise and the 



