TUTTLE ENGINEERING NOTES ON HAWAII. 141 



The " prevailing rate " of wages for ten hours' labor per day, on the 

 plantations, ranges from about $17 to 20 per month, together with lodg- 

 ing, fuel and medical attendance. Skilled labor invariably commands 

 higher prices than in the States. 



Excepting only a few of the smallest plantations and which are in 

 proximity to others and larger ones, each has its own mill, and the 

 manufactured raw sugar is shipped either to Honolulu or Hilo for for- 

 warding to the mainland. With but one exception, where the diffusion 

 process is used, the manufacture depends upon milling, the usual 

 equipment consisting of the nine roller mill. 



The Ewa plantation, located on the southern slope of Oahu, and 

 only a short distance west of Honolulu, has undoubtedly reached the 

 most complete stage of development of any on the islands, and a 

 description of it, largely gathered from the Honolulu Evening Bulletin, 

 Industrial Edition, of November, 1901, and from the annual reports to 

 the stockholders, shows that it embodies practically all of the best 

 features of the Hawaiian plantations. The company was incorporated 

 in 1890, and has a paid-up capital of 500 000, and a bonded debt of 

 the same amount. The plantation comprises about 7 000 acres under 

 an approximate elevation of 200 ft. ; of this area probably 6 500 acres 

 is under cultivation, the output from which for the year ending Sep- 

 tember 30, 1902, was reported to be nearly 39 000 tons. By means of 

 several miles of excellent dirt roads all of the cane lands are easily acces- 

 sible for cultivation; the cane is hauled to the mill by a steam railroad, 

 the equipment comprising over 30 miles of permanent track, with a few 

 miles of portable track, six 25-ton locomotives, and 600 cane cars, each 

 having a capacity of 6 to 7 tons. The cars are unloaded at the mill by 

 machinery, and the cane is fed directly to the crushers. Machinery is 

 used for plough ing and is being introduced wherever possible elsewhere 

 to relieve the shortage in labor. The average annual rainfall at the 

 mill for the last ten years is 20 ins. , with an extreme range of from 8 ins. 

 to 31 ins. ; this plantation, therefore, depends wholly upon irrigation. 

 Six pumping stations are maintained for this purpose, having an ag- 

 gregate capacity of 67 000 000 galls, per day; the pumping engines are 

 of the Riedler and Blake types, and are in units which range from 

 2 000 000 to 12 000 000 galls, per day each; the lifts are from about 100 

 to 220 ft. The water supply is obtained from 56 driven wells, which 

 are about 12 ins. in diameter and reach to depths ranging from, say, 



