; 
EE SE N fats 
3 
narrowing effects produced on those engaged in the industry, and 
their inability or disinclination when a crisis comes to take u 
any other industry 
. A somewhat general opinion exists that the best soils in the 
West Indies have already been cleared and planted. How far 
this is t borys out by actual facts will appear from the following 
table 
Area of 
Acres p Cultivable ee No. of 
Beat Ares in | Unit of | Area now | Land not a ead Coolie 
Acres, Popula- | cultivated.) Benefi- pi Pont- Immi- 
tion. cially yg Pete grants 
Occupied. 
Acres. Acres, £ e. d. 
British Guiana... 65,836,000 | 23654 325,000 20,000,000 | 6 7 1] 105,462 
Trinidad and Tobago «. i 193. 313 488 310,000 550,000 | 5 16 11 83,000 
Wi dep “gr lands . 328,122 224 95,000 135,000 | 2 4 4 2,660 
Barb: fe 106.470 ‘OT 90,000 10,000; 3 2 0 = 
gebe Islands ` y 90,840 2°93 1100,000 150,000} 2 7 0 — 
Jamaica .. ps a 2,692,480 3°87 693,674 1,500,000 | 212 6 14,158 
Total . a 70,547,225 41°87 1,613,674 22,345,000 | 3 13 8 205,251 
Percentage of cultivated area to total area = 2°18. s 
9 
ios 
10. According to returns placed before the Disagree: the 
area now under cultivation is only a little over 2 per cent. of the 
«& what a smail extent the rich and fertile lands of the West Indies 
“ have been so far utilised. In British Guiana alone there is an 
_ “ and with the resources of the unworked soils of J ica we 
rpc og ‘the ni Aa of Re least four colonies the size of 
s Te ie 
11. As mentioned by the late Sir Robert Hamilton in regard to 
Dominica, “there is no royal road to increasing the wealth ae 
“ prosperity of these islands.” This can only come from an 
increased production in them of articles for which there is a 
constant and remunerative demand. The sugar cultivation 
should be confined to the best lands only, and by the aid of 
scientific researches and mechanical ingenuity, taking advantage 
y 
in the Colonies hitherto producing only raw or muscovado sugar 
the erection of suitable factories for the production of high-class 
sugars on a large scale, and the separation, as far as possible, of 
the work of cultivation from that of manufacturing the sugar. 
Careful experiments will also be necessary to obtain by selection 
* “ Planting: Enterprise in the West Indies,” Colonial Papers, 1883, p. 147. 
15045 A 2 
