x 
99 
a oads are said not to be available, t least not convenient, 
for the land carriage of such produce, and hence it is brought by 
the cheaper water carriage from ne a and elsewhere. A 
regards choice fruits, it is probable that, owing toa difference in 
earth they are more abundantly produced an ame and 
obago than in Trinidad. The same argument cannot, however, 
be applied to Spas as these are ee abundantly produced 
locally, and only require a cheap transit 4 mpete successfully 
with those “hee from the anan ey 
162. Notwithstanding the considerable liai made a eee 
tobacco in the island, tobacco and cigars are ost 
us 
mports a revenue of 30, 
Collector of Customs states that “there is no sign whatever of any 
‘serious competition from native grown tobacco.” One means 
of extending the cultivation of tobacco oe be the or Ochs aaa 
the community, it is possible that a few families would be 
willing to settle in the isla nd, and establish a regular tobacco 
makes cigars which are sold locally at one to seven dollars per 
hundred. 
163. Some years ago —_ efforts were made by Sir William 
Robinson to start a fruit trade between Trinidad and the Unite 
States. A subsidy of 5, 500 was given to a line of steamships 
trading between Port of Spain and New York. The first ship- 
ments consisted of small lots of fruit, “ inferior in size and badly 
bright yellow colour. No other banana, however superior in 
flavour, has any a E value in America unch 
usually consists of 7 to 10 bundles or hands. Those with less 
seven hands are not saleable. At the time the fruit trade 
was started in Trinidad this particular banana, pega m Gros 
M as cultivated only to a small extent; in fact, it was 
scarcely possible t d it in many districts of the island lt 
Ww erefore, impossible to establish a suce trade in 
t à = ed , I 
100 acres of good land established in bananas will yield (during 
the second and subsequent years after planting) about 500 bunches 
per week. Hence, to produce sufficient bananas to give a start to 
