neat i teh est 
171 
fatal to fibre growth. As far as the best informed ju udgment can at 
present be a guide, we have no u 
io rbe 
in the future the fibre cultivation in this colony will be placed below the 
limits of profitable saved ure. The Government have restricted for ten 
id 
number of the people the advantage of employment, and a disturbance of 
the labour market is also guarded against. One of the many attractions 
of this remarkable industry is in the fact that oe are all but im- 
possible, for they will have no oo basis. The crop may remain 
unharvested for months without injury, and the good sense of the people 
may be safely relied eh to recognise this fact, and also to make them feel, 
they now do, that men of means coming to the colony to engage in its 
fortunes are its best 1 ner are and this is being brought home to 
them by the improvement in their condition arising from the operations 
in which capitalists have already engaged. 
I am, &c. 
(Signed) A. SHEA. 
LI.—SISAL CULTIVATION IN THE BAHAMAS. 
[K. B., 1892, pp. 189-190.] 
The following further fntiriRón pi rad the Sisal Hemp or Pita 
cultivation in the Bahamas is given he Governor’s Report on the 
Blue Book for the year 1891 (Colonial Bopo No. 44, 189 
‘23 Fibre cultivation makes very satisfactory sachin and there 
about 8,000 acres Lome. out. Atleast 6,000 acres will be aldo f to this 
area in 1892. er addition would be made ‘put that the sippi of 
K a a AA in the near future at least. 
plantin, ow esam atid will, be about 150 to 200 tons in 1892, 
and this will thiseatios be an increasing Enn but a careful estimate 
shows that it will not reach beyond 14,000 to 15,000 tons up to the 
year 1900. The subsequent cst will og mu ash more rapid, but 
in no reasonable view of the circumstances can the export from the 
colony have a marked effect on ‘the market for oe years tocome. It 
i w , four years is the 
crop, — further sm for i> or 
forcing the crop, and immature cuttings are to be specially aapna 
The fibre is at its best after due time has been given for its gro 
unwise methods will be sarili dealt with by the Government in the 
hest interests of the colony. There is much yet to be learned in 
hig 
grap aaron with this enterprise, but it is satisfactory to know that, with 
resent imperfect knowledge, no serious mistakes have been fallen 
