29 
5 acres every year, and the sale of his produce would be 
assured. Fairly good land should give a return of 20 tons of 
roots to the acre, the manufacturer would give, say, 15s. per ton 
placed in the railway trucks, so 5 acres at 20 tons to the acre 
would realize £75. The seed for these 5 acres would cost about 
15s. per acre ; the manure, say, 40s. per acre ; and extras 5s.; ora 
total of £3 per acre, totalling for the 5 acres £15 ; this deducted 
from the money realized would leave a net income from the 
5 acres of £60. The balance of the 15 acres would, of course, be 
used for growing potatoes and other vegetables, perhaps a little 
corn, a few fruits, fodder for their cow, horse, pigs, and fowls. 
In the cultivation of beet a quantity of light labour is required— 
earthing up, hoeing, and weeding—such work that children could 
engage in. The price of labour in the colony is fully one-third 
higher than it is in Germany, but against that drawback we have 
much cheaper land. There it runs about £3 per acre per annum ; 
here, with the exception of some extraordinarily fertile spots in 
the western district, it is very much less, infinitely less. Here 
we have a duty of £6 per ton on cane sugar and £12 per ton on 
beet sugar. This should bea sufficient set-off against the imported 
article. 
The growing of our own sugar might possibly provoke hostility 
from those interested in cane-sugar refineries. I have not forgotten 
the injury done to those immense sugar refineries at Bristol and 
elsewhere in England by the development of the beet-sugar 
industry ; but while some harm to individuals might accrue here, 
should this replace cane sugar, I am convinced that very great 
national benefits would follow the cultivation of a plant so: 
eminently adapted to the country. Accept if you please the advice 
given by Mr. Pearson, and send to the continent of Europe for 
some properly accredited gentleman of experience who would 
understand both the administration and the technical sides of the 
question. 
I have not lost sight of the fact that the Gillies-Deakin Go- 
vernment offered a bonus of £100 for 20 tons of a good market- 
able quality sugar grown in the colony, said bonus available up 
to 30th June, 1895. This has not yet been applied for, nor 
will it ever be ; the suin offered is altogether too small, and the 
required quantity of sugar too small also. Iam not by any means 
a fervent advocate of the bonus system; with the one exception, 
perhaps, that of the butter bonus, which, no doubt, has been suc- 
cessful, the other bonuses offered have been either partial or total 
failures. 
Will not some of our enterprising men take this subject up, but 
should private enterprise fail, then it might be worth while our 
Government and Parliament considering the propriety of offering 
something substantial, say, £5,000 for the first 500 tons of beet 
