378 
is a central range of mountains running north and south, with 
spurs extending on both sides to the sea. The soil is tertile, the 
climate healthy, and the rainfall heav vy. 
365. The sugar industry has been in a posse condition for 
years, and is now on the verge of extinction. No improvements 
have B5 introduced in the manufacture of sugar, m the sugar 
canes have in recent years suffered very severely from disease, 
this disease being in all probability due, to some extent, to want 
o effective cultivation. 
366. No industry can be said to have taken the place of the 
sugar ‘cane as the cultivation of the latter fell off. The second 
industry in point of Heper ar is that of the production of arrow- 
root, but the price of arrowroot has recently fallen to such an 
extent as to add materi ally pr the depression from which the 
idana is now suffering. 
367. There are very few small proprietors cultivating gd 
own land. the total area led 
129 estates of not less than 100 acres each, while the extent of the 
Crown lands is estimated to exceed 25, (000 acres. The Crown 
cultivable area not more than 5,000 or 10,000 acres are believed 
to be beneficially occupied oe cultivat tion. 
368. Wages are very low; they have been reduced in recent 
years ; and there is a lamentable want of continuous employment. 
For some years the able-bodied males have been emigrating, 
leaving, in many cases, the women and children to shift for them- 
selves. The population is decreasing, and the labouring classes 
are i aa ed. 
é n 1882 the value of the total exports of native ois 
Was 149 2107, and of the imports 152,332/. ; for 1896 the corre- 
sponding figures were 57,436/. and 60, 563/. The mite of the 
export 8 of sugar, rum, and ‘molasses i in 1882 were 94,847/.; 11,112/., 
and 7,552/. respectively, while the corresponding figures for 1896 
were ‘ont 19,544/., 1,8062., and 2,6531. 
370. The Public Revenue i in 1882 was 31 sape Pp in 1884 
34,509/. Since that year there has been a falling the revenue 
for the last three years having been 28,574/., 25, feoi. "and 26,4871. 
` Notwithstanding retrenchment in establis hm ments, a deficit of 
4,8167. had acer ued at the close of 1896, to which should be added 
1, 1071., which appears in the C olony’ s financial statements as due 
from the * Crown Lands Fund," but which is irrecoverable. The 
island p. t publie debt of 19,380/., and further borrowing of 
3,5007. he construction of roads has been sanctioned. 
371. The prospect which the Colony has now to face is the 
practical extinction of the sugar-cane cultivation within a very 
brief pericd, except in so far as it may be found profitable to 
sce a it in order to meet the local demand for sugar 
Blas "We do not think that under the conditions agit are likely 
to prevail in the future the production of sugar r for rt on a 
large scale could be permanently carried on in St. el unless 
modern machinery were set up, and the most approved precesses 
