385 
by the muscovado process, which in Antigua, as in Barbados, 
See pro table, owing to the scie fitness of the soil for pro- 
ucing a cane juice yielding a rich and valuable quality of 
fiios peculiar to these islands and St. Kitts, and having, until 
ed a special market value There Aem Pe during recent 
cultivation has diminished. In 1882 the amount of sugar 
exported was 12,769 tons; in 1896 it was 13,714 tons. The great 
bulk of this export goes to the United States market 
436. In Antigua, as in all places which epend Apon the export 
of muscovado sugar, the great fall in the demand for molasses has 
been an additional blow to the sugar industry. n 1882 the 
quantity of the molasses exported was 8,369 puncheons, valued 
at 41,8457, in 1896 i it fell to 2 are puncheons, of the value of only 
7 A791., and it was stated i memorandum quoted above that 
there has lately been an cierran to sell some whole of the crop. 
497. All that has beea said under the head of Barbados 
respecting the prospects of ihe muscovado industry applies with 
equal force to Antigua 
. The prospects of is saga ‘industry might, no doubt, be 
improved by the erection of central factories. There is no chance 
whatever of this being done by eae 2 enterprise, and, if done at 
all, it must be done with the assistance and at the risk of the 
Government. We cannot advocate this course in the case of 
Antigua with as much Sienen as in that of Barbados. Antigua 
is more liable to drought, and some difficulty might be ctam 
in securing a sufficient water supply for large factories ; more 
the plantations have not yet dep ipn from the attacks of dila 
to the same extent as they have in Barbados. There are, however, 
suitable places in Antigua for the establishment of such factories, 
and if the success of the experiment in Barbados is such as to 
justify its ce rd im elsewhere, Antigua may be regarded as the 
next best field 
Ein the ev eni of a failure of the sugar industry the condition 
of Antigua will be one of very great distress and difficulty. No 
other industries can supply the place of sugar. During the bad 
season of 1895 there was a considerable export of logwood, but 
the price of this product has fallen of late, and the supply in 
Antigua is said to be, for the present, exhausted. 
441. Some attempts have been m ade, not on a very large scale, 
to grow pine- Wed and with success. They are sent to the 
has had a trial, ahaa on this point the Syidwnde M». Tillison, ‘the 
Curator of the Botanic d may be starr d to. Want of 
knowledge and want of means of communication with the great 
markets have beris in the nas of all minor industries. 
tigua, as in several other islands, the Government 
must, to meet D. altered circumstances, take steps— 
To promote the settlement of the labouring population on 
e land as peasant cultivators. Some Crown lands are 
