TEE AGBTCULTURAL JOURNAL. 



143 



Port Shepstone District. 



INTERVIEW WITH MR. J. G. MAYDON. 



By "Ergates." 



IT has long been a " far cry " to Port 

 Shepstoue. The journey was not one 

 to be taken without (!onsider;vtion : the 

 country from Durban was sparsely in- 

 habitetl, the road was always up or down 

 hill, and at short intervals soft and boggy, 

 and the sei-vice by sea was intermittent, 

 and perfectly irregular as to departure 

 and arrival. These conditions are now 

 on the eve of change, and in a couple of 

 months the south coast railway, which 

 now terminates at Umzumbi, will have 

 reached its goal — Port Shepstone— some 

 twelve miles ahead. 



The country surrounding Port Shep- 

 stone is picturesque in the extreme. The 

 hills, covered with thick forest bush or 

 cane, though of soft contour, are extremely 

 steep, and rising from each other's base 

 leave practically no flat land. Even the 

 river alluvial flats — superb for vegetable 

 life— probably do not altogether exceed 

 in quantity a thousand acres. Then the 

 lover of the picturesque has from the 

 sides of the hills a view of the ocean, and, 

 according to his locality, of a section of 

 the beautiful Umzimkulu River, which 

 for half a dozen miles is as broad as the 

 Thames at Putney. 



There are three agricultural estates of 

 importance in what is known as the Port 

 Shepstone District : that of the Umzim- 

 kulu Sugar Company, the Ruthville, 

 owned by Messrs. Aiken, and the Barrow 

 Green Estates. At the manager's house of 

 the last, Mr. J. G. Maydon, who is largely 

 interested in the Barrow Green and Um- 

 zimkulu companies, was staying, and he 

 was good enough to give me the local in- 

 formation I asked for. 



"The Ruthville Estate," said Mr. 

 Maydon, "is the oldest, and they are 

 growing practically all Coast products 

 upon it, including even tea, but their 

 chief industry is sugar, their cane being 

 now crushed at the central mill owned 

 by the Umzimkulu Su<:ar Company. 

 The "Barro.v Green" originally grew 

 coffee and tea principally. Shortly 



after the coffee leaf disease made its 

 appearance, the Estate passed into the 

 hands of the present proprietors, who 

 increased the acreage in tea, and grew 

 fruit in place of coffee. Of late, a con- 

 siderable quantity of land has been put 

 under sugarcane, and every year it is 

 intended to extend this crop. 



Umzimkulu Sugar Company. 

 The Umzimkulu Sugar Co. is prosper- 

 ing, and in a short time will be one of 

 the largest contributors to the sugar out- 

 put of Natal. Mr. C. Gersigny, who is 

 the Managing Director, and who was 

 making one of his periodical inspections, 

 was good enough to give me the following 

 figures relating to the sugar produced at 



the mill : — 









1808 



212 



tons 





1899 



410 







1900 



825 



H 



estimate 





950 



5' 



actual 



1901 



900 





estimate 



1902 



1,800 







The mill is modern, and first-class in 

 every way. The centrifugals are Weston's 

 patent, having all the latest improve- 

 ments. The milling power requires in- 

 creasing, and orders for £2,500 of extra 

 plant have been sent Home. The site of 

 the mill is on the south bank, about a 

 mile above the ferry, and is admirable 

 in every respect. The water carriage is, 

 of course, the most striking advantage 

 which the visitor notices as being 

 possessed by the mill. The cheap 

 handling of so bulky and heavy a 

 product as cane is a big and constant 

 problem for sugar growers, and that 

 problem to a great extent is solved locally 

 by the existence of the river-way. At 

 various points along the river the cane 

 within convenient distance is collected 

 and loaded into boats which float up or 

 down the river Avith the tide, or are towed 

 by a steam launch, and pass into a canal 

 which leads to the foot of the mill's cane- 



