200 



SUGARa 



Pointe Simon has also paid 33^ per cent, per annum, and Frangois 

 has varied between 36 and 48 per cent, since it was established. 

 These are facts not gathered by hearsay, but from personal inspection 

 of the books of these factories, kindly placed at my disposal by the 

 gentlemen who direct them ; and I cannot omit this opportunity of 

 warmly acknowledging the kindness and attention I received from the 

 numerous directors I visited. 



Of course the effects produced to the island generally have been 

 very beneficial. Since the establishment of these factories the export 

 of sugar has exactly doubled, and being of a superior quality, giving 

 no loss by drainage to shippers or purchasers, its proportional market 

 value is greater. The shipping towns have profited by this increase 

 of commerce, and the vessels have brought prosperity to many with 

 them. Merchants who first feared that the central factories becoming 

 great depots for sugar would interfere with their business, have found 

 it has not been so ; for when by chance they may have lost the con- 

 signments of sugar, or the agency of some petty estate, other currents 

 of commerce have resulted, which more than indemnified them. 



The following is a report made by the Commissioners appointed to 

 inquire into the working of the central sugar factories system in 

 Martinique and Guadaloupe, presented to Governor Baynes in 1872. 



We arrived at Basseterre, Guadaloupe, upon the 18th June, and 

 proceeded without delay to the town of Point-a-Pitre where the 

 largest central factory or Usine, in the French islands, is situated, 

 the " Compagnie Sucriere E. Souques et Cie," commonly called 

 " L'Usine D'Arboussier." This factory stands in the suburbs of the 

 fine seaport of Point-a-Pitre, is constructed upon the grandest scale, 

 and is rej)lete with all the improvements in machinery and the 

 manufacture of sugar devised by modern science. 



The cost was 216,000?., and the Usine, when a third mill, now 

 being put up, is available, will be equal to an out-turn, in the first 

 six months of the year, of from 8000 to 10,000 tons of sugar. 



It commenced operations on the 5th April, 1869, but did not get 

 regularly to work until the 25th. 



The first season was completed with part of the copper machinery 

 not fitted up, and at no time was the Usine supplied with canes to 

 keep its mills going. The supply of canes is derived from both 

 divisions of Guadaloupe, the volcanic and calcareous. From the 

 former they are conveyed in large lighters towed by steam-tugs; 

 from the latter by the tramway, several miles in length. The canes 

 are carted by the planter to his nearest point on the railway, or shore, 

 and thence by the Usine to their destination, where they are weighed 

 by a sworn agent, in the presence, if required, of a representative of 

 the estate. The planter receives 5J per cent, of the weight of his 

 canes of " bonne quatrieme," equal to " No. 12 Dutch standard," the 

 price being regulated by the market of Point-a-Pitre at the time 

 the canes are delivered. 



The process of sugar manufacture at this Usine is as follows : 



The canes are brought by the planter to a siding of the main 

 tramway on his estate. The waggon generally carries 2 tons of 



