Fibres. 



110 



[August, 1909- 



Sea Island cotton report, dated January 

 9 last, Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., of 

 Charleston, write : — 



There was an active demand through- 

 out the week, resulting in the sale of 

 a total of 1,900 bales of cotton from 

 Charleston, and 3,li4 bales from Savanah. 

 (These sales, of course, include cotton of 

 coarser grade from Floiida and Georgia, 

 as well as the finer quality lint from 

 Carolina.) The prevailing prices for 

 Islands cotton are as follows :— " Extra 

 fine" quality, 13d, per lb. ; ' 4 fully fine " 

 124d. to 12M., "fine" lid., tinged cotton, 

 9|d. ; and stains, 7Ad. to 8d. per lb. The 

 buying was general for England, France, 

 and the Northern mills. As the entire 

 stock of odd bags has been sold, we are 

 now dependent on future receipts for gra- 

 ded cotton. No sales of ' planters crops' 

 cotton have been made, since factors 

 are unwilling to accept current prices. 



The total amount of American Sea 

 Island cotton ginned up to January 1 of 

 the present year has been 80,010 bales, as 

 compared with 73,425 bales ginned to same 

 date last year. The present year's crop 

 (Americau) is estimated at 100,000 bales. 



On January 10, Messrs. Frost & Co., 

 write : — 



There has again been an active demand 

 throughout the week for all the offer- 

 ings of odd bags of all grades, and also 

 for all the crop lots of "fully fine" 

 quality, which could be purchased up to 

 13d., leaving the market swept of all 

 offerings excepting crop lots held at 13|d. 

 and upwards. In view of reduced stock, 

 factors are now disposed to hold these 

 with more confidence, as the receipts 

 from now on are expected to be small. 



ORIGIN AND ESTABLISHMENT OF 

 THE BARBADOS CO-OPERATIVE 

 COTTON FACTORY. 



By Hon. F. J, Clarke, cm.g., m.a,, 



President of the Barbados Agricultural 

 Society. 



(From the West Indian Bulletin, Vol, 



IX., No. 3, 1908.) 

 With a view to encouragiug the culti- 

 vation of cotton and onions in this 

 island, the Imperial Commissioner sug- 

 gested that the Barbados Agricultural 

 Society should appoint a Committee to 

 co-operate with the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture with that object. 



This Committee was appointed on 

 Febuary 6, 1903. It consisted of seven 

 members, Sir Daniel Morris being one, 

 and I had the honour of being the Chair- 

 man. Subsequently four others were 

 added to the Committee, 



The Committee at once decided that 

 the first step to be taken in encouraging 

 the cultivation of cotton was the erection 

 of a giuuery. There were then a few 

 trial plots of cotton which had been 

 plauted at the suggestion of the Imperial 

 Commissioner. The Committee was lent 

 one of three gins and one of* three baling 

 presses sent out to the Imperial Com- 

 missioner by the British Cotton-Growing 

 Association. 



On the application of the Committee, 

 the Government lent them a wooden 

 building which had been erected as a 

 small-pox hospital, which was no longer 

 required for that purpose, and a site on 

 the pierhead for the erection of the gin- 

 nery. The British Cotton-Growing As- 

 sociation lent them two gins. 



The Legislature voted and placed at 

 the disposal of the Committee £250 for 

 erection purposes. 



A second-hand engine aud boiler and 

 the necessary fittings were bought, and 

 the ginnery on its completion was for- 

 mally opened by Lady Morris on July 31, 

 1903. The result of the first year's work- 

 ing was satisfactory, and as it was 

 found that the next year's cotton crop 

 would be about 800 acres, the Committee 

 decided to enlarge the ginnery. 



The British Cotton-Growing Associ- 

 ation lent them three more gins and a 

 cotton seed disintegrator, the Legisla- 

 ture voted a further sum of £120, and 

 the British Cotton-Growing Association 

 gave £100 to defray the cost of erection. 



The enlarged ginnery was equipped 

 with six gins, a baling press, and a seed 

 disintegrator. It was opened on Janu- 

 ary 25,1904. 



Daring the first two years of their 

 work, the Committee were not only 

 helped by the Government in the 

 erecting and enlargement of the ginnery, 

 but money was lent them by the Gov- 

 ernment to purchase seed-cotton from 

 small growers, and to pay their work- 

 ing expenses. The Imperial Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture also lent money 

 for this purpose. 



The growers of cotton were now per- 

 fectly satisfied with the results obtained 

 so far, and the area in cotton for the 

 season 1904-5 appeared likely to be very 

 much larger than that of the previous 

 year. The Committee therefore decided 

 that the time had arrived when the cot- 

 ton industry should be carried on with- 

 out any government or other assistance, 

 they therefore called a meeting of cot- 

 ton growers and proposed to them that 

 they should form a co-operative com- 

 pany to take over and work the ginnery, 

 This was done, and thus there came 

 into existence the company known aa 



