April  i,  1897.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
689 
ago  and  in  the  interval  they  liave  examined 
some  tl)irty  witnesses  representing  all  classes  and 
interests  in  the  community,  and  have  visited  two 
large  and  representative  sugar  estates.  The 
anmunt  of  evidence  taken  is  extensive  and  pro- 
bably entirely  exhaustive  of  the  subject  of  the 
sugar  industry  and  tlie  large  part  which  it  lills 
in  tlie  commercial,  social,  and  industrial  life  of 
the  colony.  Of  such  a mass  of  information  it  is 
impossible  to  give  more  than  an  outline,  and  it 
is  sufiicient  to  say  tliat  without  exception  the 
trend  of  tlie  evidence  has  gone  to  show  the  iden- 
tity of  the  interests  of  the  colony  with  the  for- 
tunes of  its  .stajile  industry.  The  expression  used 
more  than  once  has  been  “ the  sugar  industry  of 
the  colony.”  In  a previous  letter  I gave  a lew 
figures  showing  the  predominant  position  of  the 
trade  of  sugar  growing  and  expcn  ting  in  British 
Guiana,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  labour  the 
point  by  repetition.  It  is,  however,  important 
to  note  that  a great  majority  of  the  witne.sses 
give  it  as  their  opinion  that  the  sugar-cane  is 
the  only  product  that  can  be  grown  with  any 
degree  of  success  on  the  alluvial  soils  of  Uome- 
rara.  A considerable  volume  of  evidence  has 
been  taken  as  to  the  practicability  of  alternative 
industries  to  sugar,  but  very  little  really  satis- 
factory information  is  to  be  obtained.  For  years 
past  the  subject  of  “ minor  industries,”  as  they 
are  called  here,  has  been  en  Fair,  but  wherever 
attempts  have  been  made  to  raise  anything  be- 
sides cane  or  “ ground  previsions” — i.e.,  plantains, 
cassava,  yams,  and  so  forth — failure  has  been  the 
rule.  The  heavy  salt  soil  is  quite  unsuited  to 
cocoa,  which  is  so  successfully  grown  in  Vene- 
zuela, and  local  labour  conditions  would  render 
coffee  unprofitable  as  an  export  commodity.  The 
cultivation  of  rice  is  becoming  general  amongst 
the  time-expired  coolies  who  remain  in  the  colony, 
and  when  proper  machinery  is  introduced,  it  is 
probable  that  sufficient  rice  will  be  grown  to 
meet  local  demands  ; but  British  Guiana  can 
never  hope  to  compete  with  India  as  a rice-ex- 
porting country  so  long  as  labour  in  the 
one  country  cannot  be  had  under  Is  a day 
— the  irreducible  minimum— in  the  other  may 
readily  be  obtained  for  l^d.  The  conclusion  to 
which  one  seems  to  be  forced  after  studying  the 
evidence  given  is  that  sugar,  and  sugar  alone, 
can  be  sucessfully  cultivated  for  export  purposes 
on  the  coast  lands  of  the  colony.  At  present 
colonists  are  turning  wistful  eyes  towards  t he 
interior,  which,  until  the  di.scovery  of  gold  some 
tsvelve  years  ago,  was  allowed  to  remain  a sealed 
book  to  the  generality  of  the  public.  The  deve- 
lopment of  the  interior,  however,  cannot  be  ade- 
quately undertaken  by  a Government  whose  revenue 
is  falling  as  steadily  as  its  expenditure  is  increas* 
ing,  and  there  is  a bamentable  dearth  of  private 
capital  for  such  a purpose.  The  gold  industry 
even,  according  to  more  than  one  witness,  has 
not  been  an  unmixed  bles.sing,  for  it  has 
ab-sorbed  thousands  of  pounds  of  local  capital, 
only  a small  proportion  of  which  has  proved  pro- 
ductive. What  is  chiefly  needed  is  the  intro- 
duction of  foreign  capital  for  the  development  of 
. the  troldfiekls,  but  until  the  boundary  of  the  colony 
is  finally  adjusted  that  is  hardly  to  be  ex- 
pected. 
The  Commissioners  have  devoted  considerable 
attention  in  the  examination  of  witnesses  to 
colonial  expenditure,  and  particularly  to  the  cost 
of  immigration,  w'hich  constitutes  a large  drain 
upon  the  exchequer.  ISince  the  year  1878  the 
Government  has  borne  one  third  of  the  total  cost 
of  immigration,  but,  in  view  of  the  serious  de- 
presssion  of  the  sugar  trade,  during  the  last 
financial  year  the  Government  share  was  increased 
to  two-third.s.  In  addition  the  presence  of 
thousands  of  indentured  labourers  on  the  estates 
necessitates  the  maintenance  of  an  extensive 
medical  service,  the  whole  cost  of  which  falls 
upon  the  colony.  It  was  suggested  by  Sir  David 
Barbour  that  this  public  expenditure  on  immigra- 
tion is  equivalent  to  a bounty  to  the  planters, 
and  the  reply  elicited  was  that  the  introduction 
of  so  many  immigrants  must  benefit  a revenue 
largely  derived  from  the  taxation  of  foodstuffs 
and  clothing,  and  it  w'as  further  stated  that  had 
it  not  been  for  East  Indian  immigration  the 
population  would  have  steadily  decreased  during 
the  past  30  years.  Other  witnesses,  however, 
have  contended  that  from  the  point  of  view'  of 
the  .settlement  of  the  country  and  the  formation 
of  a wealth-creating  peasantry,  the  introduction 
of  the  coolie  has  pro\ed  a marked  failure. 
Another  \ery  costly  item  which  has  figured  in  the 
investigations  of  the  Commi.ssion  is  the  payment 
of  return  passages,  for  which  the  colony  is  at 
present  liable  to  the  extent  of  £1,000,000.  As  it 
IS,  a considerable  proportion  of  the  coolies  elect 
to  remain  in  the  colony  on  the  expiration  of  their 
agreed  term  of  service  and  residence,  but  the 
number  is  not  satisfactory,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
devise  a means  of  increasing  it  without  involving 
the  colony  in  an  expenditure  on  small  bonuses 
equal  to  the  cost  of  the  return  passages.  The 
Commissioners  remarked  the  fact  that  -while  the 
sugar  industry  is  declining  immigration  is  still 
maintained  (2,425  coolies  were  imported  during 
the  year  1895-96),  but  the  planters  contend  that 
a ready  supply  of  indentured  labour  is  absolutely 
essential  to  the  carrying  on  of  their  industry,  as 
no  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  the  negro  and  the 
free  coolie. 
With  regard  to  efficiency  and  economy  in  the 
cultivation  and  manfacture  of  sugar,  expert  ami 
scientific  evidence  given  before  the  Commission 
entirely  bears  out  the  statement  which  I made 
in  my  last  letter  upon  this  subject -namely,  that 
he  cost  of  production  has  been  reduced  to  a 
minimtim  and  the  methods  adopted  are  thoroughly 
up  to  date.  It  has  been  stated  in  the  evidence 
given  that  the  German  manufacturers  can  sliow 
no  process  of  production  which  might  be  con- 
sidered an  improvement  upon  those  employed  in 
Demerara,  and  the  yield  of  the  cane  has  been 
increa.sed  to  a point  beyond  wdiich  it  is  practi- 
cally impossible  to  go.  And  yet  in  spite  of  all 
his  efforts  the  Demerara  planter  is  unable  to  make 
headway  against  the  brute  force  of  bounties. 
During  the  past  six  years  nearly  13,000  acres  pre- 
viously under  can  have  gone  out  of  cultivation, 
and  it  is  only  due  to  the  happy  circumstance  that 
the  past  season  has  been  exceptionally  favour- 
able that  the  whole  of  the  existing  plantations 
are  still  being  carried  on.  One  estate,  indeed, 
has  been  abandoned  and  is  now  on  the  market, 
and  another  large  plantation  is  in  process  of  being 
“cropped.”  With  two  or  three  more  equally 
favourable  seasons  there  need  be  no  immediate 
fear  of  a w'holesale  abandonment  of  estates  — that 
is,  provided  that  sugar  does  not  fall  lower  in  price 
than  at  present,  and  colonists  are  somewhat  less 
inclined  to  regard  their  position  as  desperate  than 
they  were  tw'o  or  three  months  ago.  One  con- 
clusion seems  to  be  general,  and  that  is  that  con- 
siderable economy  must  be  exercised  in  the 
public  expenditure  of  the  colony. 
The  Commissioners  sail  on  Saturday  next  for 
Trinidad. — London  Times,  Feb.  19. 
