36 The Journal of the Royal 
the factories at the time when they would be ready, 
when, possibly estate canes would be ready for grinding 
at the same time. He thought, hovever, that that was 
a danger which the goodwill of the estate proprietors 
could easily obviate; the Society in any case could 
always step in and arbitrate between them on such a 
point. The other difficulty was about weight. It 
appeared to be thought that to gauge the weight of 
canes by the punt load would be a very vague method 
of measurement, because a punt of canes could be filled 
just as a cord of wood was often packed — very loosely, 
so that possibly it might tell one way or the other. 
Engineers had the question under consideration, but 
until some definite scheme were brought forward, he 
did not see that they could adopt a better method than 
that of estimating the weight by the punt load. 
Mr. J. B. Laing endorsed the chairman's remarks 
about the necessity for giving the cane -farmers advice 
concerning tillage,, drainage and cultivation, and also 
thought that it would be advisable and necessary to do 
the same thing in regard to the particular kind of cane 
to be adopted by them for planting. Great efiforts had 
been made, both in this colony and elsewhere, to find 
out the cane that would give the best results. These 
attempts had met with a certain measure of success in 
this colony ; and if the villagers were going to take up 
cane-farming, it was to their interests and to the 
interests of the manufacturers also, that the best 
kind of cane should be planted in order that both 
parties should get the best results. The Society had 
demonstrated in a very thorough manner to the people 
of the colony that there was absolutely no antagonism 
between them and the planting community. He was 
