Rice Cultivation. 299 
There are infinite varieties of rice (over 200 at all 
events) cultivated in different parts of the world. In 
England about 92 per cent, of the consumption is 
obtained from India, and last year it was worth about 
6/6 a cwt. in the shape of cargo rice. The other 
8 per cent, is obtained from Patna, Java and Japan, and 
was worth last year about 12/ a cwt. A sample of the 
rice grown on Anna Regina ) which is the same as that 
grown almost universally in this part of the colony, was 
cleaned in Liverpool and shewn there in the Exhibition 
of last year. It closely resembled the finest samples of 
Java and Italian rice, which are considered the most 
desirable ; and it was very highly thought of by the miller 
who reported on it. He thought it was wasted in feeding 
the labourers here who would not appreciate its value, 
as the English consumer would, at double that of 
ordinary rice. For some reason, which I have not 
been able to discover, this kind of rice cannot be grown 
in the great rice-producing parts of India. There is no 
difficulty whatever about growing it here, and this is a 
very great point in considering rice as a future industry 
of the colony. When one considers the difficulties 
under which rice is made to pay in other places, it seems 
likely that it would succeed here on the low lands that 
have a supply of water for irrigation. Having seen the 
disappointment caused by the want of a sufficient supply 
of w r ater, I should always be particular in ascertaining 
before giving out land for rice cultivation, that it was 
below the lowest level of the canal from which it is to be 
supplied with water. 
Whether or not the cultivation of rice in this colony 
will ever stand as an industry by itself, there is no doubt 
