1 Nov., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 373 
MAFFRA (PORTUGAL) BEET SUGAR COMPANY, LIMITED. 
Tx following is the report of the Maffra Beet Sugar Company, Limited, for 
the half-year ending 30th June, 1898 :— 
Since the publication of the last report and balance-sheet, presented to 
you in February of this year, the factory building and the erection of 
the machinery have been completed. 
The technical staff, selected by Mr. J. M. Sinclair and the Brunswick 
Machinery Company, arrived here in March; and on 21st April the first beets 
were put through. Owing to the unprecedentedly severe season, which yielded 
practically no rain from the time of sowing until nearly harvest time, when it 
came too late, and caused a renewed growth of the plants to the detriment of their 
sugar contents ; so that the beet crops were, to a certain extent, a failure, and 
only 9,109 tons 12 ewt. of clean beets were available during the whole cam- 
paign. This fact your directors greatly deplore, but over which, of course, 
they had no control. During the working campaign sundry stoppages had to 
be made for want of raw material and various other unavoidable causes, 
amongst which the principal blame is attachable to wet weather, which caused 
delays and irregularities in the beet supply. 504 tons 16 ewt. white granulated 
sugar have been manufactured, and. it is very gratifying to be able to report 
that the whole of it has been sold at highly satisfactory prices. 
Besides what has been sold, there remain in stock about 110 tons of sugar 
in the syrup, and about 50 tons of molasses, now sold, and another parcel of 
about 500 tons of molasses which will be available about January, 1899, for 
sale, after the sugar contained therein has been extracted, during the after 
campaign then to be entered upon. 
Your directors have devoted considerable time to the business of the cam- 
paign, some of them haying continually been attending at the factory during 
the trial week’s work of the machinery before taking it over from the 
Brunswick Machinery Company. This has now been done, and a satisfactory 
arrangement with that company has been made for the payment of the balance 
due on the machinery. 
It is hopefully anticipated that this coming season, which promises well so 
far, will more than make up for the loss that was sustained during the past 
season, the experience of which has induced your directors to somewhat modify 
the methods to be adopted in the next season, both in the field as well as in the 
factory, in order to ensure better results. 
Your board, finding it necessary to have more funds at its disposal, decided 
to sell an additional number of shares, which have now been taken up. 
Finally, it is the belief of your directors that next season’s work will prove 
a financial success. The first year’s work has shown that the undertaking, 
under certain conditions, can be made a profitable one, and they certainly will 
leave no stone unturned to bring about that object. : 
A. McLEAN, Chairman. 
FRED. G. BARLEY, Secretary. 
Maffra, 25th July, 1898. j 
NEW DISCOVERY IN SUGAR-MAKING. 
Tun Limes Union and Citizen says:—Professor Stockbridge, the chemist at 
the State Agricultural College, has made a discovery which will alone richly 
repay to our people all the cost of that institution. The following facts have 
been thoroughly tested by experience, admitted by experts, and will carry a 
valuable lesson to every homestead in the State :— 
Tf the cane juice as it flows from the mill be filtered through common 
Spanish moss, green from the trees on which it grows, and then boiled even in 
an open iron vessel till crystallisation occurs, that need only to be crushed to 
make the “ coffee sugar’ of commerce. The colour is slightly tinged with a 
cream tint, and it is sweeter than ordinary sugar. 
