TW wa ! ET Ee 
502 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Junz, 1900. 
QUEENSLAND ARROWROOT. 
‘Wirt reference to the prices of arrowroot in Great Britain, which appear 10 
British price lists as much higher than can be obtained by the growers an: 
manufacturers of Queensland who export the article, we wish to draw attention 
to the fact that Queensland arrowroot, under the provisions of the Food and 
Drugs Act, cannot be sold in Great Britain as arrowroot, and thisis a matter of 
great importance to the growers here. The authorities in England, with whom 
the administration of the Act lies, have decided that the article made here and 
sent into the English market is not genuine arrowroot, because it is made from 
the Canna edulis and not from Maranta arundinacea. Much correspondence has 
passed on the subject between the Department of Agriculture here and the 
Acting Agent-General for the colony in England, Mr. Chas. S. Dicken, who 
particularly interested himself in the matter, and placed himself in communica- 
tion with Mr. Chamberlain, with the result that arrowroot made in this colony 
from the Canna edulis can be sold in Great Britain only when labelled 
“Queensland Arrowroot.” The Hon. A. J. Thynne, when Minister for 
Asriculture, advised growers not only-so to designate the manufactured article, 
but to add the words ‘“‘ Prepared from Canna edulis.’ So the matter stands; 
and when arrowroot is quoted in British price lists, it should be understood that 
in every case the standard arrowroots of St. Vincent, Natal, and Bermuda are 
referred to. 
Those prices were given in a letter from the Agent-General to the Minister 
for Agriculture, so far back as 1896, as follows :— 
Bermuda ... ax iss ap 4s. il, ges Me, 
Natal oe 4 ae vee Grd 
St. Vincent (1) ... ch, we 22d ey 
St. Vincent (2) ... 3 ob ei ay 
The Army and Navy Stores supplied samples of five kinds with their 
prices, viz. :— 
Bermuda ... Hs ibe Pr2Sa0sC me pelalD: 
Bermuda (kind) ... ¥ Pree Slay “s 
Natal (finest)  ... i oi 94d. i, 
St. Vincent an xO At 33d..° *,, 
St. Vincent (fine) rt me 63d. z 
The reason for the wide difference in value was the limited supply of 
Bermuda. There is no sample or price given for Queensland arrowroot for the 
reasons stated. 
“Strictly speaking,” says the Assistant Secretary of Inland Revenue, 
London, in a report on the subject to the Under Secretary of State, “‘ the term 
‘arrowroot,’ without prefix or qualification, should be restricted to the starch 
derived from plants of the genus Maranta, the most important member of 
which is Maranta arundinacea, « native of the West Indies, and which 
furnishes most of the genuine West Indian arrowroot. The Maranta starch is 
erfectly distinct in its physical character and properties, and is readily 
identified under the microscope. A. purchaser simply asking for arrowroot 
would presumably, by use and wont, expect to be supplied with Maranta starch. 
Tous-les-mois, or ‘‘ Queensland arrowroot, the product of the Canna edulis, 
is quite a different starch, and its physical properties and appearance are distinct 
from those of Maranta starch.” 
We are informed by Messrs. Lahey Bros. that the price of the Queensland 
article has varied much in price, sometimes falling to 1d. per Ib., or £16 per 
ton, with freight at 4d. per lb., sometimes reaching as much as 4d. per lb., or 
over £33 per ton. The average price in Brisbane, the Messrs. Lahey stated to 
range from £12 to £20, or, say, an average of £15 per ton. 
The quotations in the Jowrnal for arrowroot are for the three recognised 
peat there being, as we have said, no quotation for Queensland arrowroot 
available. 
