The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-14 00:00:00

' GROWTH OF SUGAR IN INDIA.
(From the Bombay Times, April 6.)
The capabilities of India, the fertility of the soil,
the cheapness of food and labour, and the certainty
that the best cotton, sugar, Vic., can be produced there,
has long been admitted. Many -other articles of ex-
tensive consumption in Great Britain and foreign Eu-
rope have long been shipped from India ; and we are
continuallyadding new staples to our imports from
thence, such as tea from Assam, linseed, tallow, /cc.
Of all East India produce, the article which most
decidedly takes the lead in British and European
markets, classed with the same article the produce of
other countries, is indigo and is this to be attributed
to mere chance ? No; for we find (with a very few
exceptions), that it is only the indigo from factories
under European management which may be classed
as fine, whilst the quality of that under native mark
is generally very inferior, and almost always falsely
packed ; the best being placed at the top of the box,
whilst the bulk is inferior and rubbishy.
In the growth of sugar and cotton there are only
solitary instances as yet of Europeans being concerned.
Hitherto the principal consumers of sugar in India
have been the Ilindoos themselves • it is impossible to
say what is the consumption of 130 millions of
people, all eating more or less, according to their
means, from the raw cane of the poor to the refined
sweetmeats of the rich. The quantity of sugar daily
eaten by a Hindoo would sicken an Englishman, and
rating the exports of Bengal at 60,000 tons, I should
say it was a small amount in comparison with the con-
sumption of Indian grown sugar in India.
But the high rates ruling in England have been
such as to cause very high prices to rule in Calcutta,
and, during the time when the bulk of the crop was
coming upon the Calcutta market, in Juneto Septem-
ber, 1840, Company's rupees 11 to 15 per maund were
the prices current for fine white Benares, which cost
the native grower not more than 6 to 7 rupees per
maund to lay down at Calcutta.
These high rates induced a decrease of native con-
sumption ; for a greater portion of the year's crop
was shipped to Calcutta than was ever known before.
When prices rapidly fell in England, there was no
corresponding effect in Calcutta, though prices did not
give way, in consequence of less eagerness to purchase
for export to Great Brittain ; but it afforded the Bom-
bay merchants an opportunity of buying, the native in-
land bazaars were better supplied ; and even those who
were large holders in Calcutta clearly saw that the
great accumulation of shipping (requiring sugar for
return cargoes), with English crews, officers, and
commanders, would take more injury in being ex-
posed to the heat of a tropical sun than their sugar
would, stowed away in their godowns or warehouses ;
and even in the face of discouraging advices from Great
Britain, the prices which had fallen, in May, 1841,
to as low as Company's rupees 11.8 per maund,
advanced to 13 rupees, whilst freight declined from
6/. 10s. to 2/. per ton of 20 cwt. There are perhaps no-
where to be found cleverer salesmen or buyers than
amongst the native dealers of Calcutta ; and though
the grower could afford to sell fine white Benares
sugar at Calcutta at from six rupees to seven rupees
per maund, it is not likely he would do so as long as
he could by any means obtain eleven to fifteen rupees
for it. Merely because such rates have been ruling
in Calcutta, it would be an unfair inference to suppose
it cannot be produced for less : indeed, the following
statement of the cost of growing sugar at Gazepore
will entirely do away with any such idea :

Rups.
Ten ploughings, at four annas each 2 8
Watering once, at one rupeo per beegalls
Three ploughings, at five annas each
Fifteen bundles of cane for seed, at five bupdies

per one rupee
Cutting, cleaning, and sowing the above 0 6
Watering for two months, three times 3 0
Hoeing nine times, at three annas each time
Nfanuring 0 $
Tieing the canes, in August... 0 5
Cutting the cane for manufacturing, including
' __ carrcarryingo 12.

Rent Of land 5 8
Expressing the cane, and reducing it to ghoor (or
boiled juice) ... 10 0

29 9

Ekpense of manufacturing the ghoor into sugar
:
Thirty maunds of fire-wood, at 25 rupees petloo..
maunds 7 8
Servants employed ~ ' 4 0
Sward grass, used for the purpose of claying, 1 0
Earthen pans 0 8
Hire for boiler 3 0

45 9

Produce : '
7i maunds fine white Benares, at say 5 mines
46 8
3 ditto grey ditto ditto 3 ditto
3 ditto molasses.

4i ditto dirt, &c.
But to be well within bounds, we will suppose fine
white Benares sugar to cost the grower seven
rupees, laid down at Calcutta, which, with freight
at 41., and insurances 205., would stand in 255. 6d.
per cwt., landed in bond in England ; but which
at the rates ruling at Calcutta, from 11 to 15 rupees (ave-
rage 13 rupees), costs 41s. 6d bonded in England, with
the same freight and insurance. The high prices
which began to rule in Calcutta in 1840 had the effect
of immediately brining a vastly increased quantity of
land under sugar cultivation ; but the result of that
increased cultivation will only appear in the Calcutta.
market in 1842, and here in the fall of this year, asthe
cuttings take one year in coming to maturity, and,
as the prices which have been ruling there since May,
1840, up to the date of the latest advices received,
have been such as to yield a profit to the native grower
of from 25 to 100 per cent., the probability is that
the culture of the sugar cane is still rapidly increas-
ing ; for it will continue to increase so long as the
grower can make even a small profit by, it. Ihe cul-
ture of the sugar cane, and the manufacture of it in
the native way, by which the finest white Benares
sugar is now produced, requires very little capital.
The poorest farmer, with the smallest portion of land,
may grow and manufacture it, and secure to himself
the profit of his labour ; whereas, in the production of
silk and indigo, much capital is required, the profits
being absorbed by the capitalist, whilst the many em-
ployed are oppressed. •
The 'advantages which mark Bengal, and other
parts of India, in growing sugar, are these—cheap la-
bour, and an almost inexhaustible supply of labourers;
cheap food, and the means of producing that food on
the spot, to almost any extent for which there may be
a demand ; frugal habits and sobriety ; a climate in
which the chief requisite for a dwelling is protection
from the sun, and which is afforded at the cost of
putting together branches and leaves - little or no
clothing requisite, and that little of light and cheap
fabrics.

The disadvantages under which India labours in
comparison with our colonies in the west are, that
we are more distant from Europe, and that mecha-
nical and chemical skill have not been applied in the
east so fully as in the west.
The discriminating duties which artificially fos-
tered production in the west have been for some time
done away with, and this the natives of India are just
begimflng to find out and feel the effects of.
The mechanical and chemical skill which has al-
ready been applied to the cultivation of sugar in
Bengal is almost entirely confined to Calcutta;
whereas many think that such establishments should
he erected in the heart of the district in which the
cane is grown, that such skill may be applied in the
first boiling of the juice, under .less atmos-
pheric pressure, and consequently with less
heat, that there may be an easier granula-
tion of the sugar, and less molasses. It is ap-
parent that, if the sugar manufacturing establish-
ments are erected at Calcutta, the expense would be
very great of transmitting the canes (if at all practi-
cable) from such districts as Benares and Gazepore,
400 miles distant.

The juice will not keep unless immediately boiled;
this is done in earthen pots, and after this first process
is called ghoor, and in this state will keep good for
many months, and consequently may be kept in stock
until such time as may be convenient for manufac-
turing it into sugar.
The great benefit which will accrue to the mass of
the people, by the continued:increase of the production
of sugar in India, will be in selling the ghoor to the
manufacturers or dealers, who purchase it through
native agents in any quantity from one pot up-
wards, or that the profits arising from growing the
cane may be realised by the poor as well as the
wealthy ; and it is impossible now to foresee to what
extent this benefit will be felt. In 1838-9, the ex-
ports were 30,000 tons ; in 1839-40, 63,000 tons ;
in 1840-41. 56,000 tons; in 1841-42, will they not
be 100,000?
It is not merely that some portion of the immense
population of India will by this means find employ-
ment, in-which the poorest may secure for themselves
the full remuneration of their toil, but it is found
expedient to introduce. mechanical and chemical skill,
by the application of which a larger proportion of
sugar maw be taken from an equal quantity of cane,
j than by the present rude and imperfect native system.