, 1874-05-06

Gus mechanics, against which the traditions
and rude practice of West Indian routine was
surely doomed to fall, though working a mate
rial at least dou5ly as rich originally as its
rival and vastly more amenable to chemical
treatment) but even to be cast into the shade
ny foreign rivals working the same material as
themselves and whether owing to an indolent
contentment with the system they inherited, or
mat the planters in the British colonies. gener-
ally, were not free to adopt a better, or owing
TO absenteeism, with all its faults and inherent
iialIlngs, or to national preiudices, or to a Grass
hcreduilty of what was achieved elsewhere,
cur planting agents now find themselves
WneE a serious change is forced on them, when
an tne world IS making sugar, and many coun-
tries better than they, at a time when onlv
good descriptions have a chance of fetching
far prIces,-ln a lamentable dilemma. The
old system can no longer repay cost and des-
pite long warning they have neglected, most
of them, to make themselves acquainted with
and prepare for the new whilst they yet could.
II in the heyday Of a fall year they have not
laid by a recuperative force, wo to them.
Many, we know, have from the profits of recent
years, done great things to improve their pro-
perties-withOut fundamental alteration. These
properties are thus more valuable, however,
they are worked, though not to the extent they
would have been had the oatlays been made
with a clear view to the adoption of a better
system. They are worth more to ask advances
on, they are better equipped, more prepared
for any move that may be thought advisable,
at an epoch that in sugar-making is, beyond
question, one of transition. We must abandon
paSty and Wasteful sugars, aud make a superb
or sort or sorts, with less waste in the boiling
house and none on the voyage. We must not
JOO1V OC hao,,vy froi~I4 onl ,4hou ,Lorooo al
duty, on an inferior, loWer-valued sugar, as
we would on enc that fetches a 25-per-cent.
higher price. We must make the better kind
and save the various waste and loss in charges
incurred on the present base sugars. Barbados
has been some years in advance of US, in the
making Of better sugars-at least by some OF
its prOprietOrs and Demerara also, by some
years, with its fine vacuum-pan makes but
neither of these colonies has achieved results
comparable with those gained by the usines Of
Martinique and Guadaloupe, where the true
contradictory system prevails, with its sepa-
rate but mutually dependent and mutually
benefitting arrangement of distinct planter and
mill owner.
For the Introduction of this system into
Trinidad and the English planta ions, general
ly, we have argued personally many years, and
publicly, from the time we bought this press in
" ~ " OHo u Oul SiC"G olJcGto III SotClu8
it. We knew we would have uphill work,
The practical men (so-called) would all be-
against us, and no one cared to change. Homo
duties, not intentionally but practically pro-
tected the maker of the coarser kinds; there
was less inducement to improve. But We
knew our theory was right, and heard in q
vague way tit was long ere we had definite
news) that French practice was proving it =
Division of labor, concentration Of thought,
means and energy in a single direction, pay
ment for quantity, the use of skilled labor,
scientific adjustment, and remunera' ion by re-
suits in proportion to pro6t-how could these
be wrong? That they are not so, that they
are as Automatically true in s~ugar-makiGg as in
every other industry, let the profits divided by
the happy shareholders of the FRANCOIS usine
tell, in Martinique
In 1867, the first year of Operations they were 10 p. ct ;
" 1868, " 2nd " %
Wl96o sc ard 81 81 az "