, 1874-04-15
The "AVISD
THE WEST INDIAN IN LONDON.
Concluded
IS PUBLISHED
EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.
Is PUBLISHED

being naturally to write down the sugar market,
it is not a matter of surprise that it should
occasionally employ fallacious arguments and
unsound statistics. These may be usually left
to find their own REPUTATION, and to break down
by the weight of their own absurdity. But in
the Reyiea0 for March Z, there are some state
ments of extraordinary recklessness, which, un-
less they are contradicted, are likely to cause
considerable mischief. The following Is the
paragraph referred to, which is quoted in full
for the instruction of readers in the west In
dies -" 1t is stated in one of the West Indian
papers received by las mail that 100 dollars
amply cover the expenses OF an acre of canes,
and taking the yield OF an acre as two tons of
sugar, We arrive at a prime cost of los Sd. per
cwt., and adding freight, duty, and all other
charges, it can be laid down here at about los
Cd. per cwt: We have several lines made a
similar statement from our own sources Of in
formation, and it is satisfactory to find them
confirmed by West Iudiln experience, although
such calculations have not been hi herto ac-
cepted as correct in our market. II favOurably
situated places, fine sugar can, without doubt,
be put free on board at a cost of los. per cwt,
or say, los per cwt., duty paid, here.
Such sugar is now selling at 26S. to
sos. in this market, so that the com
plants made by the makers of raw sugar as
to present prices seem to be without foundation.
No doubt sugar has paid them infinitely better
than it now does, but with a rapidly increasing
trade a continuance of the very heavy old rates
of profit cannot be expected. Planters will
also, doubtless, be unable to live like people of
fortune on the produce Of few tons of sugar
every wear, but it is evident that there is no
foundation for the cry that sugar is ruinously
low for the producers. The am~algamation of
small estates, improved cultivation, aud the use
of modern machinery would make our sugar
colonies more prosperous than they ever were
before, even at a reduction of 6S or Is. per cwt.
on the present prices. If chemists are right the
present yield of most estates might be easily
doubled or trebled, and better sugar, which would
not lose Is per cent. on the voyage, and which
would not require to pay refining or other old
fashioned intermediate profits would be pro-
duced." 1t is not often that one sees such a
large number of Misrepresentation compressed
into a small space. The Rer1cU takes as ito
authority a West Indian newspaper which it
does not name. 1t is not probable that any
newspaper with the barest knowledge Of the
subject would endorse the above
But the Rerielo apparently misunderstood the
newspaper that it quotes, and coufounds the
d" cost of an acre of canes" with the total cost of
production. 1t may be true that the "cost of
an acre of canes, = that is, planting, wedding, and
cutting, is covered by 100 dollars, but this is
not the cost of production, which includes, in
addition to cultivation expenses, grinding aud
manufacturing the sugar for market. The ac-
tual cost Of production per acre in British Gui-
ana, taking an average of the last six years, is
known by experience to be considerably more
than the estimate of the Reciew. The same
may be said of production in Trinldad, although
the cost is not SO great as in the other colony.
The Reoiew is also wide Of the mark in saying
that two tons of sugar are obtained from an acre
of canes. The selling weight in England of
Vacuum Pan sugar, produced from an acre of
canes 10 Demerara( ascertalned from a sufficiently
large number of estates to justify a general as
%sertion), has averaged for the last six years
not more than twenty-seyen cwt., and in Irini-
dad, from estates producing Muscovado, some
what less than this. Nor does the sugar that
sells for 26s. to 28s. in this market lose Is per
cent on the voyage. The Vacuum Pan sugars
lose nothing at all, and the extreme loss upon
Grocery Muscovado sugar, that sells for 26s., is
not more than 2 to 4per cent. during the voyage.
Indeed, throughout the remarks of the ReoicW
there is an apparent confusion between the
different qualities of sugar. 1t is quite true
that under some exceptional circumstances,
say in Barbados, where sugar is made under
~ ..F f G- er-