The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-12-16

RECENT ADVICEs from Europe disclose the fact
of an enormous deficit in the worlds production
OF sugar, amounting to over 400 900 tons, and
creating a gap which must by some means or
other be filed. This deficiency is caused partly
by n great falling off in the produce of some of
the tropical sugar countries, especially Cuba,
which has been scourged for some time by n des-
perate civil war. The produce of Louisiana has
also fallen of, but the great decrease is in the
beet-root sugar. This industry had been forced
by protective duties into enormous proportions
in Europe. 1t has nevertheless been unable to
successfully compete with tropically grown sugar
at the low rates that have ruled for the latter
during the last few years. The lands so largely
used for beet-root are found to pay better in pro-
auctions for which the soil and climate are more
fitted by nature, and are being used accordingly,
despite the very heavy protective duties imposed.
This fact of the decrease in the world's produc-
ton of sugar should furnish grounds for encour-
agement to our Hawaiian planters, and ought,
in connection with the extraordinary advantages
afforded by reciprocity, within the next few years
to greatly increase our production of the staple.
No known crop capable of being cultivated on a
large scale yields anything like the same money
return as sugar. The small island of Barbados,
in the West Indies, measuring only twenty-one
miles by fifteen, (while Oahu alone measures
~forty-six by "twenty-fve) supports 479 sugar
mills, and a few years since exported about fifty
million pounds. Nor is the comparison an
unfair one, for Barbados, like Oahu, abounds in
mountains and precipitous ridges, divided by
deep ravines and gullies. By the last census
which we have been able to find, Barbados had
a population of 100, 1913 souls, and in proportion
to the area of land, at that ratio, these islands
ought to be able to support a population Of about
four and q half million of souls.
From the French West Indies we may learn a
lesson on the practical value Of small farms for
the cultivation of sugar. We have always urged
the Importance to the islands of encouraging this
system. The planters of the French West Indies,
we learn, have managed to preserve their pros
porous condition during the long continuance in
the depression of sugar, and the secret of this is
found in the fact that the cultivators are NAL
landed proprietors and lessees. They hold from
five to two hundred acres each, but chiefly about
twenty acres. They cultivate other crops as well
as cane, and grow food for the laborers. The
grinding of the cane and manufacture of sugar is
done at central mills encouraged by bonuses from
the government III the hrst iHSIahcee, pue ho"
running entirely on their own resources. The
first mill owners held guarantees from the plan
tiers, secured by mortgage on their properties,
but such guarantees are now found unnecessary,
and mutual benefit is q sufficient bond between
them.
The hopes Of the wealth, progress and develop
ment of Hawaii nei depend exclusively upon our
agriculture. A wide and almost virgin field is
here afforded for the employment of capital and
labor, with a sure promise of rich returns. The
government will be but doing its duty and con-
suIting the best interests of the Hawaiian people,
by granting every possible encouragement to
those who need help in procuring land for c%ultiya-
ton, in small parcels.