, 1877-04-21
7 H "AV Is"
CBRIS4IANSqED, ST. CROIX,
Saturday, AprI 2lS:, 1877.

muCn Importance to the Island that q
short account of the progress of the work
to date will no doubt be acceptable to our
readers. It will be remembered that &C.
cording to The original plan, the whole
Island was to have been included in the
scheme, aud at least two factories were to
have been erected, one near each Of the
two towns. These sites were chosen for
the same reasons as fixed the towns them.
selves, namely The neighbourhood of the
sen, and their easy accessibility from the
surrounding country. Subsequently /. was
found necessary to limit the first operations
to the central portion of the island, aud 10
the erection Of one factory only, namely
that at ChlIstiansted. II we feel some
regret that the whole plan could not be
carried out at once, we may on the other
hand Congratulate ourselves on having in
the one factory u valuable school for ac-
curing experience before the system m
to be EXTENDED to the whole island. Few
schemes Of any kind are SO perfect os to
have 10 detects, or require no improve
ments; and there is a definite advantage
in having an OPT o%rtuuity 20 find out what
these may be at an early stage.
According to the present plan there are
to be 1--WE stations to which the canes will
be brought by the growers, and where the
juice will be expressed, and afterwards
forced through pipes to the Central Facto-
ry. These stations are at Peters Rest,
GIynn, Bethlehem, La PriDcesse, and Fair
Plain.
The buildings at Glynn and at Peters
Rest are low complete so far as the mason
work and framing OF the roof is concerned,
and from these buildings clear idea of the
construction and use of these crushing
stations may be obtained. Each consists of
two principal apartments, in the smaller of
which will be placed the crushing mill, and
in the larger, the engine and the reservoirs
TO receive The juice. The engine will be
OF about IS horse power, and will have
the double work Of driving the mill and
pumping the Juice through the pipes to
the factory. From The different crushing
stations the juice will be received into
tanks placed in a building situated close
to he high road near Orange Grove, and
from thence It will be allowed to flow by
its W weight through pipes to the facto-
ry. This building or rather series of
buildings, the Central Factory itself, lies
q little to the Northwest of the Jail, and
quite close to the sea-shOre. We car
assure those Of our readers who have not
had an opportunity of seeing what has
been going on there, that the site Of these
buildings has presented for the past few
months quite a busy scene. First anna
the erection Ct a temporary building to
serve for Offices, store-rooms &C.. then the
digging out Of the trenches for the loundA-
tons, seven and even ten feet deep.
Next came the accumulation Of materials
from all sides (; coral blocks from the reef;
sand and pebbles from the bays; rough,
felsite (blue beach) blocks from Buck
Island limestones from the hills near
La Princesse sbip-loads of pitch pine from
the United States; and lastly, cement,
bricks, tanks, pipes, girders &c. from
Denmark,
The labour of collecting and transporting
this mass of materials has afforded, and still
continues to afford, employment to
iowners of carts and boats, and to scores
of Iabouring men who wonld otherwise
have been unemployed. When the labours
of these were sufficiently advanced, a
considerable number Of masons and
carpenters were engaged, and the work
hos heen now az far advanced aA IN Oiva