The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1892-03-08

daily wage would prove Intellectual
to attract men away from what would
so evidently be for their interest to
undertake. 1t is very probable that
when once fairly initiated, there will
be little difficulty in securing the
right kind of tenants.
1t is proper to note the difficulties
and objections to such a system as is
proposed. 1t is in point, however, to
say, before noting such objections
and difficulties, that If the scheme is
practicable and economical, lesser
details will surely accommodate
themselves to the demands of the
situation, and all problems inherent
in so radical q REIMBURSEMENT will find
solution much more readily than con-
servative minds will at first be will
ing to admit.
Is the scheme practicable! Since
the preparation of this paper was be-
gun, ample and definite testimony of
the successful operation of some
what similar scheme has come to
hand. DIR. Kaufman, recent visi-
tor TO the sugar plantations in this
country, is the chemist of the Colo
NAL Sugar Refinery Co. of Sydney,
New South Wales. He stated in a
conversation with the writer of this
paper thatthe company with which
he is connected owns and operates
three sugar mills whose total maxi
mum capacity is l45 900 long tons of
cane. The cane is bought by the
ton, for which the company pays 123
shillings or So per ton. This cane is
raised along the river-bottoms on
homesteads owned by white men, or
on land leased by them, having an
acreage in cane of from three to
eighty acres. The contract is for
five years, and the price paid for
cane is based on the market price of
sugar at the time the contract is
made.
The rotation of crops is from cane
to corn. The farmers cultivate their
cane in their own way, which APP
pears to be very lazy one, mas
much as they strip their cane but
once, and then do it only because the
company make noe of such neglect,
and it thus affects the price of The
cane. A cane inspector is employed
by the company, who offers sugges-
tions to the farmers, advisory TO be
sure, and who also notes the cond-
ton of the cane in the field, and
otherwise guards the interests of the
company. The cost of cutting is
borne by the company, while the
work of transporting the cane to
scows along the rivers is performed
by the planters. Some men, favor
ably located, cart the cane to the
mill for which they receive bonus.
Some land is cultivated by the COM
pany, but wholly by the labor of
white men. This scheme of cane
growing has been in successful
operation along the Clarence River
for twenty years.
In Queensland, new enterprise is
being started. Blocks of land of
from 20 to 80 acres are given to the
right class of settlers, character and
reliability being sought for in making
the grants. The company advance
money at low rate of interest to
establish the settler and to get his
first crop in.
Surely the Leasehold System as
advocated in this paper cannot be
impracticable if a scheme so similar
is operated elsewhere with satlsfac-
tory results.
There4are difficulties to be met
with in adjusting the proposed sys-
TEN, but they are not insuperable.
The difficulty that comes first to
mems minds is the satisfactory opera
ton, under the new conditions, of
the irrigation system. 1t is hardly
within the province Of the writer to
offer suggestions as to the solution
of the difficulties attendant on the
introduction of the new system, but
it certainly is not amiss to submit
that at least way to the solution of
the irrigation problem may lie in the
retention by the mill owners of the
irrigation system with the distinct
and avowed purpose of operating it,
under the direction of the canc-in-
spector or manager, to the advantage
of the growing crops, according to
his discretion. The planter and the
mill-owner are interested alike in the
largest production on each individual
section of land, and the planter can
have no real case against the man
ager, because of insufficient irriga-
ton, that does not affect just as
yitally the interests of the mill -owners
whom The manager represents. This
essential unity of interest is the
strong bond in the proposed scheme,
and furnishes the hopeful element for
the solution of all the problems likely
to arise.
1t may be objected that such a
radical change in operating the plan
tations would entail great expense
and unlimited annoyance in initiating
the scheme. But this would not be
true if it were got al gradually. The
gradual adoption of such scheme
would enable its promoters to cope