The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-12-04
REPORT ON SUGAR
Investigations Made BY
Royal Commission.
Why West Indies Are Noi:Longer
Successfui-Reme
Proposed.

The condition of the sugar inter- |
ests in the West Indies has been such
as to occasion serious alarm to the
British Government. The industry,
which for many years was on profit
able basis, became SO precarious that
a Commission was appointed to in
vestigate the conditions and, if posi-
BILE, suggest some remedial course
which could be pursued. The Commits
sion has made an extensive investi
cation, and in concluding an exhaus-
tive report, sums up the situation as
follows:
The sugar industry in the West In
dies is in danger of great reduction,
which in some colonies may be equiv
client or almost equivalent to extinc-
ton.
The depression of the industry is
due to the compitition of beet sugar
produced under a system of bounties.
It is also affected by high protective
tariffs and by the compitition of cane
sugar, the production of which is spe-
cially encouraged by the Governments
concerned The causes of the depres-
sion may be described as permanent,
| inasmuch as they are largely due to
| the policy of foreign countries, and
there is no indication that that policy
/ is likely to be abandoned in the i'm
mediate future.
| If the production of sugar is dlscon-
tinued, or very largely reduced, there
is no industry or industries that could
completely replace it in such islands as
Barbados, Antigua and st. Kits, and
be profitably carried on and supply en-
Iployment for the loboring population.
lin Jamaica, in Trinidad, in British Gul-
ana. in st. Lucia, In st. Vincent and to
some extent in Montserrat and Nevis,
the sugar industry may in time be re-
placed by other industries, but only
latter the lapse of considerable period
land at the cost of much displacement
lof labor and consequent suffering. In
Dominica the sugar industry is not at
the present day of great Importance.
We think it right to add that in all
COLONIES where sugar can be completely
or very largely, replaced by other in
dustries, the colonies in question will
be in a much sounder position, both
politically and economically, when they
have ceased to depend wholly, or to a
very great extent, upon the continued
prosperity of single industry.
The total or partial extinction of the
sugar industry would, in most places,
very seriously affect the condition OF
the laboring classes for the worse, and
would largely reduce the revenue of the
colonies. In some places the loss OF
revenue could be met to a limited de-
gree in most of the colonies. Some OF
the colonies could not provide the ne
cessary cost of administration, includ-
ing the relief Of distressed, and neces-
sitous persons, ;.ora cot the. support and
Repatriation a(when necessary of the
East Indian immigrants, without sub
|ventions from, the mother country.
Jamaica, i Trinidad, sand Grenada may
be expected to meet from their own re-
sources the whole Of the expenditure
that is likely to fall on them.
The best immediate remedy for the
Istate of things which we have shown
to exist would be the abandonment OF
the bounty system by continental ma
tons. This change would in all prob
ability enable large portion of the SUI
gar cane cultivation to be carried on
successfully, and would certainly re-
duce the rate at which it will diminish
Looking, however, at what appears to
be the great cheapenig of the cost OF
production of beet sugar, and the fact
that many countries appear to have sim
gled out the sugar industry as one
which ought to be artificially stimulat.
ed in various ways, it is not clear that
even if the bounties were abolished
another crisis of similar character
might not arise in the West Indies at Z
future day.
The special remedies or measures o
relief we unanimously recommend are
:, a.. The settlement of the laborint
population on small plots of land al
peasant proprietors.
(2). The establishment of minor ag
ricultural industries, and the improve
ment of the system of cultivation, .es
|pecially in the case of small proprie
tors.
90. The improvement of the mean
of communication between the differ
ent islands
(4. The encouragement of trad
in fruit with New York, and possibly
at future time, with London.
80. The grant of a loan from tn
Imperial exchequer for the establish
ment of central factories in Barbados
The oldest wooden building in tn
world is believed to be the church il
Borgund, in Norway. 1t was built i