The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-18

plant well equipped for the making OF a
good product of sugar.
HAULAGE.
Hauling of products from point TO point
is accomplished by means of cariboo
drag sleds, the latter being bamboo.
Wheeled vehicles are in service in some
places. Often the only means of car
riage is by natives swinging sacks of the
product over pole balanced on the
shoulder. The roads of the country are
ordinarily bad, but have been vastly inl-
proved in recent times, under American
rule, so that the sugar planters are now
kets. Water buffalo vehicles with native
drivers can be hired for about twenty
five cents per day.
BUILDINGS.
The regulation sugar mill is construct
ed of bamboo, but very many are made
of stone and rooted with sheet metal or
with nipa. There was great destruction
of the sugar mills by native troops dur
ing the war and in most instances only
the roofing burned off, leaving the walls
standing. The nipa stuff burned so
quickly that often the heat failed to be
severe enough to damage the machinery
greatly. Hundreds of these partly burn
ed mills have been restored for active
ing and overhauling the machinery. Quite
a number of Americans have been able
to buy these deserted mills al ridiculous
ly low prices and they are making a
good thing out of the investment. The
old animal traction machines are usually
exchanged for new devices, but even
with the old apparatus, money is made.
The American owner hires an expert
enced Filipino or Spanish overseer to
ma apa d. no "a
MARKETS.
/ There is a very good domestic market
for the sugar crop of the islands. Go
where you will and you will find an
abundance of sugar carried in stock by
the stores Perhaps the sugar is overrun
with ants, but this does not concern the
natives very much. Ants are very nu-
meroCs in the islands, and they get into
everything. The sugar is put up in mats
and carted about in this FORM The ma
tive retail vendor usually opens a few
of the mats of the sugar and spreads
them on the ground in the market place
where thousands of housewives come tc
buy every day. He sells all the way
from one cents worth to any amount
The candy works of the islands make
considerable confectionery of the molas
seS candy order, but they do not whittier
the candy, and sell it in its deep brown
state, so that it is much like maple SUI
gar Prices are low, usually two or tive
and one-half cents per pound, but the
cost of production is also very small SC
that profits are good. Nearly all of the
sugar planters, refiners and candy max
ers of the islands with whom 1 met APP
peared to flourish. 1 know that many
of the planters have their servants and
wheeled vehicles and their bank accounts
/ would not advise anyone to act hasti-
ly, but from personal experience l car
state that quite a number of the dis
charged soldiers and others who pur-
chased sugar plantations and works in
the islands at low values are making
money on their investments even with
the old types of machinery and crude i'm
plements. They hire native labor, which
is so cheap that the wage scale is not
very costly at the end of the month
while often the product is quite large
But American modern machinery for cul-
tivating the soil, grinding and refining
should be introduced. There is a good
future for the sugar industry of the isl
ands. RETURNED SOLDIER.