The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1903-10-27

William G. Kay, sugar planter of !,
weeks in the islands in a study of the
principal industry here, visited Homo |
lulu plantation with Col. G. W. Mac |
farlane on Friday and again went down |
the Oahu Railway line for a visit to
Eva plantation. Previously he visited
nearly all the plantations on the Hilo
and Hamakua coast, and before he re-
turns home intends to inspect the Ka-
uai properties. Mr.. Kay is more than
pleased with the opportunities given
him for a study Of methods in use in
what he calls the most up-to-date su-
gar country in the world, and he has
been given many new ideas which will
be of benefit to his plantations, when
he returns to Trinidad. What impress
ed Mr.. Kay most while in the islands
was the enormous yield per acre, the
production here being double what it is
in his own country.
In an interview at the Hawaiian Ho-
tel Friday evening Mr.. Kay gave his
views of the sugar industry both here
and in Trinidad and they will be found
interesting, by everyone interested in
the principal industry of the islands.
'I came here primarily to study
steam cultivation and to look into the
methods of production in Hawaii said
Mr. fsVnIlr nfrxy ho
wide reputation as being foremost in
methods of sugar production, you
know.
I'VE tried steam plows in Trinidad
about twenty or twenty-five years ago,
and they were not a success. The
plows used were crude and there has
been great progress since. So I came
down to study their use. Mr.. Fowler
who visited Trinidad some time ago
gave me letters of Introduction to some
of your planters.
Conditions are widely different in
Trinidad and Hawaii. There is a diff
ference in the condition of soil and in
the rainfall. In Trinidad our average
production is two tons of sugar per
acre-here you have double that
amount. Porto Rico, Dernerara and
SuUc are HluCH dDONe Tie lWO lOll aver
age. Porto Rico figures on about the
same production as you do here and
they average four tons to the acre.
"Our soil is very different from that
you have to do with here. A large
portion Of the sugar land in Trinidad
is fiat or bottom lands, which are diff
ficult to drain. We have no irrigation
or pumping machinery, and depend en-
tirely upon the rainfall Our average
annual rainfall is eighty inches. We
have a wet season and a dry season;
the three months of the dry season
are utilized for grinding our cane.
Without the dry weather we would
have a hard time cutting cane because
of the water on the bottom lands 1t
is generally dry a portion Of January,
February, March and part of April.
The wet season breaks early in May.
The grinding has to be done in the
early part of the year. We generally
plant in October and November and the
early part of the dry season and reap
the crop the following year, giving it
from fourteen to fifteen months to
mature.
1.-THE total sugar output of Trinidad
is about $4,000 tons yearly. 1t used to
De larger out mas dropped. IndI was
in the day of the smaller plantations,
from four hundred acres and up. They
couldn't be run on paying basis
though, and now We have large es-
tates. Some of them are as large as
those on Hawaii, although as a rule
they are smaller.
Cocoa and asphalt are exported as
well as sugar, these three being our
principal exports. Lately too we have
been boring for oil in the asphalt dis
trict and some oil has been found, but
not in flowing quantities. We could
use oil very well as fuel, as coal costs
considerable with the duty, and there
is also heavy duty on oil. The plan
tations could make good use of oil as
fuel, as is being done here now.
Sugar costs us from forty-five to
forty-eight dollars to produce-the av-
erage cost here 1 am told is from forty
to forty five dollars per ton. 1t is
almost impossible to say what sugar
nets us. Last year during the depres-