The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-11-17

l less HOppefS nave Disappeared and IHe
egg laying is about over. then we APP
ply the nitrogen which had been taken
from the fertilizer applied at time Of
| planting.
HANDLING OF CANE.
/ The report of the committee on
handling and transportation of cane,
was presented by Manager George F.
Renton of Eva Plantation, Oahu. He
said in part:
/ Gentlemen: Since the inception of the
sugar industry in these Islands the
Handling and Transportation of Cane
has been one of its principal problems
| The first consideration under this head
| is to deliver sufficient cane at the fac
| tory Ito keep the mill going The
| second consideration is the reduction
| of cost of whatever system may be
used to obtain the first.
| Thus each district has, after years of
| experiment, about settled to it's salts
| faction the system or combination of
| systems best suited to it's needs Hilo
| and Eastern Koha1a has it's fumes,
| Eastern Hamakua it's trolleys, Paau-
hau it's gravity road, Kohala- it's COM
| bination of wagons and traction en-
gines, and Oahu, Maui and Kauai their
extensivefailroad systems 1t is prob
ably a fair inference to say that, for
some time to come, there will be prob
ably little change in. the transportation
| systems now used.
| The problem is to perfect, reduce the
| labor of, and economic those systems.
In short the problem has almost ceas-
ed to be one of transportation and is
now one of handling cane; that is to
say the picking the cane from the field
and the placing of it in its conveyor,
whether that conveyor be f1ume, trolley,
railroad car or anything else.
In the earlier history of the sugar
business labor was fairly plentiful. 1t
is not so now in some portions of the
Territory. And there is no assurance
but that later on these conditions may
, be worse instead of better. Further
than this, loading cane by hand is ex-
tremely hard work.
Each plantation gets as much work
out of its men as it can.
Mr.. Renton's report contained COM
munications on the subject of handling
cane from manag gers of various planta-
lions. The automatic cane loaders-the
! wilson-W and the Gregg were
i spoken of. Mr.. Renton says of them:
The principal point to which your
attention is drawn is the favorable
comparison that either of these ma
chimes make with present loading rates.
The tests themselves were neither ex-
haustive nor altogether thorough. You
are not asked to pin your faith to the
estimates. They are not even to be
| taken as an absolutely accurate COM
parison of the two loading machines.
The writer of this paper, who made
| the tests, is of the opinion that there
is not so much to choose between them
| in the way of cost of actually, loading
cane on cars. Each has points of
superiority over the other, and each
can be greatly improved as the de-
signers themselves admit. But the
| Wilson-Webster loader has two things
especially that are in it's favor:
ID 1t is a substantially built ma
chine.
| (2) 1t draws its loads in by wire and
thus eliminates the necessity of hav-
| ing a large number of teams in the
harvesting field.
| There are several points to be made
in favor of loading, machines as against
manual labor which one might over
look.
| Loading machines do not go on
| strike. neither do they require picked
body of men to lift the cane from
the ground to the top of the car The
machine does the lifting. and in either
the Wilson-webster or the Gregg
4 Loo kay. how
the cane in sings or in the boat
sled. And they not only doanot require
picked men, but they require less men,
picked or otherwise, which is always
a marked advantage.
| Both of the tests referred to We're
| carried out on the Eva Plantation,
whose fat lands gave very favorable
opportunity to the machines In a billy
/ country like results might not have
| been realized. Under these latter con-
ditions it will be necessary to have
| leaders TO suit local requirements. The
| point that your committee wishes to
| emphasize is merely this:-the neces-
| sity for abolishing. as far as possible.
the heavy labor of handling and load
ling cane. and the necessity that each
plantation meet its own requirements
in this line
Wafakea Plantation has it's loading
| machines which from all accounts. are
giving satisfaction. Kukaiau PIauta-
ton has improved its trolley system to
suit its needs. Eva Plantation Co has
ordered three of the Wilson Webster
| leaders for use in 1905 Honolulu Plan
| tation Go. has, we understand, tried
several machine leaders and is at work
on another.
= Evidently the plantations appreciate
the situation.