The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-12-24
CHANCE
TO RAISE SUGAR
EXPERT INSTRUCTION IN MAN
AGEMENT OF MILLS ALL THAT
is NEEDED

The Hawaiian Planters Monthly for
September publishes the following:
1t would seem that while enterpris-
ing Chinese have succeeded in foreign
countries in the sugar industry by uti-
lizing modern machinery and methods,
there does not seem to be any DISPOSE
ton on their part to introduce the
same methods at home and develop
the sugar industry in China where la
Dor is available at a much lower price
Whether this disposition is warranted
by the prejudices Of the great mass OF
the Chinese people or the enterprising
Chinaman finds it more advantageous
to invest his capital and expend his
energy abroad the fact still remains
that the Chinese sugar industry must
continue to lag and foreign sugar mo-
nOpOlize the Chinese market unless
something is done Commenting on
this rather remarkable phase of Chi
nese industrial life the Swallow cor
respondence of the North China Laily
News says;
1t is a pity that the Chinese will
not endeavor to put the sugar industry
on a proper basis. Their old obsolete
methods are no good in these days of
stern competition. Here we have la
Dor plentiful and cheap, but for once
that is not all; the cultivation and
manufacture on a paying basis of SUI
gar today not only requires cheap
labor but also machinery, and that is
where the Chinese fail to compete sue
cessfully with foreign sugars Look
at the enormous loss Of juice every
year owing to the obsolete methods of
crushing the cane why in an up-to-
date mill the cane comes from the
rollers as dry as a bone but crushed
here in the old fashioned mills at least
quarter of the juice is lost. What is
wanted is small steam mills placed in
the various districts and for the farm
er to sell his cane to the mllowners
at a fixed price
This is the system that has made
the cane-growers in New South Wales
and Queensland wealthy, and that
without cheap labor There is no dis
trict in the world that is more suited
for cane-growing than this, with its
magnificent rivers and its wonderful
irrigation channels and it's beautiful
soil. and there is no better paying
crop. Anyhow the officials are NOV
ing in the matter and let us hope
something will be done and that soon,
and if they'll take a tip from me they
Will get one of the Chinese who has
made a fortune at the game of owning
a small crushing steam mill in Aus
tralia or elsewhere (and there are a
few hundred of them to give them a
few wrinkles as to how the business
is managed, and instead of the farm
ers losing thousands of dollars as In
the past they will be making them
This would SEEM to indicate that
even China with its cheap labor finds
that the sugar industry does not pay
when only the crudast methods are
employed in its manufacture. The
same might be said of all sugar coun-
tries in the far east with the eXcep-
ton of the Philippines where labor
costs about five times that paid i'll
Java, China or Japan While China
with modern machinery might compete
with Java on account of her cheap la
Dor the Philippines would find it i'm
possible to find market even should
large modern mills be established in
the islands on account of the high pri-
| ces paid for labor
This leaves China in a position to
lead in the sugar industry should the
| proposed program of the Chinese Off
! Gals be carried out. The enormous
! home consumption of China now sup
piled largely by lava offers all the en-
cOuragement necessary for the invest
ment of the capital required to put the
industry in China on paying basis.
| Chinese LABOR is the cheapest and best
| in the world. All things being equal,
| so far as modern equipment and meth
! DDS are concerned, the Chinese would
have the advantage over any section OF
the far east in the matter Of reliable
| labor at minimum cost, the most i'm
portant element in developing a well
established sugar industry in this age
of keen competition.