CO885-(18-19) — Page 184

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

།:།། ། C.O.88

18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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the averages of the various items of expenditure and revenue on the As will be seen therefrom, the total average expenditure on the

n of sugar, including its molasses, &c., is £12 11s. 4d., made up as

liture for agriculture (ie., the amount paid the labourers

cultivating the land, &c.) .

liture for cooperage and repairs

lisure for live stock and miscellaneous items (this includes purchase of mules for carting produce to town)... liture for utensils

£4 15 G 1 13 11

14 2

24

+

liture for tradesmen (this includes plumber, saddler, acksmith, &c.)

11 4

diture on food for stock

12 104

d'ture for manure

1 17 81

diture for fuel

diture for taxes and insurances

1 81 13 3

diture for salaries

1 10 7

£12 11 4

l average revenue per ton of sugar, including the molasses, &c., is made up as follows, viz. :—

He from sugar

£10 12 10%

from molasses

3

4 07

e from provisions

7 11

ne from land rented (this refers to land leased or rented

» la, ourers on the estates for provision grounds, &c.)

8 41

e from all other sources (this includes the sale of old opper tayches, rackers. old iron, &c.)

8 10

...

£15

2 1

>

will be seen from the foregoing, the average cost on twelve estates of ton of sugar with its molasses, together with the other crops, amounts kl. As stated above, the value of these other crops amounts to 7s. 114d. ugar. As no separate account has been kept on these estates for grow- visions, I have estimated that about half the revenue obtained was growing them. This, however, is, in my opinion, less than what it Deducting therefore half the amount received from the provisions, producing the ton of sugar with its molasses may be stated to be ave given the cost of producing the sugar and molasses together, as it Dviously unfair to deduct the total revenue derived from the molasses First, because the price of ist of producing the sugar, for two reasons. ctuates to such an extent that the cost of producing a ton of sugar would ot on the actual amount expended on producing it, but on what the tor. To give an example of this I may mention that in 1903 the lue of 100 gallons of molasses, approximately the average quantity om one ton of sugar, was £3 9s. 94d. The following year the value of the of molasses was £1 19s. 7d. The first year, if £3 9s. 94d. he deducted. e cost of producing a ton of sugar would appear to be £9 1s. 63d., and wing year £10 115. 9d., a difference of £1 10s. 24d., while as a matter of ist of production would have been the same. The second reason is that it is made on the estates, a certain portion of that profit is derived from es, and should not be credited to the sugar. Therefore, as I have said correct method of ascertaining the cost of producing sugar in Barbados de the molasses, and state what is the cost of producing the ton of sugar olasses. This is even all the more desirable now that large quantities of olasses" are being made direct from the juice of the sugar cane. he cost of producing a ton of sugar, viz., £12 7s. 4d. is slightly higher than in the evidence which was laid before the West India Royal Commission

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(Volume II., page 198), in which it was shown that the total cost of producing 70,842 tons of sugar on forty-two estates for eight years amounting to £844,693 10s. 10d., or £11 18s. 5d. per ton. The reason is twofold; first, because the returns from some of the estates I have included in the statement are for some of the years before the reduction in the price of labour took place; and secondly, the return given to the Royal Commission was for estates above the average size; the larger the estate the lower the cost of production. In that return the value of the molasses was equated to sugar, and deducted from the cost of producing the sugar, thus making it appear that the cost of producing a ton of sugar was £9 16s. 21. The average cost given in the statement, attached herewith, viz., £12 11s. 4d. is, however, slightly less than the cost of producing a ton of sugar given on page 200, Section 214, Volume II., of the West India Royal Commission Report, where the average cost of production of a ton of raw muscovado sugar on fifteen estates for five years (1892-1896) was stated to be £12 18s. 4d.

7. That the above statements as to the cost of producing sugar may be taken as fairly correct, I may mention that when in 1899 Sir Cuthbert Quilter, Bart., M.P., made certain suggestions with regard to the erection of a central factory in Barbados to the then Governor, Sir J. S. Hay, K.C.M.G., a Committee of the Agricultural Society comprising a number of sugar estate proprietors, attorneys, and others who from their official position were interested in the subject, was appointed to consider the suggestions. The Committee was composed of the Honourable Sir G. C. Pile, President of the Legislative Council and of the Agricultural Society, a sugar estates proprietor and an attorney for absentee sugar estates proprietors; His Honour F. J. Clarke, Speaker of the House of Assembly, then Senior Vice- President of the Agricultural Society, a planter, a sugar estate attorney, and part proprietor of a sugar estate; Honourable W. K. Chandler, Master in Chancery, and sugar estates proprietor; Mr. G. L. Pile, a lessee of sugar estates, and an attorney for sugar estates absentee proprietors: Mr. J. G. Austin, merchant; Mr. A. Cameron, attorney for sugar estates absentee proprietors; Mr. Geo. Carrington, proprietor of a sugar estate; Honourable F. M. Alleyne, Junior Vice-President of the Agri- cultural Society, and a sugar estates proprietor; Mr. S. Browne, a sugar estate proprietor; Mr. J. P. Mason, a sugar estate proprietor; Mr. T. S. Skeete, planter and attorney for sugar estates absentee proprietors; Mr. T. W. Wilkinson, of the firm of Wilkinson and Company, sugar estates agents; Mr. W. H. Smith, planter and attorney for sugar estates absentee proprietors; Mr. H. E. Boyle, a sugar estate proprietor and an attorney for sugar estates absentee proprietors; Mr. C. P. Clarke, part proprietor of a sugar estate; and Professor J. P. d'Albuquerque, M.A., &c., Island Professor of Chemistry. This Committee in their report stated:-

"Your Committee have very carefully gone over returns from several estates in the possession of private individuals as well as from estates worked under the Chancery Court, and those returns indisputably show that the average cost of growing canes in Barbados is about 13s. per ton. This is confirmed by the statement laid before the Royal Commissioners as given in Section 210, page 198, of Appendix C. to their report, in which it will be seen that the average cost of growing and manufacturing a ton of sugar on forty-two estates for eight years is €11-18s. 51d., or at the rate of 131 tons of canes to one ton of sugar, 17s. 8d. per ton of canes, which, after deducting 5s. 5d. for the cost of manufacture and upkeep of buildings, &c., amounts to 12s. 3d. per ton of canes. The estates for which these returns are given are nearly 50 per cent. larger than the average for the island, and as your Com- mittee find that the cost of growing canes is relatively higher on small estates than on large ones, they are satisfied that the average cost of growing canes for the whole island is not less than 13s. per ton.

of

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As 13 tons of canes are required on the average to produce one ton sugar and its molasses, at 13s. per ton for growing and 5s. 5d. per ton for manufacturing, packages, carriage, &c., the cost of producing the ton of sugar and its molasses amounts to £12 8s. 7d.

8. With reference to your question as to what sugar has sold at in the past. the following table shows the average price at which sugar and molasses sold during the past five years.

I