THE SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1433, 8 September 1881, Page 2

THE SU G AR BEET INDUSTRY

It will be remembere<MsW on the 10th of Ausri^t, ultimo, a meeting, convened W A A - Graham, was held at the iTjfmiihere/Hfctel, for the purpose of taking 'StepSrintfre diWofion of establi«hing augar beet growing and the manufacture of -ugar in the Waikar.,. Afc that meeting-, the minutes of which were duly published Jin these columns, h committee was appointed with the object of prosecuting farther enquiries " with*" regtfr"d'" I td ! ~tue* irrowth of nugarbeet, to^ report to a meeting- to be held on thatjcfajr month j»| thesame plaue. This Committee met on the 17th. -of.. the tame mouth to deoido on a plan of action. After some .conversation with the regard to 'the cost of growing the beet and the difficulty of obtaining the requisite labour, the committee came to the conclusion, after carefully culoadating the cost of labour,' 'manure', reht, and seed, that sugar beet ,oould f/ be produced at 14s per tou on the field. It was also agreed that suitable site's for tnilla existed on the properties of Messrs Graham, near the Narrows bridge, ; and ,Mr Bell, Pukerimu k near Mes«M , Halleys' flour mil,ls, uns,it was then resolved that Messrs S. S. Graham ' and Vialou should be requested^ , to canvas the district 1 surrounding the Narrows' bridge, , and that Mewrs Lake and S. Steele be 'atskod to perform a similar duty inTthe Pukorimu district, with a view to ascertaining how many acres of beet each farmer -would grow and guarantee to sell to the Company at 14s per ton on the field: • The subcommittees so appointed went about their work, and the result, after receiving the assent of the general committee, was laid before the adjourned public meeting at Camp's Tamahere Hotel yesterday afternoon, at which Mr Hume occupied the chair, a number of the prominent settlers in the district being present. Mr VV. A. Graham was unavoidably absent, being detained by important business at Tauranga. The following is 'the report submitted by Messrs Vialou and Graham :—: — September 7th,'iBBr. To the Chairman of Committee appointed at a public meeting hold at the Tamahere Hotel on the 10th of August, — In accordance with a resolution passed at our first meeting that we— Messrs Vulou and Graham— should be appointed to wait upon the farmers within a three mile radius of the Narrows Bridge, with a view to a>cettain h,ow many acres of sugar beet each one would guarantee to culti\ate at 14s per ton. upon the ground, in the event ot a sugar manufactory being established on the land adjoining the centre, we have to report that we have canvasbed the district and seen most of the farmers, who have expressed their willingness to bind themselves to cultivate acres. The quantity each one will cultivate will be found at the foot hereof. From the several conversations wo have had with those who have promised, and their desire to see this industry started, we are of opinion that a mnuh larger amount would be grown than would be required for one factory, but they do not like to bind themselves to put in too large a quantity at first. I. R. Vklou. S. S. Graham. Appended' to this report was a list of 16 names of those who had guaranteed to cultivate an aggregate of 303 acres of beet, besides several others who had not specified the area which they would be prepared to plant. Mr Lake had no written report to submit to the meeting, and what he had to state was, he said, of a discouraging nature. He had made a toitr of tho portion of the district allotted to him, but was unfortunate in finding that iv every case the person Bought was from home. He had thereupon written circulars to the different settlers, naming 16s as the price, by way of inducement, and the answers he obtained were by no means gratifying, the total area promised to be planted amounting only to about 20 acres. A general conversational discussion ensuee upon the submission of these reports, the question being whether, in the face of the information to hand, it was advjsable to take further steps in the matter, and if so, what steps. It was the generally expressed opinion that, provided the necessary capital (which could not be raised by the farmers) was forthcoming to erect the mill, there would not be the slightest difficulty in gettiug farmers to grow the requisite quantity of roots. Mr Lake suggested that they should not v confine their attention to sugar beet. He thought sorghum was deserving of notice. It had been tried by Judge Gillies, and although the accounts they had received were not by any means complete, he thought the subject was one worthy of consideration. After some discussion on the subject of soighum, during which several gentlemen present spoke of it in terms of praise as a green feedfor cattle, the following resolution was proposed by Mr Vialou, .seconded by Mr Barugli and carried :—: — " That the report of the committee appointed at the public meeting held at the T.unahere Hotel oh the 10th August, be forwarded to Mr W. A. Graham, in order to enable him to reply to his Hamburg friends as to the possibility of establish ing a sugar factory in the Waikato.'' It was agreed that this was all that could be done at present, and after some further discussion those present separated, having paid the usual compliment to the chairman.