THE SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1947, 30 December 1884, Page 3

THE SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY.

■ TO THE EDITOR. Rib,-— As my ideas on sugar-beet appear WL find favour in your sight, I venture Hb ask space in your paper to place ■hbse before the public more fully than Kuld be done in your report. I would Kaye it understood that I do not advofcate the adoption of this industry for Ms own sake. I am no more wedded E) the cultivation and manufacture of Kear-beet than to any other industry ■vhich can be brought forward promisKg a like result. I do not e\en take X for granted that the industry can be fcade profitable in this colony, but I [consider it the duty of eveiyone interested to assist the committee now [Appointed to arrive at conclusive evidence on that point. It is in the ! hop»that farmers especially will be to give some thought to this Imiitftr that I now write. Fiom statistics lalready published, it has been shown that ktthe annual sugar bill of the colony isupWards of £700,000. Is it not worth a *rong and detei mined effort to endea our to divert even a small part of this mge stream of wealth to iuigate and ,'nrich our now dry and banen pastuie? By combined action I believe it can be done, and if we can once stait a tuckle, 1 have every confidence that the stieam r vill work out its own channel to a 1 magnitude of which few of us, have any ! conception. I think none w ill dispute that our financial pasture isatpiesent very dry, and that the mind of every -thinking man is, or should be, engaged .in devising means to better our condition. In initaitingj this industry, the Ifirst person we have to deal with is the producer of the raw mateiial, whose natural query is, " Will it pay ?" My own firm conviction is that, with judicious management, it can be cultivated to yield ,n immediate profit, but of that without -rial we have no absolute pi oof. It is to lie ulterior profits that I would draw the Mention, not only of farmers but of _very class of the community. Let the least imaginative among us consider the effect on every branch of trade, of an rt'nnual influx of even £100,000 into this Oi'Act, derived directly from the soil, aijPfrom an industry as yet untouched. OfVarmeis who aie doubtful of even ''ltimate piofits, I would ask : .Does the jhiglibh tanners who goes to gn-.it expense in cultivation and maimics to 'secure a loot ciop, who folds, sheep on ) .he crop, and feuds with com and oil fjake, expect to lecoup the whole of his outlay from the sale of his mutton? 'Certainly not. But it is in a yieat ( beasuie to the iudustiies lie calls in as 'Jds to secure that crop that he looks for his market for the produce of the succeeding oneb. And so it would be with this industry. If farmers can devise means to 3iipply the raw material at a cost that it will pny to mainifactiue, they will at once establish a home market for all classes of farm produce. Fai nieis should consider this question. " What crop are i we now giowuig that is not liable to be.come a dead weight on our hands thiough |an overstocked maikot?" Of com«e, all Imaiketable commodities aie liable to ■great fluctuations, and it remains for us to choose those Wast liable, as our staple productions. Wool, in its palmy days •was the stand by of the whole colony. Wheat, in its turn did good sen ice to Csnteibuiy and Otngo. Milk, n just now giving us a lift in \\ aikato The 'reeling mdustiy has proved its benefit, id is yet full of promi&e, and I think all ill agree with me that if we can cstab the manufuotnie of sugar, we fahall /A a commodity less liable to LUttnation than those I have men tioned, and an industry that willwoik hand in hand with any other. I would draw particular attention to the vast difference in benefits to the count) y generally between gi owing sugai-beet and such a ci op as w heat. When a farmei ha* harvested and thrashed his w heat crop, it bears a market pi ice at which he sells to the merchant for export. The only increase in value between the farm and the ship is the cost of transit ; and it leaves the country bearing little more than the value it has deiived fiom the boil in which it grew. Even if it pass thiough the millet's hand-, a modem mill employin" thieo or four men, deposes of the pioduce of thousands of acres and the diffeience. in value between the law mateiial and the manufaUuicd aiticle is but fractional. In the case of .sugai beet, from the time it leaves the faun until thesiK'ar ia ready foi exnoit, it has moie than d°oublcd in value, and this gieat increase is bi ought into circulation within the reach of all classes. I have dealt with the subject in this letter entnely on broad lines, purposely avoiding matters of detail which would occupy time and space, but if what I have written should prove of sufficient interest to your readers to call forth comment or enquity, I shall be pleased to resume my pen to aid in thoroughly ventilating tho matter — I am, &c, Rich vim Gillltt. Kirikiiiioa, Dec. 27, ISB4.