Sugar.

Let us begin by stating the figures represented in this article if the statistics for 1884. We imported that year raw sugar worth £189,931, paying a duty of £19,535, and refined sugar worth £504,667, paying a duty of £87,953. Here are figures that well cause those who are in search of payable home industries to ask if we cannot produce our own sugar. Mr. Vincent Pyke, M.H.R., says beet sugar spoiled his tea, his whiskey, his pudding, and everything else he used it for; yet there are many facts to make us believe that beet sugar can be profitably produced in the colony. I saw in a recent newspaper page 75 that specimen beet roots grown at Waverley, and forwarded to Dr. Hector for analysis, only yielded from 6.4 to 3.2 per cent. of sugar. But in other trials 15 and 20 per cent, has been obtained. In France and Belgium some years ago only 9 to 10 per cent, was obtained; but careful cultivation and selection of seed has raised this average to 15 to 18 per cent. That the climate and soil of New Zealand is suitable for growing beet there seems ample proof. The main question is one of labour, which still remains high; and, until the questionable advantage of cheap labour is obtainable in the colony, many people doubt whether the industry would pay. It has already been explained that the native-born population of the colony do not take kindly to agriculture, and root crops would be a department in agriculture especially distasteful. Still, looking forward to a rapidly-increasing population, this industry may well employ many men, boys, and girls in a useful, honourable, and profitable occupation; and certainly an occupation which, if not so brain-stimulating as others, is infinitely more healthy than factory work. The Beet-Root Sugar Act of 1884 provides that there shall be a difference in favour of the locally-produced article of ½d. per lb. in the tariff on sugar, and offers a bonus of ½d. per lb. on the first thousand tons of sugar from beet-root produced in the colony. A good deal of information has been gathered on the subject by Sir Julius Vogel, and is embalmed in the State papers and in Hansard. The industry may not rise to prominence for some time; but eventually there is little doubt that it will be an important one in the colony.