EN ROUTE FOR KLONDYKE.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 309, 2 July 1898, Page 4

EN ROUTE FOR KLONDYKE.

The following letter has reached us from Mr C. Hibbs, late of Hamilton, who left Waikato in February last bound for Klondyke, in fulfilment of a promise to send us an account of his trip and further doings after reaching hie destination up the Yukon :

At sea, May, 1898.

Sixteen days alter leaving Auckland I found myself landed at Honolulu, where, to my very great surprise, I found the place the centre of the greatest activity, the harbour full of ships, some loading, others discharging, and the streets crowded with vehicles of every description. This led me to make enquiries as to the cause of so much prosperity, which I found to be due entirely to the sugar industry, which seems to be in a most flourishing condition. Knowing the interest being taken in the Waikato at the present time in sugar-beet culture, I thought a short description of what I saw might be interesting to many of your readers. It is not my intention to write you a description of the Hawaiian Islands, as I have no doubt this has been done many times by others better qualified ; also, I had no intention of writing this letter when looking around, or I would have taken notes and looked more into details. Contrary to my expectations, I found the sugar cane'growing a much more costly undertaking, than I was prepared for. And I am more than ever convinced that the quicker Waikato undertakes the cultivation of beetroot for sugarmaking, the better it will be. If it only does one-tenth as much good in Waikato as it has done at Honolulu, it will then make it the most flourishing part of New Zealand. You must bear in mind that there is absolutely no other industry here, with the single exception of a little coffee-growing. An argument in Waikato against sugar-beet was, that we could not compete with the cheap coloured laboiir to be obtained in the Islands. I find, as regards the Hawaiian Islands, that is not the case ; that labour is better paid here than in New Zealand, although, unfortunately, the tendency is downwards. But the fact remains that this industry has been started and maintained, and large fortunes accumulated, with wages considerably above colonial rates. To enable us to see the industry in all its bearings, we took a trip by train to the nearest plantation to Honolulu, called Ewa mill. This is a plantation of some 8000 acres, the whole of which is in cane. On this farm 1200 men find constant employment, and a trip through this estate is both interesting and novel to a Waikato farmer. It appears that a payable crop of cane cannot be raised here" without irrigation, so that it iB necessary to select a piece that lends itself naturally to that purpose. The Ewa estate is splendidly situated for this purpose, being on a level plain with a gentle fall in one direction. The soil is red volcanic, similar to that in the vicinity of Auckland, although, 1 believe from appearance, not nearly so rich. It is first cleared of the natural growth, chiefly scrub. It is then ploughed very deep by steam-power, about 18 inches, and afterwards worked in the usual way and levelled where required ; after which it is ridged with the ridges about 3ft. apart, and the cane planted in the furrow between the ridges. The plant consists of a piece of cane, about 12 inches long, planted about eight inches apart. As soon as this is completed the water is turned on, and there being no surface water available they are compelled to pump it from wells, using steam power at enormous cost, seeing that there are no coals available nearer than Newcastle, N.S. W. Some little time after the cane has rooted manure is applied, and so on frequently for the first few months of its growth. I was unable to ascertain the exact quantity used per acre, but believe ic i« used pretty liberally. On this estate the cane is cut when it is about eighteen months old, that is twice in three years, when it is again ploughed and replanted. Of course there is considerable labour entailed in keeping the crop clean during the the first few months of it 3 growth, after which it pretty well covers the ground, and the only labour required is attending the irrigation. It was a particularly interesting sight to see the crowd, numbering about 1000 men, harvesting the cane and loading it on waggons, ready for the mill. All the haulage is done on tramways with steam locomotives, where two are kept constantly employed in taking cane to the mill and coals to the pumps. Seeing the enormous expense entailed in producing a crop of cane, it is only natural that we should expect a large production of sugar to pay for such an outlay, One of the managers told us that the crop which we saw being operated on, would produce about twelve ton of sugar per acre. This in itself should be sufficient to shew whence the prosperity comes from. There is no doubt the sugar has'done more for Honolulu than the goldmining has ever accomplished for New Zealand. One great advantage which the Hawaiian Islands possesses, is that they are enabled to send the whole of their product to the United States free of duty. This is, I believe, the only sugar producing country which possesses this advantage. However, the concession offered by the New Zealand Government, would place the Waikato growei-s on about the same level. I cannot give a comparision as to the relative cost of producing a ton of cane sugar as against beet. But should say that five acres of beetroot could be grown for about the same cost as one acre of cane ; also that three crops of beet could be obtained in the same time as two of cane. I feel confident-that if this industry gets fairly established, such prosperity would result throughout the Waikato, as would astonish the people themselves.