When Fiji Sugar Was Poured From A Jug

Pioneering:

IN a normal pre-war year, Fiji exported between one and two million pounds worth of raw sugar from her five flour ishing sugar mills. But time was when it was believed that juice extracted from Fiji cane would not granulate, and the whole subject of Fiji sugar was regarded as a subject for a pleasant evening’s ar gument, but little more.

No one has yet proved satisfactorily whether sugar cane is indigenous to the Fiji Islands or not; it was certainly there when the first Europeans arrived and, as far back as the Fijians themselves re member. they cultivated it for the pleasure of chewing the raw cane.

In 1872 the old non-granulation theory still persisted among the settlers, but in that year there arrived in the small vil lage of Suva, to grow cotton, a Mr. Leices ter Smith, who had been a sugar planter in the West Indies. He soon teamed nn with Mr. J. C. Harrison, an old settler of Nadi district, who also knew something of the art of growing and manufacturing sugar.

Smith was struck by the nuality of the cane grown locally, and refused to credit that the juice from it would not granu late. He and Harrison thrashed it out time and again, and through their cease less preoccupation with granulation, non granulation and all allied subjects* other settlers too became interested. Finally, it was decided to nut it to the test, once and for all.

Harrison was obviously the man for the job, and at that time he was living at Navua. But the settlers made of it a sort of basket picnic—everyone contributed something, one a boat, another a crew, others provisions, etc—and so for the great experiment Harrison was brought to Suva where respectable stands of cane were growing.

Under his direction, cane was cut and then pounded by natives armed with heavy mallets. After this process two of the boys would take each stick of cane separately and, one at each end, twist it until most of the juice was extracted.

After many hours bashing and twisting, several pints of the juice were nut in an old, three-legged, black-iron pot’and boil ed for what Harrison considered the right length of time. The brew was then strained through blotting paper, which ab sorbed the molasses and left what, with out doubt, was grains of sugar.

The experiment was a success. Fiji sugar cane was capable of producing granulated sugar.

The occasion ended as a social gather ing, before each of the men returned to his lonely plantation; but the experiment had started the more enterprising of them thinking sugar, and sugar cane cul tivation, on a commercial basis.

WITHIN a year two old residents, Messrs. Brewer and Joske, imported from Australia three small iron rol lers about five or six inches in diameter and several large open sugar pans. They erected this primitive sugar-making equip ment in their saw-mill near Suva, and announced that they were in the sugar business.

Several large stools of cane existed near the village, and this was bought from the natives, who thereby became prosperous while the brief sugar-boom lasted. Mr.

Harrison was again supervisor of sugar production, with Mr. Leicester Smith a sort of general-manager of the whole effort.

Natives brought the cane to the mill; others cut *it into several pieces and the

long strips were passed through the rollers.

The juice thus extracted was then boiled and the molasses allowed to drain out of it as best it might. The residue was a black sugar about the consistency of thick tar. and bore little resemblance to com mercial sugar.

However. Messrs. Brewer, Joske, Harri son and Smith were so elated with the result that they neglected to order sugar from Australia, and Brewer and Joske cus tomers for the next three months had to put up with the local article, which for convenience sake was poured from a jug.

Undaunted by, or not realising the diffi culties surrounding the production of sugar on a commercial scale. Joske and Brewer plunged into more elaborate pro

duction, and by the end of 1873 they had brought more machinery from Australia and, with carpenters, engineers and work men imported from Melbourne, had com menced building a sugar mill on the site where Suva town hall now stands.

A vessel was purchased to recruit labour from the New Hebrides, and a large area of land extending irom the present Bot anical Gardens to Laucala Bay (460 acres in all) was cleared and planted with cane.

A wharf was built from the mill site out into the harbour.

The mill operated for about three years but although sugar of fair quality was pro duced, the venture proved a failure and it is said that the experiment cost Brewer and Joske in the vicinity of £30,000.

The mill was closed down in 1876, and no more sugar was produced until the Colonial Sugar Refining Company went into operation about 1881 at their Nausori mill.