Sugar Expert Sees

Misuse Of Fiji Cane Lands

IN a statement made before he left Fiji in mid-October, after a four weeks’ visit to Fiji, the general manager of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (Mr. C. W. Rothe) expressed concern about the misuse of cane-land in the Colony.

He said that some farms had no cane and some were not fully planted. Others suffered from over-ratooning and lack of effective drainage; insufficient quantities of fertiliser were being applied and trash was too frequently burned instead of being ploughed-in.

In many cases contour planting, neces sary to reduce risk of erosion, was not practised on hilly country. In certain areas the continued use of sledges is causing much damage to the land, fre quently starting gully erosion.

Mr. Rothe said that these faults must be corrected if the sugar industry in Fiji was to attain the efficiency which was necessary to qualify for a sugar quota on the basis of that recently allotted to Fiji by the United Kingdom Government. This year’s production of sugar was disappoint ingly small, as a result of bad weather and the faults he had enumerated. Next year’s crop would be smaller still because to these factors must be added the cam paign, some months ago, against planting and the ploughing out of some crops already established.

The Rev. G. Cook, of the Methodist Overseas Mission, Papua, was in Brisbane on furlough in November.