THE WEST INDIAN QUESTION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 SIR,—With reference to the article in the Spectator of January 22nd, I should like to point out, in justice to West Indian planters, that :—
(1) British Guiana and Trinidad, with their well-equipped factories, share the depression of Bd.rbadoea and Antigua, which have no factories.
(2) A Bill passed by the House of Assembly of Barbadoes two years ago to enable central factories to be erected by Government aid, did not receive the assent of the Secretary of State, though two delegates interviewed Mr. Chamberlain on the matter.
(3) The inferemees made in the article from a comparison of the-yield of sugar obtained in Java and the West Indies are not reliable, because the yield per acre depends on the- species of cane, the quality of the juice, the richness of the soil, the climate, and the process of manufacture. These points, except-the last, do not appear to have received much attention in the pamphlet quoted by you.
(4) Botanical stations, at which the best species of cane are selected after careful experiment, have been established by the local Legislatures in most of the West Indian Colonies fbr the last ten years. There are also Government chemists in most islands.
(5) An illiterate black peasant proprietary would hardly be a satisfactory substitute for the present hard-working body of well-educated planters, several of whom are University men.
97 Hereford Road, Bayswater, W., February 2nd.
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