| 1 |
 |
“...13s. 9d.) almost up to the commencement of the new
crop.
The peculiarity of the year 1906 was the fact that old sugars
could still be bought right up to September (ordinarily the crop
ends in May for large lots and in June for finals), and that sugar
mills continued crushing right up to August, 1906 ; although, after
May, cane begins to lose saccharine, and crushing can only be done
at a loss. This was due to two causes. Firstly, the troubles
connected with the erection and running for the first time of new
machinery by inexperienced mill owners, who had an inexperienced
staff of engineers ; and secondly, the sudden tlirowing on the
former's hands of a large quantity of cane which was rejected
for crushing by one of the most important mills on account of the...”
|
|
| 2 |
 |
“...8
tainan.
fact that it was unprofitable to crush at that particular time of
the year—the month of May. Consequently, as it does not pay
to hold cane over, the farmers were forced to hurriedly erect old-
style mills to use up their cane. It seems that some compensation
was paid to the farmers for not taking up their cane, but complaints
were also made that the compensation given was insufficient. Fifty
other new semi-modern mills, however, not having the power of a
large modern factory, could not manage things in such an autocratic
fashion, and were obliged to continue crushing until all their crops
were reaped.
As some of the foreign firms in Anping anticipated an advancu
in prices when all the old sugar should have been exhausted, and
made allowances for the enforcement of the new customs tariff
in October, 1906, they bought sugars ahead in September for
December delivery, and were able to realise fair margins. By
the new tariff the import duty on Class 1 (Dutch Standard No. 8)
was...”
|
|
| 3 |
 |
“...impossible to foretell the future with any certainty, Future
as business conditions in Formosa under the present active prospects of
Government change so rapidly, but there is no doubt that
the outlook for the few foreign sugar firms now remaining is a
gloomy one unless they take up a sugar mill, which involves
the investment of a large capital, or unless some new trade
springs up. Practically speaking, most of the available land at
present planted with cane is allotted to the various mills, and the
majority of small mills, semi-foreign included, will be absorbed by...”
|
|
| 4 |
 |
“...ion will carry out this practice
on the ' sprinkling' but not on the ' bath ' method, although
the tendency would seem to be towards the adoption of so-called 11-
roller mills, viz., really 3-roller mills on one bed plate plus a 2-roller
preliminary breaker or crusher without macerator. None of the
mills, so far, have been fitted with this preliminary crushing arrange-
ment, though certain of the existing mills are 5-roller, in which two
of the rolls to a certain extent effect preliminary breaking up of the
cane but not to the same extent as the specially fluted rolls now
so much employed in Cuba and elsewhere. The foregoing Formosan
mills carry out double or triple crushing, more or less efficiently;
preliminary crushing and maceration would probably bring them on
an equally efficient basis with the better class mills in other parts
of the world. Some modern green megass furnaces are in operation
with forced draught, and the steam boilers employed are of various
types—tubular, double,...”
|
|
