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“...prosperity, deputies from the Bureau of Trade at Canton
have recently visited the port to investigate the local conditions,
aud for their information the local Chamber of Commerce was
called on to furnish a report on the subject. The following details,
extracted from this report as published in one. of the native news-
papers recently, may be of interest :—
The area in this district now under sugar cultivation is estimated
at about 150,000 mou or say 22,500 acres in all, the native sugar
crushing mills numbering about 2,000. These work on the average
100 days in the year, each establishment turning out from 600 to
1,000 piculs or about 700 to 1,200 cwts. of sugar. Each mill employs
some 25 hands at wages of 350 cash per man per diem, the houis
of labour being from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. In the Cheng-hai district
the sugar cane is purchased from the cultivators by the mill owners,
but in the Chao-Chow and other districts, where the cultivation
is more scattered, a mill is set up by the nearest villagers...”
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