There are a number of hemp-presses in Manila, each requiring about sixty coolies to work it, and one or two clerks to attend to the sorting and weighing.
They were paid so much per bale pressed.
Steam, or hydraulic presses, would long ago have been substituted but for the fact that the clerks or personeros were each allowed one or two deadheads on the pay list, and this was so profitable to them that they strongly opposed any changes, and none of the merchants cared to take the risk of the innovations.
Two presses were set in line, astride a pair of flat rails, a small one called the Bito-bito for the first pressure on the pile of hemp, and the large one to squeeze down the bale to its proper size.
They were simply screw presses having hardwood frames set deep into massive stone foundations and surrounded by a granite pavement.
A pair of these presses, i.e., a Bito-bito and a press erected in Manila under my direction in 1888, cost $4400, the woodwork foundation and pavement costing $2850, and the screws, nuts, capstan-heads, etc., costing $1550. The small press had a screw 4 inches diameter and 6 feet long, and was worked by two or four men. The large press had a screw 8¼ inches diameter, and 12 feet long.
Both screws worked in deep gun-metal nuts and had capstan-heads. When the large press was near the end of its travel the capstan bars were manned by forty coolies putting out their utmost strength and shouting to encourage each other as they tramped round on the upper floor keeping step.
The turn out was about 250 bales from daylight to dark. Each bale weighed 2 piculs, say 280 lbs., or eight to the English ton. The bales should measure 10 cubic feet, that is a density of 28 lbs. per cubic foot. The hemp could be pressed into a smaller volume, but it is asserted that the fibre would be seriously damaged. Sometimes from careless pressing the bales measure 12 cubic feet. They swell after leaving the press and after being moved.
At the date I have mentioned, the charge for screwage was 50 cents per picul, but it has been raised since then.
Dry sugar was exported in its original bags, and loading and shipping cost 12½ cents per picul. Wet sugar usually required repacking for export, and the charge for discharging the coaster and rebagging was 17½ cents per picul, as well as 12½ cents for loading and shipping.