Something about sugar

by George M. Rolph

Sugar has been known in the island for a great many years. There is a record of a shipment having been made from there to the Netherlands as far back as 1622, from which time the trade was carried on until the competition of the West Indies closed the European markets to Formosan sugars. Nevertheless, the industry prospered and the production grew until during the last years of Chinese rule it amounted to something between 60,000 and 80,000 tons annually. Nearly all of this was soft brown sugar of fine grain, the remainder being a so-called white sugar, made by purging the brown sugar crystals of their syrup.

The island was seized by Japan in 1895, but the Formosans made a stubborn resistance to the invaders, and it was not until 1898 that they were finally subdued and a stable government established by the Japanese. An insurrection broke out in 1902, but was quickly put down, and since then there has been no further trouble.

In 1895 Formosa had something near one thousand small mills, all driven by buffaloes. The product was a brown clayed sugar, similar to that made in the Philippines, and one-half of it was consumed locally, the other half going to China and Japan.

After the subjugation of Formosa in 1898, the Japanese were not immediately able to set about repairing the damage caused by the war. Two years later, however, they took up the task with characteristic energy and thoroughness, and the sugar industry soon felt the effects of the movement. In 1902 measures were passed providing for the establishment of a sugar station at Tainan and for the investigation of all questions relating to the industry. Young Japanese students were sent to Java, Hawaii and Europe to look into methods employed in the cultivation and manufacture of sugar in those countries and to determine by careful observation and study what would be best suited to Formosan conditions. Seed cane was brought in from other countries and comparisons of results obtained from the different plantings were made at an experiment station built by the government at Daimokko. Striped Tanna and Lahaina canes throve well, but they were rejected because they required an extraordinary amount of irrigation and constant care. The Rose Bamboo, on the other hand, was hardier and did not need so much water, consequently the experts at the sugar station did everything they possibly could to encourage its use.

At the same time the government offered companies starting sugar refineries a bonus of six per cent per annum for five years on the paid-up capital, or a single bonus of twenty per cent of the value of the plant and equipment. Other enterprises were supplied with machinery by the government for five years; in other words, the machinery was bought with government money and the sugar company was given five years in which to reimburse the government. Cane lands could be acquired on very favorable terms, and any planter who was willing to bind himself to raise a crop of cane for five consecutive years was supplied with fertilizer by the government, free of cost. These privileges remained open until the early part of 1911, when they were abrogated.

About the first enterprise to receive the benefit of this special legislation was the Taiwan Sugar company, incorporated in 1900 with a paid-in capital of 500,000 yen, which carried a bonus of 30,000 yen from the government. The company’s intention was to buy the cane from the growers and make it into sugar for the Japanese market. The factory was ready for business by the fall of the following year, but as soon as grinding was begun the Chinese farmers manifested a decided unwillingness to furnish cane. As a consequence, the sugar company determined to grow its own cane, and after increasing its capital to 1,000,000 yen proceeded to carry out this plan. Arrangements were made to turn out 30 tons of sugar per day during the grinding period of 150 days, but the first year’s results were only 1200 tons.

Two factories near Tainan owned by Chinese were started about this time at the instigation of the government, and also with its assistance. Unfortunately, the operators did not understand how to use the modern equipment furnished them by the authorities. Further trouble arose in connection with the buying of the cane and there was constant friction between the factories and the government experts at the sugar bureau. So the venture proved far from profitable either to the factories or the industry.

The Chinese growers continued to cling tenaciously to their crude method of grinding cane in their buffalo-driven mills, instead of selling it to the factories, and they obstinately refused to plant the new and more productive variety of cane, Rose Bamboo, imported from the Hawaiian islands by the government for seed purposes—this in spite of the fact that cane tops for planting could be obtained gratis at the sugar station, and that the substitution of the better cane entitled the farmer to free fertilizer, irrigation privileges and a money bonus.

It was plain that the government would have to take more vigorous action to save its sugar program for Formosa from complete failure, so in 1905 new regulations were framed and made public. Under these rules no one could embark in the business of manufacturing sugar without first securing the official sanction of the director of the sugar bureau. A fixed territory was assigned to the newcomer with the express understanding that no other factory could be established there and that all the cane growers in the territory were obligated to sell their cane to the factory and forbidden to send it out of the district or put it to any other use. The factory owner on his side bound himself to take all the cane grown in his district, even if the supply should be greater than his needs. In order to stimulate modern methods of manufacture, the sugar bureau prohibited the grinding of cane by the growers in their buffalo mills, except by special permission.