“‘To reach the consuming markets by the most direct line, to avoid transshipments and save double freights are objects, commercially, of the highest importance.’[4] And there is an aspect of the matter which renders it still more necessary, as regards the Philippine trade, that these objects should be kept in view. Australia is now, after Great Britain, the most important market for the Philippine sugars, and particularly for the reclayed Bisayan sugars of Iloilo and Cebú, which are there used for refining purposes, and it will most undoubtedly be before long the largest consumer of the sugar of these islands. In 1857 the exports of Iloilo and Cebú sugar from Manila to Australia were 18,178 and 51,519 peculs respectively, while to all the other markets, including Great Britain, they were only 11,519 and 41,699 peculs; and the same year the total export of all kinds of sugar to Australia was even more than to Great Britain, being 17,847 tons, or 285,552 peculs, to the former, against 16,675 tons, or 266,800 peculs, to the latter market. In the present year (1858), the total export from Manila to Australia, owing to a deficiency in the Pampanga crop, and the discouragement caused to the Australian importers by the high prices of 1857, have only reached 9,038 tons, or 145,028 peculs.
“In the meantime Mauritius, Java and Bengal all supply large and increasing quantities of sugar to Australia, and Mauritius in particular, possessing the great advantages of greater proximity (as to time) and of machinery and other appliances far superior to those in use in the Philippines, furnishes the Australian market with a large quantity of crystallized and yellow sugars, which are much sought for in Sydney and Melbourne, where the steady increase of population and general wealth augment the demand for high-classed sugars. In 1857 the Australian colonies took 24,000 tons, or 384,000 peculs, of sugar from Mauritius; and the latest accounts anticipate that the shipments this year to the same quarter will be 30,000 tons, or 480,000 peculs. To quote the words of the Port Louis Commercial Gazette of August 10th, 1858:—‘There is no doubt that the present crop will reach the figures of 240,000,000 lbs., say 120,000 tons’ (nearly 2,000,000 peculs); ‘but as the Australian colonies took 24,000 of the last crop, we must expect they will take at least 30,000 of this, our crystallized and yellow sugars gaining in estimation there.’ The same journal, of the 27th of October, adds, ‘This facility of realizing produce at fair prices has given animation to business and has improved the prospects of the colony. There are now 150 vessels in our harbour, loading and discharging for and from different parts of the world. Our marine establishments are busily engaged in repairing vessels of different nations that have been happy to seek refuge here; our vast quays are too small for our commerce; the capacious new stores lately erected, and which embellish our port, are filled with goods and produce; 25,000 immigrants have been added to our population this year, whilst only 6,500 have left. Our public revenue has largely increased—companies are prosperous—cultivation has been extended, sugar machinery and works improved and increased, and private buildings throughout the principal part of the town enlarged and improved in appearance.’
“Fortunately for the Philippines, with respect to their better-appointed rivals—Mauritius, Java and Bengal—the low-graded unclayed sugars of Iloilo, Capiz and Antique, Isla de Negros and Cebú, are, in ordinary times, cheaper than those of either of the latter colonies, and consequently more adapted for refining purposes; but nothing can place in a stronger light than the above facts regarding the export from Mauritius the very great importance of keeping the way open for exporting the unclayed Philippine sugars to Australia at the cheapest possible cost to the importers.
“The much greater extent and more than equal fertility of the Philippines, as compared with Mauritius, must, in the end, if no artificial obstacles are again imposed on the production of the former, lead to the development of larger sugar crops than those of the latter colony.
“The results of the opening of the ports of Soerabaya, Samarang, Cheribon, and others in the island of Java are encouraging circumstances, as showing, among other similar examples, of what importance Iloilo, as the central port of the Bisayan Islands, may become. Soerabaya and Samarang (and especially the former), which enjoy a favourable proximity to the chief points of production, now export an immense quantity of produce, and orders for the direct shipment to Europe of rice, sugar, coffee, tobacco and other Javan products are transmitted by electric telegraph by the Batavian houses to their agents at these ports over a distance exceeding 350 miles. I cannot at present do more than briefly allude to the approaching commencement of an export of timber and furniture woods from Iloilo and Antique to China. The Spanish ship Santa Justa loaded a large cargo of wood this year for Hong Kong, which has lately been sold at 63½ cents per foot. Since then, in anticipation of the demand for the rebuilding of Canton, the price has risen in Hong Kong, and arrangements are being made for the charter of a large vessel, either Spanish or foreign, to convey other cargoes to China; and there is every prospect of there being, before long, an active traffic in this article, which, as before noticed, is of excellent quality, abundant, cheap, and easily accessible near Iloilo, and at the adjoining province of Antique.
“It is recommended that vessels making the voyage to Iloilo from Australia, or any place to the south of the Philippines, should, during the S.W. monsoon, enter the archipelago between the islands of Basilan and Zamboanga, and, on passing Point Batalampon, keep well up to Point Gorda, and make the Murcielagos Island, so as to avoid being driven to the westward by the strong currents setting from off the Mindanao coast during both monsoons.
“Pending the N.E. monsoon, the best course is to make a détour to the east of the Philippines, and enter the archipelago by the Straits of San Bernardino. The straits should be entered by Samar and Masbate. Vessels bound from Manila or northern ports may proceed through the Mindoro passage, but they should consult Don Claudio Montero’s charts. After passing Tablas and Romblon (an excellent harbour there), make for the Silanga Islands, a good mark for which is the high conical island called Sugar Loaf (Pan de Azucar). During the N.E. monsoon vessels should keep between the islands of Jintotolo and the larger Zapato (Shoe Island), but during the S.W. pass between Oliuaya and the smaller Zapato. The best channel is between Sicogon and Calaguan, but the outer and broader passage between the groups of islands and that of Negros is preferable for large ships. There is safe anchorage through the inner route. At Bacuan and Apiton supplies are to be found.
“The tide through the Silanga Islands and Seven Sins flows at the rate of three to four miles an hour—from the Seven Sins to Iloilo often at six to seven miles an hour.”
Commercial prosperity is so intimately connected with general improvement and the increase of human happiness, that one cannot but look with interest upon the results of any legislation which removes the trammels from trade and gives encouragement to industry, and the island of Panay may be considered a promising field for the future. The latest accounts report that the planting of cane has been extended very rapidly in this province, owing to the continuance of high prices for sugar, and also to the fact of the direct export trade to Australia having commenced. Planters now see that the arrival of foreign vessels will lead to a permanent demand for their sugars at prices which will pay them better than those formerly obtainable for the Manila market, from whence, before the opening of the port of Iloilo to foreign trade, all the sugar of this and the neighbouring provinces had to be shipped at a great additional expense in heavy coasting freight, landing and reshipping charges, sea risk, commission, brokerage, &c., all of which are now avoided by direct shipment at the place of production.
“The stimulus given to planting has resulted this year in an increase in the yield to 60,000 peculs (3,750 tons), and, judging from the amount of cane planted for next season’s crop, it is fully anticipated that in 1860 about 140,000 peculs (7,500 tons) will be produced, without counting on the quantity yielded by the neighbouring provinces of Antique (30,000 peculs) and the island of Negros (35,000 to 40,000 peculs), from both of which places sugar is brought and exported.