Up to 1835 the labor in the fields had been done by African negro slaves. The emancipation of these slaves was declared on February 1st of that year, and their final liberation took place in March, 1839. In anticipation of this, the authorities had arranged five years previously for the bringing in of a number of immigrants from India, and from that time down to the present virtually all the labor required in the cane fields has been drawn from India. In 1834 the immigrants from India numbered 75 and in 1908 the Hindu population was 263,419. One of the most important events in connection with the growth of the sugar industry of Mauritius was the formation of the Chamber of Agriculture in 1853. This body fostered mutual co-operation and interchange of ideas among the planters. It exercised its influence in bringing about legislation affecting agricultural and industrial questions and the development of the resources of the colony. The Station Agronomique, instituted in 1893, and the Bacteriological Station in 1908, came into being as a result of the efforts of the Chamber of Agriculture, to which credit is also due for the extension of the cane-raising area to its present proportions. During the last hundred years the island of Mauritius has suffered from a series of disasters—epidemics of cholera, smallpox and bubonic plague, hurricanes and droughts. In 1892 a hurricane of extraordinary violence sowed frightful devastation, destroying cane, wrecking houses and killing numbers of people. Ten years later nearly all the draft animals were carried off by _surra_, a deadly cattle disease, which made its appearance just as the largest crop on record was about to be harvested. In addition to the direct loss of horses, mules and cattle, the difficulties of transportation delayed the work of gathering and crushing the cane long after its maximum richness had been reached. The yield for the 1903 crop was thus appreciably reduced, and the growing period for the crop of the following year greatly curtailed. The shortage in 1903 has been placed at 11,000 tons, while that for 1904 amounted to 23,000 tons. These losses caused such distress that it became necessary to invoke state aid, which was provided by the Mechanical Transport loan of 1903.