Natal’s sugar plantations are situated in the low, moist regions of the coast zone, between 28 degrees and 30 degrees south latitude, _i. e._, quite a distance below the tropic of Capricorn. The industry had its beginning in 1850, when the first cane was brought from Mauritius. Operations did not amount to much at the outset; a limited amount of cane was ground in small mills and the juice was boiled into sugar. In 1878, however, a factory with the newest equipment of that time was erected at Mount Edgecombe by Mauritius people. Henceforward, the production of sugar in the colony has shown a steady growth, and today there are thirty-four factories in active operation with an output of about 100,000 tons of sugar per annum. The climate of the valleys and the coast belt is hot and humid. Summer, beginning in October and ending in March, is the wet season, while May, June and July are the driest months. At Durban the temperature ranges from 42 degrees Fahrenheit in winter to 98 degrees Fahrenheit in summer, the mean being 70 degrees, and both the temperature and the humidity are affected by the Mozambique current that flows southward from the equator. The annual rainfall at Durban is about 40 inches and the average for the province is placed at 30 inches. The kind of cane most generally grown in Natal at the present time is the _Uba_, a hard, yellow variety that was brought from Hindustan. For fertilization, stable manure, cane ash and phosphates are employed. Owing to the geographical position of the country, it takes longer than usual for the cane to ripen. Plant cane matures in two years and first and second ratoons in eighteen months for each crop. So five years’ time is necessary to produce three crops, and at the end of this period replanting is done. After the cane is cut, it is loaded on railway cars for transportation to the mill. All of the raw sugar produced in Natal is refined there, except what is consumed in a raw state. In addition to the sugar made in the province, quite a little is imported from foreign countries, as Natal distributes a good deal of the commodity in adjoining states. The home industry is protected by a duty of $1.215 per 112 pounds on foreign sugar, while no duty is assessed on sugar going from one province to another throughout the British Union of South Africa. Formerly the most desirable laborers came from India, but recently the Indian government has stopped the exportation of natives of that country as plantation laborers, so Natal, like many other sugar-growing sections, has its labor problems. The production in long tons since 1894 has been as follows: