VALUE OF THE COCONUT 



of his fellow-subjects, and that its cultivation is 

 rapidly becoming one of the greatest and most 

 lucrative industries in the world, and he will prob- 

 ably indulge in a smile that politely, but definitely, 

 casts a doubt upon your sanity. This, of course, 

 is typical of the average Britisher's attitude 

 towards all things that do not come within his 

 immediate ken ; though it is only fair to say that 

 his apathy disappears, like mist before the sun, 

 when once he realises that a subject, previously 

 dismissed as insignificant, possesses real importance. 

 It is with the sole object of arousing interest in 

 the immense importance of coconut cultivation 

 to Great Britain to-day, both economically 

 and financially, that these pages have been 

 written. 



At the outset it may be said that the develop- 

 ment of the coconut industry since its inception, 

 and particularly during the last decade, has con- 

 tributed a chapter to the history of commerce that 

 reads more like an Eastern romance than a record 

 of hard fact ; and to-day, with the demand for 

 coconut products increasing by leaps and bounds, 

 the outlook, whether for the planter, merchant or 

 financier, is almost illimitable. In fact, the whole 

 position may be summed up in the words of Sir 

 William H. Lever, himself the founder of one of 

 the greatest industrial undertakings of modern 

 times, who, in his Foreword to "Coconuts: The 



