FOREIGN COCONUT ENTERPRISE 163 



Cochin China, there is ample scope for coconut 

 cultivation, and such possibilities are now attract- 

 ing greater attention than ever. In Cochin China 

 about 70,000 acres are now under coconuts, and 

 further extensions are constantly being made. 



In recent years the Dutch have been particularly 

 active in the development of the copra industry, 

 some of the world's largest manufacturers of nut 

 butter being located in Holland, while several 

 important Dutch merchant firms are interested in 

 the financing and exploitation of cocoanut areas in 

 Java, Sumatra, Macassar, and the Moluccas, where 

 they have some of the finest coconut-growing areas. 

 The Moluccas, especially, are now yielding excellent 

 crops of coconuts, and cultivation on a more 

 extensive scale is being undertaken there by re- 

 sponsible firms. Macassar is another region favour- 

 able to coconut cultivation, which has hitherto 

 been conducted by natives in haphazard fashion. 

 But the Dutch are now awakening to the pro- 

 fitability of more intensive cultivation, and exploi- 

 tation on the European system is likely to be 

 undertaken in the near future. 



The Chinese not only rank among the world's 

 principal consumers of the coconut and its pro- 

 ducts, but they have long been prominent in the 

 financing of native owners of coconut estates in 

 Malaya and other Mid-Eastern regions. Another 

 significant sign of the times is that wealthy Chinese 



