extracted by native methods was, not many years ago, 

 familiar as the orange-coloured lubricating grease 

 employed on railways. At a later period a demand at 

 an increased price arose for its use in connection with 

 soap manufacture. More recently attention has been 

 turned to improvements in extracting and preparing 

 palm oil, with the result that a material devoid of 

 the objectionable colour and flavour of crude palm 

 oil has been obtained which seems likely to be in 

 demand at remunerative prices for edible purposes. 

 The subject of the growth and treatment of the 

 African oil palm is one which is beginning to demand 

 serious study. This question of palm oil is to come 

 before the Congress at one of the sectional meetings, 

 when we shall have the opportunity of congratulating 

 our French and German colleagues on their activities 

 in improving the methods for its extraction, from which 

 more than one British industry will gain. 



Before I leave this brief reference to some of the more 

 important advances which have occurred since the 

 Congress met in Brussels, I must refer to a remarkable 

 change which has taken place with reference to the 

 production of cocoa, the principal centre of which is now 

 the British Colony of the Gold Coast. There was an 

 output of 11,407,608 Ib. in 1905, when the Congress met 

 in Brussels. It had risen to 45,277,606 Ib. in 1910, and 

 last year (1913) it was 113,239,980 Ib., and therefore this 

 country now stands first on the list of the cocoa- 

 producing countries of the world. This remarkable 

 result is not merely due to labour difficulties in other 

 cocoa-producing countries; in fact, the Gold Coast is 

 not free from these difficulties itself. It is mainly due 

 to the fact that the climate of the Gold Coast over a 

 large area has proved to be particularly well adapted 

 to the growth of cocoa, whilst the native farmers, with 

 advice and assistance from the local Department of 

 Agriculture, have taken up the subject with great 

 energy and success. 



The cocoa industry of the Gold Coast is in fact a 

 notable example of an enterprise which has been 

 brought to success as a native industry aided, and to 

 some extent supervised, by Government, but without 

 pressure or coercion in any form. 



