Leading Articles ix the Reviews. 



219 



COMMERCE AND INVENTION. 



IHE COCONUT AND ITS COM- 

 MKRCIAL USES. 



The BitUelin oj the Imperial Inslilttle deals with 

 the pests and diseases to which the coconut palm is 

 subjected, and an account is given of the various 

 products obtained from the palm and of their prepara- 

 tion for the market and their utilisation. The most 

 dreaded of the pests which attack the palm is the 

 " black " or " rhinoceros " beetle. The adult insect 

 flies by night and feeds on the soft tissues of the 

 undeveloped leaves and the apical bud. As a result 

 of these attacks the bud may be killed, in which case 

 the palm ceases to grow and ultimately dies. The 

 holes frequently seen in the trunks of coconut palms 

 are the results of injuries caused to the apical bud at 

 various periods of growth, and these serve as burrows 

 for the beetle. 'i"he larva; are soft, fleshy grubs with 

 white, wrinkled bodies that develop from eggs usually 

 deposited in decayed coconut stumps or other decom- 

 posed vegetable matter. The larva; live in similar 

 material, and are also found in soils that are rich in 

 humus, at from 6in. to izin. below the surface. The 

 mature insect is a large dark-brown or black beetle, 

 34mm. to 38mm. in length, with a horn projecting 

 from the head, which is more prominent in the males 

 than in the females. 



Of the products of the coconut palm desiccated 

 coconut is prepared by a process which consists of 

 removing the hard shell of the nut with a hatchet, or 

 by means of a small revolving .saw driven by steam 

 power. The outer brown skin of the kernel is removed 

 by shaving the husked nut with a spokeshave, such 

 as carpenters use, and this process is completed by 

 holding the nut against a steam-driven rasp, which 

 removes any portions of brown skin that escape the 

 shaving operation. The shaved kernels are cut into 

 halves, and the watery contents of the nut allowed to 

 drain away, after which they are passed through a 

 machine which reduces them to strips, shreds or 

 granular particles, as desired. The material so prepared 

 is then ready for desiccating. In warm countries the 

 oil contamed in the coconut kernel becomes rancid 

 very quii kly on exposure, and for this reason it is 

 neccs.sary to dry the nuts as soon as possible after the 

 removal of the hard shell. 



Kquall\- interesting is the preparation of coconut oil 

 for the market. The natives of tropical countries 

 prepare coconut oil by primitive methods, such as 

 cutting the kernel in small pieces, and exposing these 

 in heaps to the sun, when the oil mejts and runs off. 

 or by crushing the kernels to pulp in wooden mortars, 

 and pla( ing the f)ulp in perforated wooden vessels in 

 the sun, the oil which exudes being collected. A 

 simple but more efficient method consists in first 

 drying the kernels cither in the sun or over a fire, 

 pounding the dried material, and pressing in wooden 

 presses^ 



'OUR DEALINGS WITH THE 

 PUBLIC." 



To S/. Martin' s-le-Grand and to Eustace Hare we 

 are indebted for a peep behind the scenes of the 

 telephone department, and for an introduction to 

 that diplomatic person the \\"ayleavc Canvasser, the 

 man who tactfully persuades property owners to allow 

 the Post Office to erect its plant on their property. 

 Mr. Hare is hurt at the hostility of a certain section 

 of the public. " We all, more or less, live in an atmo- 

 sphere of tact, but perhaps there is no branch of our 

 staff where its e.\ercise is so enforced as on what we 

 call the traffic department — the department to which 

 all our efforts tend and which is the sustaining power 

 of our existence. If the company owes a debt of 

 gratitude to the public for the assistance rendered in 

 the way of facilities for erecting its plant, the public 

 is amply compensated by the patience and zeal with 

 which their wants are ministered to by the company's 

 operators. I am sure there is no member of the whole- 

 staff, from the highest to the lowest, whose indignation 

 is not rou.sed when, from time to time, he comes acrcss 

 in the Press some cheap manifestation of a scribbler'.s 

 wit at the expense of a body of his colleagues who are 

 doing their utmost to carry out their arduous duties 

 satisfactorily, and whose sex alone should, one would 

 think, secure them from the senseless effusions of the 

 would-be humorist." 



By way of a plea for fairer treatment, and in justi- 

 fication of his remarks, he says : — " From beginning to 

 end we are disciples of the art of persuasion. Until 

 the telephone habit is universal, which will not be in 

 the time of most of us now living, it falls to us to be 

 continually pressing the advantages home. .-Vnother 

 field of persuasion is in obtaining the good-will of 

 property - owners to assist us in our work. Our 

 machinery is so delicate and complicated, and our 

 operations so extensive, that it is not possible at all 

 times to give the individual the immediate service he 

 requires, and what he deems he has the right to expect, 

 and it is not always easy to persuade him we are doing 

 our utmost to meet his wants. But in the past we 

 have achieved much, and in the light of it we have 

 no reason to doubt but that we shall achieve much 

 more in the future that lies before us." 



" En(JL.\.nd's Story in Portr.iit and Picture." which 

 is running through the Windsor, deals with the reign 

 of George I. in the .\ugust number. It gives portraits 

 of the King, of his father the Elector of Hanover, and 

 of his mother, of the Old Pretender, Sir Robert Walpolc. 

 John Erskine, and Sophia, the King's consort. The 

 j)iclurcs are those of the Coronation of the King, of 

 Lord Nithsdalc's escape from the Tower, the South Sea 

 Bubble, and. most quaint of all. the (air with streets of 

 booths on the frozen Thames between London Bridge 

 and the Temple Steps. 



