650 MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



instructors. Looking more closely into the case, it is 

 found that of the eleven European officers one is devoted 

 entirely to administrative duties; one to specialized work; 

 one stationed in the Northern Territories where the 

 rainfall and humidity do not permit of the cultivation of 

 cocoa fostering" a cotton industry, and conducting 

 experiments in the rotation of food crops; four are in 

 charge of large agricultural stations, where the duties 

 are such as to allow of no time being devoted to itinerant 

 instruction. This leaves only four officers for itinerant 

 instructional work and for relief of station officers during 

 their annual leave of absence from the colony. Of the 

 six native travelling instructors, two are engaged in con- 

 ducting sub-stations, and are not able to travel more than 

 fourteen days per month. 



Owing to the close system of planting adopted by the 

 native farmers and the present negligent methods of 

 conducting their farms, it would appear as if the average 

 life of the farms would not exceed twenty years, a very 

 short life for cocoa, added to which there are the grave 

 dangers for the future from the establishment of many 

 diseases and the destruction of much forest land, thereby 

 making the future growth of cocoa a matter of probable 

 difficulty from lack of humidity and organic matter in a 

 country where animal manure cannot be obtained, and 

 the value of green-dressing crops has yet to be discovered. 

 Though there is much difficulty in obtaining European 

 officers, and the mercantile community absorbs the most 

 promising of the native officers, yet it has, I think, been 

 clearly shown that there is an urgent and most pressing 

 need for men to carry out the ordinary tropical agricul- 

 tural sanitary measures as employed in other colonies, 

 and to meet the demands the following measures are 

 suggested : 



(1) The establishment of a staff of European inspectors 

 of cocoa farms, to examine farms, supervise the work of 

 native travelling instructors, and the work of school 

 gardens. 



(2) Considerably augment the staff of native travelling 

 instructors. 



(3) The establishment of a large number of model plots, 



