INTRODUCTION 3 



the capitalist about to enter the field of tropical 

 agriculture, but this supposed danger is not so 

 formidable as is assumed. Nevertheless, there 

 are pitfalls which should be avoided, and as the 

 coconut industry in the future, is to play so 

 prominent a part in the financial world, the note 

 of warning given in the following articles, written 

 by the author, which appeared in the Financial 

 Neivs (Empire Section) of June 12 and 19 and 

 July 3, 1913, will not be out of place. 



Reprinted from " Financial News," June 12, 1913. 



"Remarkable attention is being directed to- 

 ward the coconut industry, and on all sides 

 one hears of the boom that is at hand. The 

 company promoter is busy preparing his nets 

 for the promised good time, and the ex-tropical 

 man will, as usual, have an option ready, or 

 know of a friend who has one. It may not be 

 out of place therefore to put on record a few 

 remarks of a precautionary nature. 



" Malaya the successful rubber and tin 

 country is also an ideal land for the cultivation 

 of the coconut, its equable tropical climate; its rich 

 alluvial soil ; its plentiful and evenly- distributed 

 rainfall ; and its ozone-laden breezes all making 

 for rapid and prolific growth. It must be re- 

 membered, however, that in the past, Europeans 

 have not given this particular cultivation the 

 same attention that has been devoted to rubber 

 and coffee, and consequently the industry has 

 been confined almost entirely to the efforts of 



