14 COCONUT CULTIVATION 



that six years before the rubber boom the writer 

 had much difficulty in persuading what is now 

 one of the biggest and most prosperous rubber 

 concerns in Malaya to take up the cultivation of 

 that commodity. He refers in particular to con- 

 tinental interests, which came into existence in 

 the early days of rubber, and were highly 

 successful. The same people are now planting 

 ' the Consols of the East ' in the Malay Penin- 

 sula; and in the light of modern require- 

 ments, we see that the coconut industry is in 

 its infancy and that it is on the eve of greater 

 development. 



" The important economic features of tropical 

 agriculture are perfectly evident to the British 

 capitalist, and it is for him to consider whether 

 he will be early in the field of this great com- 

 mercial venture to commence planting opera- 

 tions at once, patiently to await returns, or 

 allow his continental opponent to forestall him. 

 To one who has lived in Malaya upward of 

 twenty years, and who has watched its develop- 

 ment year by year and appreciates the wonderful 

 future the country has before it, it is difficult to 

 understand why any persuasion is needed to 

 enterprising Britishers at home to remove their 

 capital from the uncertainties of strikes and the 

 ever-increasing cost of labour to a land of lucra- 

 tive investments with perfect security one free, 

 practically, from the results of modern legislation 

 as known in the Old Country. 



" We carefully note the efforts of Germany in 



