Demand for Coco-nut Products 351 



dividends promised, and realized, those trying to 

 raise capital for planting up coco-nut lands will 

 find it necessary to enlist all these side-lines 

 into their service, in order to get the increasing 

 and more elastic dividends without which the 

 public will not come in ; they will jump at a 

 rubber estate without trees, or a gold mine with- 

 out gold, because here and there similar ventures 

 have paid enormous dividends, and yet pass by 

 a coco-nut planting proposition with a certain 

 jo per cent, to 20 per cent, dividend as being 

 unworthy of their attention, We say this as 

 there is no doubt it was the spirit of speculation, 

 the mad hope of making ,50 out of ^5, or 

 even out of 53., that caused the mad rush after 

 rubber shares that took place in 1910 and 1911. 

 If you find this difficult to believe, attend the 

 meetings, especially of the Trust Companies, 

 and ask the directors, as we have done, why 

 they do not exercise their powers and plant 

 rubber, instead of only speculating in shares. 

 You will get your answer, not from the 

 directors, but from your fellow shareholders, 

 who will stand up one after the other, and 

 tell you point blank that they have not taken 

 shares to plant and wait years for a big- 

 dividend, but to join in the gamble. On this 

 account, although no dividend is declared, only 

 heavy losses shown, with very low quotations 

 for your shares, there is nothing that seems to 

 attract the public like a Trust, as those 

 trying to float coco-nut options find to their 



