49 2 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



couple of hours at Banika Estate, 1,400 acres 

 planted. The manager was most assiduous in 

 showing me all he possibly could in a short 

 time. In the immediate vicinity the company 

 own Ufa, 800 acres planted ; and Lou vie, 350 

 acres. On the same island as Banika the 

 Malaita Company has a very fine property. 

 Copra is being collected from all these estates, 

 which in a few years will be in full bearing. 



4i Our next call was at Pepesala and Kalan. 

 The former is 1,700 acres planted, and the 

 latter about 500. 1 visited the latter first, and 

 from this, on rotten coral land, the best coco- 

 nuts are procured ; they commence to bear 

 after five years. Here I also spent some 

 time inspecting the most recent mechanical 

 dryer, which is giving excellent results, turn- 

 ing out dry copra every twelve hours. I am 

 not able at the present to give you full 

 particulars as to the construction, but I may 

 just mention that it has four small furnaces 

 (two at each end), in which a minimum amount 

 of husk is used, and at night a few logs 

 of wood are thrown in, which keep it alight 

 all night. You will therefore understand that 

 the labour required is almost infinitesimal. 



4 'The general manager of the plantations, who 

 lives at Pepesala, put a horse at my disposal, 

 and I spent some" two hours riding over the 

 estate. I was particularly interested in the 

 rubber planting, comprising, in three different 

 parts of the estate, some 40 acres. The trees 



