550 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



what the normal yield should be), and with 

 only about 4,500 nuts required for one ton of 

 copra, it must seem strange to the outsider 

 that only 125,000 tons of copra are exported 

 instead of the 500,0^0 tons which should be in 

 evidence. Where, then, is the 75 per cent, 

 loss ? 



11 To begin with, the coco-nut probably suffers 

 more from mistreatment in the Philippines than 

 in any other country in the world, and this 

 serves to reduce the normal output by about 

 50 per cent. ; again, in many districts very 

 little copra is made because of the great 

 demand for 'tuba/ or tocldy, and between the 

 nuts consumed as food locally and the vast 

 quantity of tuba drunk, either locally or in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of the plantations, 

 the remaining 25 per cent, is accounted for. 

 During the fiscal year 1909-10, it is estimated 

 that about 175,000,000 litres of tuba were 

 consumed in the Archipelago. There was 

 also produced in the same fiscal year about 

 7,000,000 litres of coco-nut oil (1,540,000 

 imperial gallons) quite enough to arouse the 

 envy of the European oil manufacturers. 



" However, coco-nut planters are trying to 

 break away from the old ' costumbres,' which 

 have been responsible for much of the bad 

 management in the past, and I have no doubt 

 that a few years more will see a great change 

 in the copra business in the Archipelago. 

 In fact, many of the new plantations are 



