38 
extracted by native methods was, not many years ago, 
familiar as the orange-coloured lubricating grease 
employed on railways. At a later period a demand at 
an increased price arose for its use in connection with 
soap manufacture. More recently attention has been 
turned to improvements in extracting and preparing 
palm oil, with the result that a material devoid of 
the objectionable colour and flavour of crude palm 
oil has been obtained which seems likely to be in 
demand at remunerative prices for edible purposes. 
The subject of the growth and treatment of the 
_ African oil palm is one which is beginning to demand 
' serious study. This question of palm oil is to come 
before the Congress at one of the sectional meetings, 
when we shall have the opportunity of congratulating 
our French and German colleagues on, their activities 
in improving the methods for its extraction, from which 
more than one British industry will gain. 
Before [ leave this brief reference to some of the more 
important advances which have occurred since the 
Congress met in Brussels, I must refer to a remarkable 
change which has taken place with reference to the 
production of cocoa, the principal centre of which is now 
the British Colony of the Gold Coast. There was an 
output of 11,407,608 lb. in 1905, when the Congress met 
in Brussels. It had risen to 45,277,606 lb. in 1910, and 
last year (1913) it was 113,239,980 lb., and therefore this 
country now stands first on the list of the cocoa- 
producing countries of the world. This remarkable 
result is not merely due to labour difficulties in other 
cocoa-producing countries; in fact, the Gold Coast is 
not free from these difficulties itself. It is mainly due 
to the fact that the climate of the Gold Coast over a 
large area has proved to be particularly well adapted 
to the growth of cocoa, whilst the native farmers, with 
advice and assistance from the local Department of 
Agriculture, have taken up the subject with great 
energy and success. 
The cocoa industry of the Gold Coast is in fact a 
notable example of an enterprise which has been 
brought to success as a native industry aided, and to 
some extent supervised, by Government, but without 
pressure or coercion in any form. 
