Oils and Fats 
O NE of the features of modern commerce is 
the provision of adequate supplies of those 
raw materials essential to mankind, not 
the least important of which are oils and fats. 
There is no need to insist on this; the numerous 
ways in which oils and fats are consumed in daily 
life, either directly or indirectly, are so familiar to 
all that the necessity of being assured of adequate 
supplies can be taken as vital. 
Undoubtedly the greatest consumption of oils and 
fats is among the dense populations of the temperate 
zones, who are unable, by reason of climatic and 
other conditions, to supply their requirements, while 
the chief source of oil materials lies in the relatively 
sparsely populated tropical regions. 
Malaya is no exception to this ; the chief oil-bearing 
plants grow well in this country but, up to the 
present with the exception of coconuts, little has 
been done as regards exploiting them. The chief 
reason for this is that the main interest of the 
country is centred in the production of plantation 
rubber; but, with the recent decline in the price of 
this commodity, there is reason to believe that more 
attention will be given to extending the cultivation 
of various oil-bearing plants, especially those which 
can be grown under similar plantation conditions. 
In this article, therefore, a short survey will be 
given of those oil-bearing plants which are being 
cultivated in this country, or with which experi- 
