(87 )
COCOA.
16. To deal first with cocoa: A study of this Table will show that the cocoa exports of this Colony rose between 1909 and 1914 from 20,213 tons in the former to 52,888 tons in the latter year. Simultaneously the quantities shipped respectively to Great Britain, Germany and France rose between 1909 and 1913
in the following manner :-
1909.
1913.
Great Britain Germany France
10,232
7,459 2,519
26.652 15,460 8,441
The total quantities exported from the Gold Coast during these two years amounted to 20,213 tons
and to 50,554 tons. Of this in 1909 Great Britain was taking approximately one half (50-57 per cent.), Germany was taking rather more than a third (36-9 per cent.) and France slightly more than one eighth (12-46). By 1913 on the other hand, Great Britain was taking 52.7 per cent., Germany 30-6 per cent.
and France 16.7 per cent. of the Gold Coast export of cocoa.
These figures would lead one to infer that between 1909 and 1913 Great Braitain and France had both somewhat increased the percentage of our crop with which they were prepared to deal, while in the same space of time Germany, though nearly doubling the quantity which she could annually consume, was taking a smaller percentage of the entire crop. In this connection, however, the figures which I have quoted are somewhat misleading, for though only 30.6% of the 1913 crop was exported from the Gold Coast direct to Germany, while 52.7% was imported into Great Britain, I have it on the authority of Mr. J. H. Batty.the Managing Director of several of the most important Mercantile Firms now operating in this Colony, that in pre-war times British manufacturers purchased less than 25% of the Gold Coast crop. Our cocoa, as you are aware, is of a somewhat low grade, and it finds only a limited market among manufacturers of cocoa and chocolate in Great Britain and in France. Large quantities of the cocoa imported into England from the Gold Coast were annually re-shipped to Holland and to Germany. The importance of these outlets, from the point of view of the Gold Coast cocoa-farmer, was emphasised during 1914 and 1915, when trans-shipments of cocoa to neutral ports, whence it found its way into Germany. were subject to comparatively slight restrictions. During that period good prices ruled and the local industry throve in spite of the war; but when, in 1916, it was decided to deprive Germany of her supplies of cocoa, Gold Coast produce became, to some extent, a drug on the market, in spite of the fact that a new outlet had been found for it in the markets of the United States of America.
17. With regard to this latter market for our cocos, though in existing conditions it is affording us a certain limited measure of relief, it cannot be regarded as a satisfactory substitute for that of Germany. Gold Coast cocoa, in spite of its low quality, possesses over its competitors the advantage of being the most cheaply produced cocoa in the world. This is due to the fact that it is grown by a very large number of native peasant proprietors, who incur in its production none of the expenses incidental to the manage- ment, supervision and control of an European enterprise. The Gold Coast moreover, having regard to its tropical situation, is less remote from Europe than are many other cocoa-producing countries. On the other hand, many of the latter are situated in much closer proximity to the United States of America, and though the market furnished by the latter may prove to be an outlet of some value to this Colony, our cocoa placed upon it inevitably competes with the produce of Central America and of the West Indies at a considerable disadvantage, not only as regards its quality, but also on account of the much longer transit
by sea.
18. The position, then, is-taking Mr. Batty's figures to be correct, as I have reason to believe them to be that in 1913, the year immediately preceding the outbreak of war, while over 30% of the Gold Coast cocoa crop was exported direct to Germany, and 16.69% was imported into France, Great Britain herself con- sumed less than 25% of the crop, the residue finding its way to Holland or to Germany, as the case might chance to be. Making full allowance, therefore, for the quantity which, in the future, the markets of the United States of America may be able to absorb, it must be admitted, I think, that any attempt to restrict or impede the exportation of Gold Coast cocoa to Germany-either direct, or via Great Britain or Holland--will result, less in injury to our present enemies, than in the acute depression of this Colony's staple industry. In a word, Great Britain and her Allies cannot consume or make use of the whole cocca crop of the Gold Coast in any ordinary circumstances; and were artificial means to be employed in order to enable them to make the attempt to do so, such measures must inevitably react upon local prices in a manner which would be severely felt by our cocoa planters and which could not fail to deal a very severe blow to the prosperity that, of recent years, this Colony has enjoyed in so phenomenal
degree.
&
19. I cannot bring myself to believe that such results would be advantageous to Great Britain, or that any of her Allies would profit thereby to an extent proportionate to our loss. It is for these reasons that I submit, in connection with the passage from the Report of Lord Balfour of Burleigh's Committee which
533
PUBLIC
KEGURU
Reference :-
wwwimmimic.O.885/25
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
Articles.
STATEMENT OF EXPORTS FROM THE GOLD Coast during 1909 to 1914,
(.86 )
Quantities.
Values.
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tona.
Tons.
Tons.
£
3
3
£
3
4
10,232
11,677
20,924
17,679
26,652
28,672 375 229-
452 124
867 558
7,459
801'2
10,048
12,961
15,460
..
2,519
3,846
8,754
8,002
b
1 8,441
267,866 99,733 146,581 10,380| 280,280
11,577 |
396,243
349,667
..
..
3
2
2,257
105
20,213
22,631
39,726
38,€47
50,554 52,888 755,347
866,571 1,613,468 1,642833
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
J
J
3
768,2121,322,113
544 326
186 330,009
413,179
753,878
-
48
2,489218
等
F
482,445
488,937
1,106,052
112
116,203
2,193,749
£
1,575
2,667
2,430
2,772
2,601
9.978
45
229 11,286
714 10,110
11,079
767
738 6,405
640 2,269
2,724
15,094
96,807
24
34,898
3,171 146,989
30,967
9,737 135,187
5
8
2
Totals
11,589
14,182
13,254
14,628
9,744
5,633
111,925
185,058
U. Kingdom
Germany
Galls.
1,502,127
199,429
305,740
*S[]8)
Galls.
910,625
396,617 130,317 137,190 302,259 Galls. 1,491,362 | 1,177,633 | 123,638
429,868
Galls.
Galls.
France.
Totals
2,007,296 2,448,868 | 1,610,209 1,444,432
860,155 | 495,763 120,968
591,378 253,031
212,057 233,651 56,720
89,072 £
£ 175,891
205,365
19
159,128
88,671
3
3
9,081
12,643
9,985 115,551
92,942
69,739
44,740
10,343
10,571
19,263
35,850
25,631
32 575
4.478
16,433
-899
3
19,050
677
161.386
128,916
112,885
6,585
17,919
36,646
Cocoa..
Palm Kernels
Palm Oil