Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 1435

THE PHILIPPINES

FORESTS

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Timber forests are found in all the principal islands of the archipelago, covering an area of about 11,035,340 hectares. These forests contain some of the finest timber in the world, especially for cabinet work. Many species of the Dipterocarp family are used as substitute for mahogany and are sold in foreign markets as Philippine mahogany. Minor forest products such as rat- tan, oils, copal gum, tanbark, dyebark, and dyewood are abundant.

The Government owns more than 99 per cent. of all the standing timber of the Philippines, and the Bureau of Forestry has control over them. The pub- lic forests are not sold, but are developed under a license system. There are at present 118 sawmills, which are equipped with modern machinery fit to meet the big enterprise of the country.

FISHERIES

Fishing, until recently an undeveloped industry in the Philippines, is rapidly coming to the front. Commercial fishing, in particular, sees a greater investment of Filipino and American capital every year.

The waters along the extensive coasts of the islands teem with common varieties of food-fishes. Among those found in commercial quantities are an- chovies, sardines, silversides, mackerels, snappers, pampanos, tunas, sea-basses, mullets, milkfishes, barracudas, porgies and parrotfishes. The local market is under-supplied and considerable quantities of fish and fishery products are im- ported. With the more extensive use of modern fishing equipment and methods of transportation so that the interior towns can be supplied there will be a decrease in the imports of this character. The commercial canning of fish is now an esablished industry in the Philippines. Other sea-products found in the Philippine waters are shark-fins, sponges, trepang, pearls, and pearl-shells, top-shell and widow shells.

MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIES

The Philippines is a prospective industrial field. The country has avail- able raw materials such as Manila hemp, copra, leaf tobacco, lumber, shells, lumbang, nuts, castor beans, clay, limestone, bamboo, buntal, dye-woods and cassava for the different lines of manufactures and industries. Manila and à few other cities are centres of these industrial activities. However, some of the big establishments such as sugar centrals, rice and lumber mills are found in localities nearest the sources of materials.

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The production of coconut oil constitutes one of the principal local indus- tries. The first modern coconut oil mill was built in, 1911. The world-war gave an impetus to the industry, thereby placing coconut oil at the top of the list: of Philippine exports for 1919. Sugar production, however, is now the most important industry. The first sugar central in the Philippines was established in 1910. Many other centrals and improved machinery were then installed in almost all the leading sugar sections of the country. Consequently, after 1910 a considerable increase in the sugar exports of the Philippines was noted. 1937, 47 sugar centrals with a total daily output of over 1,014,007 tons of cen- trifugal sugar were in actual operation. Manila cigars and cigarettes are the output of Philippine cigar factories. Aromatic cigarettes made from Vir- ginian leaf tobacco locally raised or imported are now manufactured in the Philippines. The rope and hemp-braid factories are yearly turning out finish- ed products to the value of millions of pesos. Within recent years, rice mill- ing has become a principal local industry. To-day there are more than 3,200 rice mills, with a maximum daily capacity of 348,000 cavanes, distributed throughout the archipelago.

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Among the local household industries, mention may be made of weaving, embroidery and hat-making. The output of the simple native looms, which are found in practically every household in the provinces where weaving is done, increased as the industry found an ever-widening local market. The most important of these native cloths manufactured are the "sinamay" and the "abatex," both of which are made mostly from the abaca fibre, the "piña"