mercial efficiency, the once
easy and free life of the native is lost for ever and a form of
wage-slavery takes its place with doubtful effects on the life and
health of the workers. In defence it is pointed out that yet another
portion of the earth has been made productive, which, without the
initiative of the European capitalist, must have lain fallow. But in
the Gold Coast the "indolent" native has created a new industry entirely
native owned, and in thirty years the Gold Coast has outstripped all the
areas of the world in quantity of produce. Forty years ago the natives
had never seen a cacao tree, now at least fifty million trees flourish
in the colony. This could not have happened without the strenuous
efforts of the Department of Agriculture. The Gold Coast now stands head
and shoulders above any other producing area for quantity. The problem
of the future lies in the improvement of quality, and difficult though
this problem be, we cannot doubt, given a fair chance, that the
far-sighted and energetic Agricultural Department will solve it. Indeed,
it must in justice be pointed out that already a very marked improvement
has been made, and now fifty to one hundred times as much good fermented
cacao is produced as there was ten years ago.[5] However, if a high
standard is to be maintained, the work of the Department of Agriculture
must be supplemented by the willingness of the cacao buyers to pay a
higher price for the better qualities.

[5] "Towards this latter result Messrs. Cadbury Bros., Ltd.,
rendered great assistance. This firm sent representatives
into the country, who proved to the natives that they
were willing to pay an enhanced price for cocoa prepared
in a manner suitable for their requirements. A fair
amount of cocoa was purchased by them, and demonstrations
were made in some places with regard to the proper mode
of fermentation."
(The Agricultural and Forest Products of British West
Africa. _Imperial Institute Handbook_, by G.C. Dudgeon).

[Illustration: CARRIERS CONVEYING BAGS OF CACAO TO SURF BOATS, ACCRA.
Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."]

The phenomenal growth of this industry is the more remarkable when we
consider the lack of roads and beasts of burden. The usual pack animals,
horses and oxen, cannot live on the Gold Coast because of the tsetse
fly, which spreads amongst them the sleepin