SLAVE-GROWN COCOA.
[TO THS EOITOR or TUN " SPECTATOR:1
SIR,-4t is really not necessary for us to promise not to pur- chase cocoa-beans grown in Portuguese West Africa, as we have never used African cocoa during the fifty-seven years we have been established. As a matter of fact, and quite apart from the moral side of the question, the cocoa grown in Portuguese West Africa is quite unsuitable for the production of a concentrated cocoa-powder of the quality of " Cocoatina." We are surprised to see no reference to Congo cocoa, of which large quantities are sold regularly by the Administration of
the Royal Domain. Are we to take it for granted that Congo cocoa is grown under the beneficent sway of King Leopold by free labour? There must surely, also, be other articles pro- duced in Portuguese Africa under similar conditions to the cocoa. If so, it might be equally advisable to warn manu- facturers and consumers against the use of such articles, in order to bring more intense pressure to bear on the Portuguese authorities and monopolists.—We are, Sir, &c.,
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